Adult Learning Theory

Abstract

The number of adult learning programs has exploded in the twenty-first century. Cooperative extension, continuing education, and language learning programs, as well as professional schools, community colleges, and specialized degrees in various technologies, offer those seeking practical skills opportunities for advancement and for 'existential' growth. The dominant models of adult education are critical pedagogies and market-based pedagogies. Critical models are a force that fosters meaningful social action, while market-based pedagogies reinforce the norms of the dominant culture through practices of scientific management. There is a lack of definitive research on adult learning and on effective adult educational models. It is generally agreed, however, that the 'staying in school strategy' is the most effective at promoting, encouraging, and sustaining literacy.

Keywords Andragogy; Critical Pedagogy; Human Capital Theory; Lifelong Learning; Literacy; Market-Based Pedagogies; Performativity; Postmodernism

Overview

Theoretical Foundations of Adult Education

The number of adult learning programs has increased exponentially in the early twenty-first century. Cooperative extension, continuing education, and language learning programs, as well as professional schools, community colleges, and specialized degrees in various technologies, offer those seeking practical skills opportunities for advancement. Adult learning is a "force for constructive social action" (Sheridan, 2007, p. 9). At a time when new forms of production have eliminated a significant portion of manufacturing jobs (Tisdell, 2007) and in which expanding communication networks have eliminated many service sector positions, adult learning empowers individuals to cultivate other talents and to counter such oppressive economic and political forces (Sheridan, 2007).

The adult educational landscape is dominated by theorists, by practitioners of critical pedagogy, and by systems that perpetuate pedagogies founded in economic principles of market systems. Market-driven educational initiatives view the individual as a human "resource" that must be trained for maximum work output and efficiency (Kaufman & Geroy, 2007). This model is widely employed in workplace training and in vocational education programs. Critical pedagogies challenge this purely economic conception of education and aim to use education as a tool towards empowerment and emancipation from market-based mandates.

Adult Learning in a Postmodern World: Foundations of a Critical Pedagogy

Much of the research in the field of adult education centers around the notion of emancipation, of resistance to an imposed order, of finding personal ways of understanding the world, of not relying on the interpretation of the collective masses (Freire, 2022). The theoretical foundations of these new, postmodern ideas lie in critical theory, a philosophy born out of the work of social studies theorist and activist Karl Marx (1818–1883). Postmodernity is a movement that developed as a reactionary opposition to modern thinking and sensibilities. The modern age is generally understood as the period spurred in the nineteenth century by the Enlightenment and by the consequent period of industrialization (Usher et al., 1997). Modernity is rooted in rationalism and in the notion of absolute, formal truth, and is characterized by optimism, progress, unity of purpose, uniformity, and order.

In the present, contexts have shifted-the industrial revolution has been eclipsed by the "techno-scientific revolution," by markets "[becoming] volatile and fragmented," and by a shift in the general understanding of truth. The 'grand narrative' (Lyotard, 2010) prescribed by those in positions of power has begun to unravel, giving way to new emphases such as individuality, personal meaning-making, and intersections of multiple meaning structures (Usher et al., 1997, p. 3).

The postmodern condition is best understood through the lens of critical theory. Critical frameworks aim to unsettle traditional understandings and to reexamine them within a context of constantly changing landscapes. Critical theorists dissect and analyze currently accepted ways of thinking, exposing the power structures inherent in collective knowledge formation. Making sense of the ways in which those in power generate, shape, and control the dissemination of knowledge is the central focus of critical theory (Foucault, 2020; Foucault, 2022). Critical theory in practice empowers the oppressed to liberate themselves from mass mentalities and to transform themselves and their communities (Freire, 2022).

Many critical theorists rely solely on reason to counter authoritarian, hierarchical conceptions of power—they envision emancipation as a reason-driven process (Callahan, 2004). Others, such as the German musician-philosopher Theodore Adorno (1903–1969), propose that emotional life plays as important a role as reason in the revealing of power-knowledge structures (2020). Emotions drive individual actions; collective individual actions propel social change. Emotion can thus be thought of as a 'catalyst' of social transformation (Callahan, 2004).

