Thoughts on Knowles’ adult learning theory.
First, the positives. It’s useful to think about self-relevance, motivation, how to regulate one’s action and to strive for agency in one’s learning. Now on to the ranty bit… 😀
First, the positives. It’s useful to think about self-relevance, motivation, how to regulate one’s action and to strive for agency in one’s learning. Now on to the ranty bit… 😀
Knowles claims “children’s learning is fundamentally different from adults’ and .. different educational theories, philosophies and teaching approaches are required. Yet …presents little or no evidence for this bold assertion.” Darbyshire (1993) europepmc.org/article/med/82…
Adult learning theory is based on a deficit model of child learning. Children are not seen as self-motivated and personal-relevance is deemed… irrelevant. This seems plausible, unless you have met and/or been a child.
It might look like kids always learn things that are forced on them but personal-relevance looks different—they’re navigating a very structured school world. School is personally-relevant *because* it’s forced on kids & identities are tangled in perceptions of school performance
But if you let a kid determine what they learn and how it’s relevant to what they care about, the results can be stunning.
Conversely, adults are apparently self-driven and always need to know why they’re learning what they’re learning. Unless you’ve ever been asked to do something difficult that you didn’t want to do.
Adults are not always in control, we’re not always good at knowing what we need to know or do. There’s no magical transformation on our 18th birthday from child into adult. We are always shifting in and out of comfort zones, between self-regulation & depending on others for help.
Adult learning theory puts “..focus on isolated individual rather than the socio-cultural context for learning” (Bleakley, 2006).
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…
Knowles positions individual, rational control at the centre of educational efforts, rather than considering how people work with others, integrate into and adapt with systems, communities, etc.
Adults AND kids need agency to drive their own learning to an extent, & both need some structure & support to achieve more than they could in isolation.
And, learning's not just about becoming more autonomous & knowledgeable, it’s also about becoming part of something bigger.
And, learning's not just about becoming more autonomous & knowledgeable, it’s also about becoming part of something bigger.
