Some Key Principles of Adult Learning Theory

1. Acknowledgement of prior individual experience is important – all adults bring to the learning situation their knowledge, experiences, beliefs, assumptions, prejudices, practices which have been acquired over the years. Not only will they have this to build on, but they will also have some self awareness about ‘what works’ for them as a learner. However experience does not guarantee learning or awareness. ‘Start where the learner is’.
2. The individual is responsible for their own learning – and therefore is more likely to respond to being approached by their ‘teacher’ as a colleague/facilitator in the learning process, including the identification of learning needs and objectives and how to meet them. Most adult learners have high motivations including a ‘need to know’, a desire to achieve success and/or a wish to apply their new learning and skills. Some will be working to personal standards as well as external criteria. All need clear, regular, positive and constructive feedback related to their learning objectives.
3. Learners provide their own learning resources – the principles of partnership in learning extend to peers as well. Adult learners can learn from each other in a shared enterprise, working to individual strengths.
4. In professional education in particular, adults learn best through problem solving – the acquisition of knowledge and skills comes alive when it is located within the context of its relevance to work-based tasks and demands; ‘learning for action’. In fieldwork learning, the application of theory and research is most effective when driven by a need to improve understanding of a particular situation and how and when to intervene.
5. Empowerment – for adult learners to feel enabled to learn, they need an open, supportive, flexible and enabling environment together with clear-enough learning plans. Uncertainty can either be a stimulus to learning or an inhibitor depending on the nature of the uncertainty and the meaning that the learner attaches to it.

Building on these principles, professionals who are reflective about their work and their learning will be both self-evaluative and open to constructive feedback from others. In addition they will be able to identify their prior experiences and understandings and link those to their present day thinking, perhaps being able to see where they have changed and why.

Kindly adapted from the University of York Department of Social Policy and Social Work

Adults as Learners

Compared to children and teens, adults have special needs and requirements as learners.

Malcolm Knowles identified the following characteristics of adult learners:

• Adults are autonomous and self-directed and need to be free to direct themselves. Their teachers must actively involve adult participants in the learning process and serve as facilitators for them. They have to be sure to act as facilitators, guiding participants to their own knowledge rather than supplying them with facts.
• Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education. They need to connect learning to this knowledge/experience base.
• Adults are relevancy-oriented and often need to see a reason for learning something. Learning has to be applicable to their work or other responsibilities to be of value to them. Therefore, teachers must identify objectives for adult participants before the activity begins. This means, also, that theories and concepts must be related to a setting familiar to participants. This need can be fulfilled by letting participants choose projects that reflect their own interests.
• As do all learners, adults need to be shown respect, with teachers acknowledging the wealth of experiences that adult participants bring to the classroom. These adults should be treated as equals in experience and knowledge and allowed to voice their opinions freely.

Motivating the Adult Learner

Another aspect of adult learning is motivation. According to Knowles, at least six factors serve as sources of motivation for adult learning:

• Social relationships: to make new friends, to meet a need for associations and friendships.
• External expectations: to comply with instructions from someone else; to fulfil the expectations or recommendations of someone with formal authority.
• Social welfare: to improve ability to serve the community and improve the ability to participate in community work.
• Personal advancement: to achieve higher status in a job, secure professional advancement, and stay abreast of competitors.
• Escape/Stimulation: to relieve boredom, provide a break in the routine of home or work, and provide a contrast to other exacting details of life.
• Cognitive interest: to learn for the sake of learning, seek knowledge for its own sake, and to satisfy an inquiring mind.

Barriers to participation

Unlike children and teenagers, adults have many responsibilities that they must balance against the demands of learning. Because of these responsibilities, adults have barriers against participating in learning. Some of these barriers include lack of time, money, confidence, or interest, lack of information about opportunities to learn, scheduling problems, "red tape," and problems with child care and transportation.

The best way to motivate adult learners is simply to enhance their reasons for participating and decreasing the barriers. Teachers must learn what motivates their students and also discover what barriers are keeping them from learning.

Educators must remember that learning occurs within each individual as a continual process throughout life. People learn at different speeds, so it is natural for them to be anxious or nervous when faced with a learning situation. Positive reinforcement by the teacher can enhance learning, as can proper timing of the instruction.

Learning results from stimulation of the senses. In some people, one sense is used more than others to learn or recall information. Materials should be presented that stimulate as many senses as possible in order to increase their chances of teaching success.