Adult Education & Critical Theory

Critical theory, whether grounded in reason, emotion, or both, and as applied within postmodern contexts, forms the foundation of current adult education theories and research (Usher et al., 1997). Critical pedagogy, or popular pedagogy, is a new mode of thinking about teaching and learning developed out of efforts to educate disadvantaged adults (Freire, 2022). Like all forms of pedagogy, the newly emergent critical adult learning perspective reflects the currents of the current age (Sheridan, 2007).

A Form of Social Action

The preeminent concerns in the field of adult education are characterized by shifting knowledge structures and by new emphases on meaning and language. The postmodern transformation of societal, cultural, and economic values has led to a critical pedagogy that understands the construction of meaning as a collective enterprise and the grasping of meaning as a personal endeavor that reflects one's background, interests, socio-economic status, and other individual features and characteristics (Tisdell, 2007).

Adult (critical) pedagogy is a form of social action and change. Adult education aims to reach individuals who have not previously had the opportunity to learn the practical skills they need to make them competitive market-players (Sheridan, 2007). Adult education programs include professional, graduate, and community college programs, vocational training, English language learning courses, technical training-often, in online environments, and others. As individuals gain skills and confidence to liberate themselves from structures and classes imposed on them by the greater order, they are able to recognize and think about their existential condition (Houle, 1984).

Lifelong Learning

Awareness of existential themes leads to a conception of learning as lifelong. As learning is a process of acquiring and assimilating new ways of understanding and thinking, it naturally occurs over the span of a life (Houle, 1984). Lifelong learning programs address the need of adults in a postmodern age to 'existentially' explore possibilities for further personal growth. These programs generally serve those who are already in command of the practical skills they need (Sheridan, 2007).

Engagement in conscious lifelong learning processes is difficult for those pursuing adult education and for those who do not have enough resources to meet their basic needs (Sheridan, 2007). These individuals do not have the luxury of time and material needs at their disposal-this type of adult education program tends to concentrate on gaining practical skills and experience, and those who do not have their needs met are interested primarily in meeting these needs (Sheridan, 2007).

Andragogy

The notion that learning occurs throughout a lifetime is transforming modern theories of pedagogy, and many envision lifelong learning as the next educational revolution (Houle, 1984). Lifelong learning programs introduce adults into the educational continuum previously dominated by children and teens. Teaching adult students requires consideration of a multitude of factors, not always present in classes of young students that refine and redefine notions of learning. Andragogy refers to the notion that adult pedagogy is distinct from and is not grounded in child or teen pedagogies. Adults bring maturity of thinking, varied life experiences, focus, and responsibility into the classroom, for example, dynamically shifting the power-knowledge structure towards a more equitable one (Knowles, 1950; Knowles, 1970).

Before individuals can fully embrace lifelong learning, however, they must be free to seek existential expression. This freedom can only exist in instances in which individuals are emancipated. Emancipation is possible as adults gain new and refine old skills, a process facilitated by adult education programs. Emancipation is, however, threatened by consumer-based pedagogies and adult learning programs, as these define educational purposes, means, and foundations in terms of capital, value, and performativity (Tisdell, 2007).

Emancipation through Economic, Political, Cultural, & Language Literacy

The process of liberation from economic, political, and cultural impositions is challenged by the values, conceptions, and beliefs that intensify the perpetuation of oppressive structures. The postmodern age is increasingly characterized by globalization, by an overload of information and choice, and by consumerism, these realities nurture and proliferate (Tisdell, 2007). Commodities in the twenty-first century are 'culturally dominant'—individuals shape their identities around what they are able to afford. Many minority and immigrant groups, for example, understand empowerment as financial autonomy (Usher, 1997). This culture of commodities is enabled by the presence of images and by intense marketing efforts (Usher, 1997). Critical theorist Theodor Adorno (1903–1969) proposed that the dominating culture subjugates minority groups by bombarding them with market-biased images and information (2020).

Market-Based Pedagogies

Educational structures and practices have shifted to accommodate market-based recommendations. In a capitalistic market economy, education is valued for its performativity, or for its 'value' to the 'customer' (Lyotard, 2010). Educational programs are offered and structured as demanded by market forces, while knowledge is sold as a commodity in a competitive business (Usher, 1997). Market-based educational practices have seeped into the fabric of the current postmodern commodity culture-into lifestyle practices, confessional practices, and vocational practices (Usher, 1997).

