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Resource Papers

C. ON TEACHING/LEARNING OFFEMALE

1. Principles of Adult Learning

Dr. Magdalena E. DugeniaDirector IV, Bureau of Nonformal EducationDepartment of Education, Culture and SportsPHILIPPINES

Introduction

One of the twin goals of Philippine 2000 is people em-powerment. This premise is that people empowermentis a necessary pre-condition for meaningful participa-tion in development. People empowerment meansenhancing people’s capacities as individuals and groupsto improve their own lives and to take greater controlover their own destinies.

The Medium term Philippine Development Plan (1994-1998) has set a numerical target of 98% and 85% forbasic literacy and functional literacy, respectively, inrecognition of the role of basic education as an empow-ering tool for development.

We must get our adult illiterates to demand literacy, andliteracy services providers should be able to sustain at-tendance in adult literacy programs. A first steptowards this is to recognise that adults learn differentlyfrom children.

Characteristics of Adult Learners

There are five key differences between adult and schoolchildren. These include:

1. Aim of Learning: Adults have a more practical,problem-centered approach to learning. Childrenare often willing to study any subject with the beliefthat it will be usefulness of their learning in a shortperiod of time.

2. Experience: An adult comes to learning with awealth of experience. A child, with little or no expe-rience, is willing to learn using the teacher’sexperience as a reference point. An adult learnerneeds to be able to relate his/ her own experience towhat is being learned.

-------------------------------------------------------------*Presented at LRC Training Workshop (Cotabato City,Philippines, 20 - 29 September 1995)

3. Problems and Responsibilities: Adult learnershave many problems and responsibilities outside ofclass that can distract them during class, keep themfrom studies and homework and even keep themfrom class. Children have relatively few responsi-bilities and can more easily focus on learning.

4. Tiredness/ Fatigue: Adult learners come to classesat the end of a long day’s activities. A child goes toschool in the morning, starting the day with learning.Adults need an interesting and active learning envi-ronment to keep their attention and involvement.

5. Motivation of Learn: Adult learners come to lit-eracy classes of their own free will. They do not, aschildren do, have a parent or others pushing them togo to class everyday. As such, adult learners moti-vate themselves and are often more dedicated, but atthe same time, can easily drop out.

Furthermore an illiterate adult has additional character-istics that form obstacles to their learning as follows:

a) Sensitively, Lack of self-confidence - Adult learn-ers can be extremely sensitive about their illiteracyand as such, is very quick and easy to discourage.

b) Belief in Abilities - Adult learners may believe thatthey can not learn. In this case, they need encour-agement. On the other hand, the adult learners, maystick with the attitude that know all they need toknow and stubbornly refuse to try and learn untilthey are convinced that what they are learning is use-ful and worthwhile.

c) Past Learning Experiences - Adult illiterates mayhave had an unpleasant learning experience earlier,in their lives (a strict teacher, an early drop-out fromschool, being branded as “stupid” etc.) Thismemory can stop them from continuing their learn-ing.

The literacy facilitator must be sensitive to all of thesecharacteristics, and must have a belief that adults arecapable of learning throughout their lives to effectivelysupport them in their learning.

One of the biggest challenges that a facilitator faces inteaching adults is the fact that any group of adults is het-erogeneous. That is, each adult in a group has differentinterests, opinions, experiences and attitudes. The fa-cilitators of adult education must learn to pay attentionto each adult as a separate individual as well as part of aclass.

Andragogy and Pedagogy

The technical words to distinguish the difference be-tween teaching children and teaching adults areandragogy, a term that means adult learning, and peda-gogy or child learning. Malcolm Knowles, in his book,

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The Modern Practice of Adult Education, identifiesfour basic concepts that are central to adult learning.

The first is self-concept. Whereas the child is depen-dent upon those around him/her, the adult actsautonomously in relation to others. Adults are capableof being self directed, of being able to identify and ar-ticulate what they want to learn in dialogue with theteacher. In pedagogy, the teacher is in a directing rela-tionship with the student; and in adult education theteacher is in a helping relationship with the student.

The second concept is experience. With children, edu-cation is often the one-way transfer of data andinformation from the teacher to the student. This is notalways appropriate for the adult learner who brings awealth of life experience and wisdom into the learningenvironment. In adult education, the teacher is moreoften a facilitator in a mutual learning environment.There is, therefore, a focus on experiential methodssuch as small group activities, role playing, peer presen-tations, etc. The dichotomy between teacher andstudent is replaced by a community of learners andteachers.

The third concept important for adult learning concernsthe student’s readiness to learn. In traditional peda-gogy, the teacher decides what the students need tolearn and the curriculum is developed apart from thelearner. In andragogy though, the learner takes a muchmore active role in deciding what will be taught andwhen. Adult education is more learner centered. Inadult education, it is important for the adult learner thatthe content of educational programs is life situations,and directly related to both their interests and life situa-tions.

Lastly, there is a different orientation to learning for theadult. Children have been conditioned to have a sub-ject-centered orientation to learning whereas adults tendto have a more problem-centered orientation. The dif-ference is one of time perspective. Children tend toefocus attention towards the future whereas adults areconcerned with the present. Thus, adult learners are in-terested in learning how to solve the problems that theyare experiencing in their daily lives.

