Learning by Doing: Section 5.7

5.7 Self-directed development for further education lecturers

This is an example of a course which uses action learning (see Section 4.1.7). The teachers on this in-service course, which leads to a Certificate in Education for Further Education, spend one day a week on the course and the other four days with a regular teaching timetable.

The values and assumptions which underlie this course are very different from those of a teacher-centred course where the content and process is specified for the learners, and where the learners make few if any decisions about the operation of the course. To help the teachers on this course adjust to the very different responsibilities they have as learners, these assumptions are spelt out at the start of the course and the central assumptions are reproduced below. These assumptions could act as a model for courses based on the experiences and needs of learners' competence in specific situations requiring communication skills.

The main activities on the course consist of:

Small group work (known as 'learning groups') in which individuals are given equal group time to reflect upon and discuss issues which concerned them: either about their teaching outside the course, or about their own learning on the course. These groups are stable throughout the course and meet for one hour a day.

Small group work (known as 'task groups') in which individuals form working groups to address particular shared problems. Individuals negotiate their own groups or might even work alone. The membership of groups changes and groups dissolve and re-form as problems are solved and new issues are identified. The bulk of all available time is spent in these 'task groups'

ASSUMPTIONS, VALUES AND BELIEFS

Adults learn best when they:

1	BECOME AUTONOMOUS, that is, they move from a state of dependency to one of interdependency and autonomy.
2	MAKE USE OF THEIR EXPERIENCE, that is, we should try to take account of each course member's reservoir of experience.
3	REFLECT UPON EXPERIENCE. This may require an initial unfreezing and learning to learn from experience.
4	ARE PRESENT-ORIENTED, that is, that course members' interests are centred on the present. They look for immediate application and are less willing to wait for benefits.
5	LEARN FROM PROBLEMS RATHER THAN FROM SUBJECTS. There should be an emphasis on tackling problems and issues grounded in the professional practice of course members rather than on the teaching and learning of 'subjects'.
6	ARE ACTIVITY BASED. Course members should be helped to move from passivity to activity in their approach to learning.
7	ARE INVOLVED IN NEGOTIATION. Overall the learner should accept a share of the responsibility for planning, operating and evaluating the course.
8	FOCUS ON PRINCIPLES. There needs to be a move away from an initial focus on particular experience to a focus on general principles.
9	HAVE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN LEARNING.
10	ACKNOWLEDGE THE IMPORTANCE OF PROCESS. Course members should reflect on their own and their group's learning process.
11	SHARE IDEAS AND FEELINGS.
12	EXPERIENCE OPENNESS, TRUST AND COMMITMENT. There should be an emphasis on the development of equality, mutual trust and respect and mutual helpfulness.
13	SET THEIR OWN GOALS. Each course member should derive his or her own learning goals from practice.
14	ARE IN A CLIMATE CONDUCIVE TO LEARNING. A major role for the tutor is in establishing a climate conducive to learning.

The teachers are expected to examine critically their practice as teachers, identify aspects of their practice which, if improved, would enhance the learning of their students, and make a commitment to improve that aspect of their practice. The course requirement is that the teachers:

1	Write a statement describing what aspect of your current practice you want to improve.
2	Write statements describing ways (imagined) that you might improve the aspect of your practice which you have chosen to improve.
3	Write statements describing how you will know when the aspect of your practice you have chosen has improved.

The teachers are told:

Improvement of your classroom practice can be achieved through a process of continual monitoring which can be viewed as a cyclical process involving the four stages of planning, action, observation and reflection. These elements can be shown diagrammatically as follows:

The role of the tutor on this course is explained to the teachers in the following way:

"My job will be to facilitate your learning as you work through successive cycles, by making available resources that you need. You must see me only as a resource which you may choose to use if you feel it to be appropriate."

To help to organise and co-ordinate the independent work of the 'learning groups' and 'task work groups', the tutor sets up an additional group known as a 'community group' which is effectively the whole group. It meets at the start of every course day and runs and evaluates the course, the organisation of extracurricular activities and the planning of the content of the task work groups. This operates as a learning cycle within a learning cycle, learning about and developing the main learning processes of the course.

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Created by Claire Andrew
Page created 10 January 2001