Principles of Adult Education

-Rooted on andragogy, or the process of teaching adults

Adult learning theory

- Malcolm Knowles theorized that adult learning and childhood learning are very
different since the way these two groups process, comprehend, and retain
information vary.
- Certain Characteristics of adult learners:
o Preference for self-directed learning
o Ability to draw on their own experiences to assist with learning
o Willingness to learn when transitioning into new roles
o Focus on applying new learnings to real life situations or problems
o Tendency to be internally motivated (7 Adult Learning Theories and
Principles to Enhance your Education by Brian Fairbanks; University of
Phoenix)

Importance of Adult Learning

- For adult educators working in a social justice perspective, this provides an analytic
lens to address injustice and shape social actions
- It enables the educators to understand the complexity of the learning process, give
the students that opportunity to explore the factors that shape our personal and
social learning context, and fosters the development of a more critically literate and
engaged citizenry. (Taking Time to Learn: The Importance of Theory for Adult
Education by Patricia A. Gouthro)
- In applying these, it can be inferred that Adult Students learn better by applying
lessons to real life situations because they are motivated by the assurance that what
they are learning is relevant.

According to the same article written by Brian Fairbanks, there are seven learning principles:

1. Self-directed, wherein a student learns at his own pace, in his own way
2. Transformational, wherein a student’s perspective is changed
3. Experiential deals with hands on learning or learning by drawing from life
experiences
4. Mentorship, from the word itself, students learn from an outside mentor or someone
experienced in a specific field
5. Orientation to learning where adults reframe their emotions and assumptions
around their experience and value of learning
 6. Motivation – adults often have internal motivation which makes them eager to learn
because they are motivated by something, either career success, prestige, or better
salary
7. Readiness to learn – adults need to rely on their past experiences to develop a
renewed readiness.

*** In conducting seminars and other legal missions, most, if not all, of the participants or
audience are adults and we must keep these principles in mind in order to motivate them to
listen more and to engage in the discussion. Having them share their respective experiences in
life, the problems that they encountered, as well as the solutions that they thought of at that
time would be really helpful. We study their previous problems and come up with a solution
that may change the way their perspective.