motivation and Barriers to Adult Learning
Introduction
Of late, research into the field of education has intensified with specific research into the area of lifelong learning. According to this concept, individuals need to embrace a leaning system that persists throughout life (Ozuah, 2005). Many are the changes that are taking place all around us; these includes rapid changes in new technology, and changes in the way of doing business. The review that follows seeks to underscore the challenges and barriers that accompany adult learning and the effect it has on its participants.
According to Quadt (1977), a special understanding of barriers and motivators to adult education is important. Adults need to be sufficiently motivated for them to embrace adult learning. Adult learners differ from young learners in the sense that the two groups of learners face different changes. For instance, adult learners have their own view of the world around them, their personal view to success, and the requirements for their success (Quadt, 1977)
The adult learners’ outlook to life is influenced by internal and external factors. It is these outlooks that determine the learners’ motivation or barrier to learning. Teachers need to have a tool that will help them determine what motivates the adult learners and what acts as a barrier to their learning. Factors that motivate or bar students from participating in learning are several and can be broken into two major categories; socio-environment and the individual learner (Ahl, 2006). A clear understanding of the factors that motivate or bar adult learners from partaking in adult learning is important as it enables the teachers to get to the root cause of the problem.
The Learner
There are three different ways by which an adult learner can be defined; cognitive maturity, age, and non-traditional learner. Of the three categorizations, categorization by age seems more pragmatic. International organizations such as OECD, UNESCO, and EC have defined adult learners as persons between the ages of 24 to 65. Additionally, classification, selection, and evaluation of adult learners are simplified if it is based on age categorization. The group of learners represented in the age bracket of 24 to 65 include the employed, unemployed and the retired learners (Houde, 2006). This categorization is also important because it further distinguishes the motivation and barriers encountered by the different groups of adult learner.
Knowles (1984) asserts that adult learners possess certain characteristic features, which include; self-direction, readiness to learn, experience, motivation to learn and problem oriented. Knowles (1984) is taken to be the father or founder of andragogy, a discipline dedicated to the study of adult learning. Knowles (1984) defines and adult learner as one, who is mature, has a wealth of experience, is sufficiently motivated, and needs to appreciate the logic behind learning.
Illeris (2006) defines learning as a process that leads to a permanent change in capacity, and the change is note solely driven by age or biological maturity. Chao (2009) agrees with Illeris’ definition and then goes to add that learning can be taken as both a conscious and unconscious cognitive process that is influenced by interactions between different dimensions of learning.
The Motivation and Barriers to Learning
Thoms (2001) defines adult learners as a group of learners that rely on a set of habits, rational framework, and strong taste to form their opinion on matters related to decision making. This goes to distinguish adult learners from children. Another complication to adult learning is introduced where the learner has to double up his learning with culturally expected roles such as those of parenting, work, spousal relations among other (Henschke, 2006).
According to Thoms (2010), adult learners learn in a different fashion and they rely on their experience, attitude, and aptitude. The motivation to learn also differs according to their aptitude, experience, and attitude. This is likely to entail the learner’s perceived value of the entire learning process, and the amount of experience that the learner has on the topic being learnt.
The purpose and reason for learning varies from one learner to the next. These can include the need to fill an education gap, to be better suited for optimum performance, to achieve personal development, or qualify for a better paying job. It is worth noting that some adult learner pursue education with an aim to improve their selves while others do it for fun (Houde, 2005). The individual engaging in the learning process must start by establishing the reason for and purpose of their commitment to the learning process, and then derive their motivation from the listed reasons and purposes.
An employed person motivates self or can be motivated by his employer to partake of the learning process. Unemployed persons engage in adult learning to gain employability skills, which will allow them, compete favourably in the employment market. This group of learners are motivated by the harsh conditions of unemployment and a need to improve their social status. Extrinsic pressure can also be placed by the government on immigrants to have them learn the language and culture of the host country. The reasons for adult learners to engage in learning might include quest for knowledge or personal fulfilment (Houde, 2005).
Adult learners at different phases of their lives will have different reasons and purposes for getting into the learning process. Enumerating all the reasons why adults get into learning might be a daunting task. Therefore, the creation of a typology of reasons for the engagement of the various groups of adult learners would be the best approach to analyze the motivation and barriers to adult learning (Houde, 2006).
Barriers and Resistance
Illeris (2007) affirms that learning is also affected or influenced by the three dimensions of learning. The barriers and resistance might be because of interplay between external factors and internal factors. Barriers to learning might take the form of informational, institutional, and demographic barriers. These barriers can be eliminated by an establishment of a strong sense of belonging to groups, institutions, and societies. Dispositional barriers are considered the most significant because they touch on self-actualization and esteem.
The motivation and barriers to adult learning are like two opposing forces. McClusky has come up with a theory; theory of margin, which postulates that for adult learning to occur, the motivation to participate, must exceed the barriers not to participate. This theory can be exemplified in a case where the motivation is seen in the person’s cognitive abilities while the barrier is presented by the academic requirements (Falasca,, 2011). If the motivation is stronger than the barrier then this adult learner will have a positive margin meaning that he can partake of the learning process. This margin must be maintained for the learner to participate continually in the learning process.
In summary, the learner must be sufficiently motivated to participate in the adult learning process. Adult learners from different stage of life are motivated to partake of the learning process by different factors. Learning will only take place when the motivations for participation exceed the barriers against participation.
References
Ahl, H. (2006). Motivation in adult education: a problem solver or a euphemism for direction and control? International Journal of Lifelong Education, 25(4), 385-405. Routledge.
Chao, R. (2009). A Holistic View towards Resistance to Mathematics Learning. EDULEARN09 the International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies (s. 878-889). Barcelona: The International Association of Technology, Education and Development.
Dymock, D.(2007). Engaging Adult Learners. Canberra: Adult Learning Australia.
Falasca, M. (2011). Barriers to adult learning : Bridging the gap. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 51(3), 583-590.
Henschke, B. J. A. (2005). Considerations Regarding the Future of Andragogy. Continuing Education, 22(1-2), 34-38. American Association for Adult & Continuing Education.
Houde, J. (2006). Andragogy and Motivation: An Examination of the Principles of Andragogy through Two Motivation Theories. Online Submission, 4(7), 90-97.
Illeris, K. (2007). How we learn: Learning and non learning inschool and beyond (2nd Edition). New York: Routledge
Knowles, M.S. (1980). The modern practice of adult education: From pedagogy to andragogy (2nd Edition). New York: Cambridge Books.
Ozuah, P. O. (2005). First, there was pedagogy and then came andragogy. Einstein Journal of Biology Medicine, 21(2), 83-87.
Quadt, E. (1977). Interrelationship of motivation and barriers in the learning process in old age (authorʼs transl). Aktuelle Gerontologie, 7(7), 363-368.
Thoms, K. J. (2001). They’re not Just Big Kids: Motivating Adult Learners. Annual Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference. Murfreesboro, TN>
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