Market-inspired pedagogical methods tend to be impersonal, normalizing, and oppressive, while market-based educational practices impose the norms of the majority onto all while 'particularizing' minorities (Shore, 2001). The nature of educational systems is inherently political, and the content of mandated curricula is inherently ideological (Foucault, 2020). Teachers adapt to the imposed demands of policy initiatives and of existing structures, and in so doing, reproduce values that uphold the discriminations of society (Bounous, 2001).

For example, the debate between whether pedagogy needs to be reworked into an andragogy, a specific philosophy of adult learning, reinforces a binary difference between child and adult pedagogies, instead of understanding ways of learning as a continuum. Some other ways in which the values of the dominant culture are reinforced include the notion of the possibility of a neutral facilitator and of the confessional nature of self-growth and group learning models, and the division of students into target groups (Shore, 2001).

The notion that it is possible for a facilitator or teacher to guide a student, without bias, towards finding their own meaning ignores that it is inherently impossible for an individual to detach him or herself from a situation and to be completely neutral. As teachers are trained within systems and institutions supported by the dominant culture, they bring a bias to the classroom that is often ignored and that almost always reflects the values of the majority (Shore, 2001). Facilitation as an educational model is also problematic because it does not consider the needs of those for whom compliance with rules of small groups is uncomfortable or difficult (Foucault, 2022).

The confessional nature of twenty-first century pedagogies also serves to entrench dominant ideologies. Individuals are encouraged to divulge their preferences, thoughts, desires, and other details of their personal lives (Foucault, 2022). These confessions, elicited by a 'neutral' facilitator, are then shaped, through education, into ways of thinking and behaving deemed appropriate by the practical, economic needs of society (Shore, 2001).

The Pedagogy of Emancipation

Because market forces have come to dominate modern educational models in many contexts of the capitalistic system, literacy—or the extent to which one is fluent in languages of mathematics, English, law, or in any other discipline of thought, is a central component of a pedagogy of emancipation (Amstutz, 2001). Michel Foucault (1926–1984), the French critical theorist who formulated theories of power-knowledge relations, proposes that power manifests itself through language (Bounous, 2001). In a postmodern critical context, the notion of language has expanded to include all modes of expression. For example, one may be fluent in English, or in the languages of mathematics, anthropology, law, or of any other discipline; one may also be fluent in understanding a particular culture or a particular lifestyle. Fluency, or literacy, in many different languages is central to the development of a critical understanding of the complex structures and multifaceted nature of the postmodern age (Amstutz, 2001). Critical pedagogies thus view literacy as the means to emancipation-they empower individuals to bridge various ways of thinking and to thus expand the social, political, and cultural spheres through creating knowledge.

Further Insights

Adult Learning in a Postmodern Age: Critical & Consumer-Based Pedagogies

Adult critical pedagogy rejects the concept of education in which the teacher is imagined as the sole source of power in the classroom-and hence, as the only one with knowledge worth imparting. Instead, adult critical educators understand that knowledge is not a set of points, an immobile mass of data, but rather is created in dialogue between individuals (Freire, 2022). However, there are many who prefer the 'cult of the teacher' or of the institution model over authentic learning experiences (Sheridan, 2007). This preference reflects the rationalism still highly regarded in the modern world—a rationalism that is further entrenched by "persistent colonialism" and "repressive power structures" (Sheridan, 2007, p. 13). The teaching models born out of reactions to these aspects of postmodernism are consumer-based-and thus grounded in theories of scientific and efficiency management (Schied, 2001). These models envision education as a means of acquiring skills valued by current economic considerations. Learning is mechanical, focused on specific content or methods, and thus tends to become laborious instead of self-enriching (Schied, 2001). There is no significant research that shows these pedagogical methods are in fact more effective than others, yet they are perpetuated by the nature of present economic and social contexts.

Adult education pedagogies recognize the traditional conception of schools as institutions and the current consumerist conception of schools as businesses perpetuate social norms and controls (Foucault, 2020). While consumer-based education entrenches individuals into the market system, critical adult pedagogies reclaim the voice of individual learners, and facilitate the integration of all perspectives into a narrative that respects multiplicity, diversity, and difference. Critical pedagogies reject the notion that there is only one way to understand the world-through cognition and rationality. Howard Gardner (2011), an educator and psychologist, advanced a theory of multiple intelligences that proposes there are many modes in which an individual may make sense of the world. This theory has transformed educational practices and has contributed significantly to critical adult education approaches.

