The participation of mature-aged students in tertiary education is increasing and is particularly evident in primary school teacher training in New Zealand. A group of mothers with dependent children, enrolled in pre-service teacher education at the Christchurch College of Education, (hereafter named ‘the College’) took part in this qualitative study to share the practical implications they perceived as impacting on them and their families. Their participation in such lifelong learning identified issues such as dealing with their children’s feelings, childcare considerations, clarifying the importance of their support networks, coping with their increasing financial constraints and having a significant lack of time. They also made suggestions on how the College could better meet their specific needs, in the hope that it would make their lives easier and encourage the widening participation of other mothers to become primary school teachers.