The Adult Persistence in Learning Model - Essay Example

The objective of Slaney’s piece of writing is to clarify (1) why conventional adult development theory does not sufficiently direct psychotherapist who works with adult learners, (2) how the Adult Persistence in Learning approach provide a path for a psychotherapist to be certain that learning troubles are developed by adult learners, and (3) what the insinuation of the approach denotes for a psychotherapist in their job with adult learners.

Adult development and adult learner development hypothesis draw out extra queries than answers when tackling adult learners. Even the text from adult edification does not essentially give responses for psychotherapists giving service to adult learners. Adult education plans such as training and development or ongoing edification are intended to become accustomed to the requirements of adults and to generate surroundings favorable to adult learning.

According to Slaney personal or collective interference can assist adult learners to look at the optimistic feature of interrupting satisfaction to complete higher education. Contributors should assist adult learners to concentrate on all three predilections. Even with the difficult family and professional responsibilities, adult learners discover to cope: attaining educational objectives becomes supreme. The changeover in the educational surroundings itself can be a test for adult learners. Adult learners create equilibrium in habitat, employment, and school tasks.
While tackling individual matters adult learners are also required to concentrate on the requirements of formal learning. Adult learners who know the political character of education are being sensible about the method and atmosphere of higher education. Beginners may at first need assistance with this job. The openings propel an obvious note of greeting to adult learners.

Educational surroundings that make easy learning for adults are friendly places. The replica proposes a heuristic instrument for the investigation of the apprehensions of adult learners. Adult learners vary in their ability to tackle the structure; the establishment of higher education varies in their consideration of the requirements of adult learners. The Adult Persistence in Learning approach offers a deliberate road map to direct counseling involvement with adult learners in higher education.

So MacKinnon Slaney’s article directly relates to our course material as both writers agree that to endure in the present-day world, adults should be able to change. Technology has flourished in every aspect of life the home, recreation, and the workplace. New technologies have changed communication systems and work procedures. As organizations downsize, adults are required to adapt to the changing needs of the workplace. Employees often have to use new technology, adapt processes to their work's needs, and develop new products. All these changes require adult learning. Adult learning is a tension and conflict-filled process, oscillating between concrete emotional experiences and deliberate cognitive reflection. Although all adults are exposed to a multitude of life experiences, not everyone learns from these. Learning happens only when there is reflective thought and internal ‘processing’ by the learner, in a way that actively makes sense of an experience and links it to previous learning.

Slaney’s Adult Persistence in Learning Model is that adults work amid uncertainty, complexity, and value conflict, often managing problems for which few existing rules learned through formal training or experience can apply. Slaney argues that one learns by noticing and framing problems in particular ways, then experimenting with solutions. When one encounters unique problems or situations containing some element of surprise, one is prompted to reflect in action by improvising on the spot, thinking up and refining, and retesting various responses.

I agree that in the everyday process of adult learning, Slaney’s Adult Persistence in Learning theory explains that an adult learner gets procedural knowledge and prepositional knowledge through reflecting on experiences. But in critical reflection, I question how adult learners framed the problem in the first place. Even if no apparent problems exist, the thoughtful practitioner questions situations, asking why things are the way they are, and why events unfold in the way they do.

As a professional field, adult education and training have concentrated on developing adult learners' core skills. As the field has developed, specialist knowledge bases have emerged: vocational education, human resource development, distance education, radical and popular education, organizational learning, and public education. Some attention has also been paid to the history, philosophy and political economy of adult education, and central issues like research, policy and equity. Read More