Adult Education in the Critical Classroom

Flexible lesson plans, collective community projects, and engagement in individual reflection are some ways in which adult educators guide learning experiences. Critical adult pedagogies employ collaborative methods to engage individuals in dialogue and thus, in knowledge formation and meaning making (Sheridan, 2007). Additionally, critical adult educators formulate clear purposes and directions, and have patience with student difficulties, uncertainties, and errors (Usher, 1997).

In adult classrooms, students are expected to assume responsibility for their own learning, while educators are expected to respect student autonomy (Bartlett, 2005). Adult education begins with involvement of the whole person in the classroom-emotionally, cognitively, and physically. The multitude of senses and modes of intellect must be engaged for students to assimilate environmental contexts and to free themselves-by themselves-from entrenched, imposed ways of thinking and being (Sheridan, 2007). Critical pedagogies must attend to shifting conceptions of various groups and languages and to environmental and cultural contexts and must be sensitive to existing inequalities and discriminations (Bounous, 2001). Some critical pedagogy models include the democratic classroom model, Paulo Freire's literacy pedagogy, the social action model, and Great Books curricula.

Critical pedagogies often use a democratic classroom model-one that aims to equalize power relations. These models are used to empower individual learners to find their own voice, to create their own knowledge, and to develop a sense of meaningful purpose (Sheridan, 2007). Democratic classrooms are difficult to fully implement, as ultimately the teacher or facilitator has the 'power' to evaluate individual performance.

Freire's literacy pedagogy rejects the notion that students should be taught pre-formulated curricula that do not address individual contexts, modes of learning, or social experiences. Freire recommends that curricula be built around themes drawn from students' lives and from the local culture (Freire, 2022).

The social action model is used as a direct means to foster societal change. It assumes that social action occurs at the intersection of various perspectives, and that it is facilitated and enabled by the commitment of individual participants (Langenbach, 1988). Social action curricula critically examine social contexts, existing governing and oppressive structures, and the role of the actors involved.

The Great Books curriculum model is grounded in the assumptions that learning is lifelong and that the most effective learning occurs when individuals engage with the "great works" of Western culture. Classes consist primarily of discussions in which students ponder the meanings of the readings. Great Books curricula emphasize procurement of knowledge, development of intellectual faculties, and expansion of thinking to include various perspectives (Langenbach, 1988).

Market-Based Adult Education

Over one-fifth of Americans over the age of sixteen are only minimally literate and have marginal mathematical skills. Many of these individuals live in non-English speaking households and communities, while over twenty-five percent of them are mentally or physically disabled (Edmondson, 2006). Most of these individuals live at or below the poverty level. Federal and state supported adult education programs and policies aim to assist the economically disadvantaged achieve financial independence through work-work that efficiently and effectively serves the market system (Bounous, 2001).

Most adult education policy initiatives do not aim to educate individuals-rather, they emphasize the importance of work, and offer help to those seeking work by providing them with educational opportunities that help build and improve skills (Amstutz, 2001). There are many conceptualizations and implementations of market-based adult education models. Federal and state funding in the twenty-first century has increasingly favored distance learning programs and technology-based pedagogies and initiatives (Lopez, 2006). These educational implementations are inexpensive to implement and simple to maintain-and are thus both convenient for the 'customer' and cost-efficient for the 'business' of education (Bounous, 2001). In contrast, critical education pedagogies and programs have not been adequately funded by policy initiatives, despite significant research that critical pedagogies are most effective at fostering independence and creativity of thought (Lopez, 2006).

Market-Based Models

Some of the most widely used market-based models of education include:

• Workplace training and human resource development (Schied, 2001),

• Vocational and competency-based training (Blank, 1982),

• Self-directed learning experiences (Houle, 1972), and

• Conceptual programming models (Langenbach, 1988).

