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Society requires that people continuously upgrade knowledge and skills.
Futurists have stated that education will play an ever-increasing role
because
of employment requirements, as well as for personal development. Beyond
societal and work requirements, lifelong learning is becoming a greater
part of
the life of everyone.
As a result, much research has been done on adult education.
One of the
most influential researchers in the area of adult education is Malcolm
Knowles. His work started in the 1970s to determine how adults
learn. He defines
adult education as:
“All experiences of mature men and women by which they acquire new knowledge, understanding, skills, attitudes, interests or values.”
This is an inclusive
definition
that encompasses all types of adult learning in formal and nonformal
environments.
More recently in the 1995 Handbook of Adult and Continuing
Education,
Sean Courtney has defined adult education as “an
intervention into
the ordinary business of life – an intervention whose immediate
goal is
change, in knowledge or in competence.” He goes on to
define an adult
educator as “one, essentially, who is skilled at making such
interventions.”
Based upon many years of research and experience of working with
adults, we
know that there are many similarities in how adults learn and what they
expect
from educational programs.
Now, it's on to learning theories.
