Faculty issues related to adult degree programs

Abstract

The status of adult education faculty has changed steadily over the past forty years as both intrinsic and extrinsic factors in the field have raised new opportunities, challenges, and obstacles. The trends in program orientation, learner populations, sponsoring institutions, and hiring practices have been largely steered by economic forces outside of a learner-centered model of educational planning, even among programs affiliated with traditional postsecondary institutions. Adult learners, motivated as always by forces ranging from personal growth to a desire to enhance professional skills, increasingly seek formal environments to pursue additional education and training (Kett, 1994). For educators, many of whom have been trained through traditional academic channels, the decision to teach adults is often directed by pragmatic necessities beyond an intellectual attraction to the tenets of andragogy and lifelong learning. Of course, the programming bases for adult programs are broad, spanning community organizations, workplace human resource departments, special interest associations, and other structures that bring adults together to learn. The arena of postsecondary institutions is increasingly meeting this need in various formats, however, and it is perhaps the most philosophically and structurally challenged to address the unique requirements of adult learners.

Table of Contents

“…We review the extant literature on the experiences of non-tenure-track faculty, being sensitive to variation by full-and part-time status, institutional type, and department or discipline. Institutional type and discipline have typically been overlooked; much more research reports on differences between full-and part-time faculty (Hollenshead and others, 2007;Benjamin, 2003aBenjamin, , 2003bClarke and Gabert, 2004).…”

Practitioner–Faculty Dialectic: Balancing Professional Identities in Adult Education

“…Merriam and Brockett maintain that ''connecting our personal views to the larger sociohistorical context may lead to a richer and deeper understanding of why we do what we do in our practice'' (p. 49). Clarke and Gabert (2004) agree, concluding that ''critical reflection of instructors on their own belief systems, preconceptions, and adaptability is [a] characteristic of successful adult educators'' (p. 33).…”

“…Thus, educational experiences influence professional reasoning and decision making (see also Bruss and Kopala 1993). Clarke and Gabert (2004), on the other hand, question the power of formal education to socialize students to a new perspective of adult education practice. They suggest that student beliefs about adult education may not be challenged or transformed by traditional graduate schooling.…”

“…As practitioners, according to Clarke and Gabert (2004), ''many of whom have been trained through traditional academic channels, the decision to teach adults is often directed by pragmatic necessities beyond an intellectual attraction to the tenets of andragogy and lifelong learning'' (p. 31).…”

Accessing the World

“…Moreover, whether or not educators engage in their own transformative inquiry, ''walking the talk'' of TL affects their capacity to guide learner transformation (Tanaka et al, 2014, p. 223). Clarke and Gabert (2004) agree, ''Critical reflection of instructors on their own belief systems, preconceptions, and adaptability is [a] characteristic of successful adult educators' ' (p. 33). Thus, a deeper understanding of the ways adult literacy educators engage in TL is critical for supporting adult literacy learners in their own TL journey.…”