Paulo Freire Method in Literacy Program

In the 1960’s, Paulo Freire’s literacy program in Brazilbecome famous of its quick results: people were learn-ing to read and write in just 6 weeks! People learnedquickly to read and write, but more important, they dis-covered their own ability to change the conditions thatkeep them poor.

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Freire’s Method of awareness raising or conscientisa-tion, the development of critical awareness, is based onthree basic concepts:

a. Many village people in a “culture of silence”. Theyfeel that they must accept what is happening to themwithout the possibility of protesting or questioningit. The belief that they “have no voice”. The chal-lenge of the development workers is to help them“find” their voice and break out the culture of si-lence, so that they can begin to express their hopesand needs.

b. People “name” their reality, in a way that may ormay not be accurate (i.e. I am ignorant or this is theway life is and I can’t change it.) The task of thedevelopment worker is to help people to “remane”their reality so that they can more fully grasp theirpotentiality.

c. The three level of consciousness:* Magical: I am poor because it’s Allah’s will or

this is the way it is. Total and unquestioning ac-ceptance of what is.

* Naïve: I am poor because: I am not a hardenough worker, or smart enough, or the landlordis cruel. The blame is on an individuals.

* Critical: I am poor because I live in a society thatis keeping me poor, existing land policies areunjust. The blame is set at the institutional orsystematic level.

The task of the development workers is to assist the vil-lagers to move from a lower level to a higher one.

Freire first developed his methods of conscientizationas part of an effort to help Brazilian farm people learn toread and write. Thus, education for development ofcritical awareness was linked from the first with learn-ing of skills that made the poor more equal to the rich.

Freire was aware that the difficult task of his studentswas not learning the alphabets or recognising words butovercoming the feeling that they were too poor to learn.For these poor farmers, written words were part of therich man’s world, something beyond their reach.

This is Freire’s starting point: getting people to takepossession of words. The adult learners together withthe instructor choose a short list of words that are centralto the lives of the villagers. Words like hunger, school,landlord and vote maybe chosen for their ability tospeak discussions in many directions. The words arealso chosen so that every letter in the alphabet is in-cluded.

Usually a drawing or a photograph representing theword is thrown before the learners before the word it-self. The group discusses each word for a long time

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before they ever see how it is written. The drawing andphotos are carefully chosen to represent a setting semi-nar too, but not exactly the same as, the learners’village. That way, the people can safely discuss theproblems of this “nearby village” without feeling toothreatened by criticism of their own lives. Later, whenthe consciousness of the group is greater, they feel moresecure about discussing their own problems, becausethey will know that they can change much of what theydo not like.

When the learners finally see a word in print, it is notfrightening, because it has become their word. Readerstake control and put words in the order they choose.The action of writing sentences of their own creation isan important part of the conscientisation process.

In conscientization, people do not simply discuss theirlives. They think, and then act to make changes wherethey are needed. Thus, reading and writing becometools they can use instead of weapons to be used againstthem.

Ways Adult Learn

1. Adults expect to be treated with respect and recogni-tion.

2. Adults want practical solutions to real-life prob-lems.

3. Adults can reflect on and analyze their own experi-ences.

4. Different adults have different learning styles.5. Adults can be motivated by the possibility of fulfill-

ing their personal needs and aspirations.6. Adults need the support of their peers in their learn-

ing.7. Adults need to communicate their feelings in cultur-

ally appropriate ways.8. Adults are capable of making their own decisions

and taking charge of their own development.

Some Guidelines for Helping Adults Learn

1. Change teaching techniques as necessary. Keepyour mind open to methods and techniques and youreye on the learner. It is the learners who know howthey best can learn.

2. Make your lessons interesting, absorbing, easy andquick.

3. Keep in touch with how learners are understandinglessons. A lesson can be taught by anyone or no one;the real question is whether the lesson has beenlearned.

4. Make sure your lessons talk about things of practicalinterest to adult learners.

5. Always treat your learners like adults and not chil-dren.

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6. Let the learner learn at his/ her own pace - Do nothold a learner back or push him/ her faster than he/she is ready or able to go.

7. When correcting adult learners, always encourage,never discourage.

8. Give individual attention. Adults learn better andfaster when they receive individual attention andfeel you care.

9. Encourage learners to help themselves and eachother learn. Being illiterate does not mean thatadults are not quick learners. Often, learners canwork ahead of the class pace, help other learnerswho are having difficulty, or try different learningexercises of reading outside of class.

Bibliography

- American Home Economics Association (AHEA)Working with Villagers Trainers Manual. AHEAInternational Family Planning Project. WashingtonD.C. U.S.A., 1983 reprint

- Aps, Jerold W. Problems in Continuing Educa-tion. Department of Continuing Education andVocational Education, University of Wisconsin -Madison 1979

- Dodge, Anne. Manual on Training of Develop-ment Workers Bonn: ZED Education Science andDocumentation centre, 1994

- Knowle, Malcolm S.,The Adult Learner : Ne-glected Specie, Association Press, New York, 1980ed.