YOU may, as an adult learner, have been in a class where you were reminded of your days in high school when the teacher was the “bigger boss”, speaking to you as though to intimidate you.

And as in high school, the result was that you held the teacher in contempt and quite possibly lost interest in the subject matter. Otherwise, you have got into a shouting match with said teacher, resulting in rather strained relations for the duration of the class. Either way, all is not well.

The problem, perhaps more often than not, is the teacher. Such an educator is sometimes from the secondary school system and who has not yet made the transition to higher education. The result is that he/she treats his/her adult students like children.

It is said that when you are teaching children, you take them from the “unknown to the known” but when you are teaching adults you take them from the “known to the unknown”. Therefore, it requires a different tactic.

Malcolm Knowles, an American educator, coined the term andragogy which describes teaching methods and strategies formulated primarily for adults, as distinct from pedagogy. So whereas andragogy is student-centred, pedagogy is teacher-centred.

Below are Knowles’ assumptions about adult learners.

* The need to know: adult learners need to know why they need to learn something before undertaking to learn it.

* Learner self-concept: adults need to be responsible for their own decisions and to be treated as capable of self-direction.

* Role of learners’ experience: adult learners have a variety of experiences of life which represent the richest resource for learning. These experiences are, however, imbued with bias and presupposition.

* Readiness to learn: adults are ready to learn those things they need to know in order to cope effectively with life situations.

* Orientation to learning: adults are motivated to learn to the extent that they perceive that it will help them perform tasks they confront in their life situations. The teaching methods include role play, case study, self-evaluation, group presentations, etc.

The teacher of adults must therefore understand and appreciate the wealth of experience before him/her and use each to enhance the delivery of the subject matter.

Unlike children, adult learners will challenge your competence or lack thereof and will want to be an active participant in the training curriculum.

The teacher who fails to make the transition and talks down to the adult learners instead of engaging them in an interactive way, will find that he/she will have frequent inter-personal conflicts with the students.

Insulting and embarrassing the adult learner, as is common in the secondary school system, is not only disrespectful but will also affect one’s ability to effectively impart the subject matter.

Wayne A Powell is a human resources professional. He may be contacted at crisscounsellor@yahoo.com.