Overview of Adult Learning Principles and Methods

ASPBAE Leadership Workshop 2008

ASPBAE Facilitation Teams

Aim

• Our aim is to connect your educational practice to the theory of adult education/learning and its underlying principles

Who are we?

• We are self-directed learners and come from a wide range of backgrounds, skills, knowledge and experiences as adult educators.

• We have very diverse adult learning contexts. But there are shared themes and regional challenges.

• We have the commitment towards transformative and empowering adult learning practice,with the firm belief in the right for all to learn, especially the most marginalized sectors.

How do we hope to achieve these?Part 1: Individual Recall/ Description- Identify a most significant change story (one activity that you

have facilitated or experienced).- Recall and briefly describe the issue being addressed- Summarise the steps involved in achieving this most significant

change- What were the adult learning activities conducted?- Who were involved in the change and how did your organisation

contribute to the change?

Part 2: Small Group Sharing- Part 3: Plenary Reporting

Part 4: Synthesis and Discussion

Assumptions

• We have shared understandings of meanings eg. Adult education, adult learning, transformative

• Rodikaya “need for conceptual clarification” and “ has come to acquire a whole array of of synonyms and near-synonyms and sometimes overlapping and competing terms”

• Foley- the radical adult educator

Jarvis- shifts in emphasis

• Childhood to lifelong learning• Few to the many• Education and training to learning• Learning as a process to learning as an institutional

phenomenon• Teacher centred to student centred• Rote learning to reflective learning• Etc etc

The Four Pillars of EducationThe Four Pillars of Education, described in

Chapter 4 of Learning: The Treasure Within, Delor’s Report (1996)

Learning to know

Learning to do

Learning to live together

Learning to be

Assumptions about adult learners

• Have life experiences and knowledge which are grounded eg. Classes in Madrasa

• Are relevancy oriented- cultural sensitivity; commonalities• Are goal oriented- sensitise the decision makers• Are practical-organic farming demonstration• Require respectful dialogue- Afghan case study• Are autonomous and self directed• Participatory approach- story telling • We are all learners and we are all educators-equal power

dynamics…hanging question???

Process of delivery

• Recognitions of different knowledge systems and learning styles including indigenous

• Acknowledgement of the growing need to work across traditional disciplinary boundaries especially given a lifelong focus integrated and whole

• Co-generation/ co-production of knowledge which is ongoing

• Sharing and ownership of knowledge

So what ?

Our insights?

Our learnings?

How do those learnings change our practise and help transform the lives and communities in which we work?

Our educational philosophy informs our educational practice.

ACTIVIST

OBSERVER

THEORIST

EXPERIMENTER

I will try anything once.

Hmmm.. Let us wait and

see…It worked

before, it will work again.

There is always a better way. Let us try this….

ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALIZATION

GENERALISATION

ACTIONACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION

CONCRETEEXPERIENCE

CRITICAL REFLECTIONREFLEXIVE OBSERVATION

Kolb’s Learning Cycle or Single Loop Learning

METHOD/ PROCESSLearner-centered

- intentions of learning (accidental, informal, non-formal and formal)- reasons for learning (occupation, social roles, interests)- domains of learning (knowledge, skills, attitudes and understandings)

- kinds of learning (instrumental, communicative, emancipatory)- learning styles (no single way of learning)- modes of learning (input and action learning)- begins with the experiences of the learners

We engage the individual as a whole person (thinking, feeling, doing) and not just the feeling of fun but other emotions (fear, anger, etc)

Collaborative learning (participatory learning)Transformative learningPraxis (reflection and action/ theory and practice)

Additional thoughts

• Our educational philosophy informs our practice, which in turn helps to develop our philosophy.

• We need to continue to be informed and responsive to the changing contexts.

• Definitions of adult education and adult learning are very context-based, but learning the ‘language’ provides you the opportunity to learn from the practice of others and if not more important to share your own practice.