The fastest growing form of adult market-based education is workplace education implemented through human resource development. Human resource development, around since the 1980s, trains individuals to perform at the personal, group, and organizational level (Schied, 2001). Workplace education ultimately controls and shapes employees, preparing them to better serve the market system. The rationale for "human resource" education is the economic human capital theory born out of events surrounding WWII (Schied, 2001). According to human capital theory, education serves the needs of the market and not the needs, interests, and abilities of individual workers. Educational endeavors are conceived of as 'investments' valued for their performativity, or, for the extent to which they improve workers' competitiveness in the market (Kaufman & Geroy, 2007).

Vocational and competency-based training is a systematic approach to educating individuals in specific skills needed for a particular job (Blank, 1982). Vocational education is founded on the assumptions that the usefulness of human knowledge lies in its applications, and that any individual can be trained for a specific job if appropriate instruction is provided.

Self-directed learning refers to education that is not structured from without by a particular institution or program. Self-directed educational experiences generally follow a pattern in which an individual decides to embark on a learning experience, identifies and refines objectives, contextualizes the material to be learned, effects the plan, and evaluates the results (Houle, 1972).

Conceptual programming models may be used to structure both self-directed and instructor-directed educational experiences. These models conceive of all variables present in an educational context as 'agents' that affect a system or as 'agents' that are programmed by a system, and organize educational aims around these notions (Boone, 2002).

Viewpoints

Future Directions

There is a lack of definitive research on adult learning and on effective adult educational models (Lopez, 2006). It is generally agreed, however, that the 'staying in school strategy' is the most effective at promoting, encouraging, and sustaining literacy (Edmondson, 2006). Funding for competency-based training and for initiatives in online and technology-driven education will most likely continue to dominate educational budgets. However, the influx of immigrants and the shifting social and economic needs will ultimately determine in which direction adult education models will develop (Edmondson, 2006).

Terms & Concepts

Andragogy: The notion that adult pedagogy is distinct from and is not grounded in child or teen pedagogies; adults bring maturity of thinking, varied life experiences, focus, and responsibility into the classroom, for example, dynamically shifting the power-knowledge structure towards a more equitable one.

Critical Pedagogy: Critical pedagogies challenge this economic conception of education and aim to use education as a tool towards empowerment and emancipation from market-based mandates.

Human Capital Theory: According to human capital theory, education serves the needs of the market and not the needs, interests, and abilities of individual workers. Educational endeavors are conceived of as 'investments' valued for their performativity, or, for the extent to which they improve workers' competitiveness in the market.

Lifelong Learning: Lifelong learning programs address the need of adults in a postmodern age to 'existentially' explore possibilities for further personal growth. These programs generally serve those who are already in command of the practical skills they need.

Literacy: The extent to which one is fluent in various languages; in a postmodern critical context, the notion of language has expanded to include all modes of expression. For example, one may be fluent in English, or in the languages of mathematics, anthropology, law, or of any other discipline; one may also be fluent in understanding a particular culture or a particular lifestyle.

Market-Based Pedagogies: Educational programs that are structured as demanded by market forces; in this model, knowledge is sold as a commodity in a competitive business. Market-inspired pedagogical methods tend to be impersonal, normalizing, and oppressive, while market-based educational practices impose the norms of the majority onto all while 'particularizing' minorities.

Performativity: The extent to which educational initiatives improve workers' competitiveness in a market economy.

Postmodernism: An intellectual movement developed as a reactionary opposition to modernism; postmodernism emphasizes globalization, difference, diversity, fragmentation, and the importance of countering increasing consumerism and overload of information and of choice.

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Suggested Reading

Chapman, V. (2005). Attending to the theoretical landscape in adult education. Adult Education Quarterly, 55, 308–312. Retrieved December 2, 2007, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Premier: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=17681388&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehost-live

Choules, K. (2007). Social change education: Context matters. Adult Education Quarterly: A Journal of Research and Theory, 57(2), 159–176. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713606293912

Foucault, M. (2020). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Penguin Classics.

Freire, P. (2022). Pedagogy of the Oppressed (3rd ed.). Siglo Veintiuno Editores.

Gardner, H. (2011). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (pbk. ed.). Basic Books.

Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., & Swanson, R. A. (2020). The adult learner: the definitive classic in adult education and human resource development (9th ed.). Routledge.