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A fundamental aspect of adult education is engaging adults in becoming lifelong learners. More often than not, this requires removing barriers to learning, especially those relating to the actual organisational or institutional learning process. This article explores some of the main barriers to adult learning discussed in the literature and examines some practical guidance on how to overcome them.
Introduction
Much has been said and written about barriers to adult learning. However, most of the literature in the field is concerned with barriers to participation, and not many authors or writers focus on how to deal with these barriers. Thus, the purpose of this article is both to place more emphasis on barriers to the actual (organisational or institutional) learning process and to discuss possible techniques and strategies to help overcome them.
In so far as the adult learners themselves are central to the topic of barriers to adult learning, this article starts by considering different definitions of adults as learners. The second section explores some of the main barriers to adult learning discussed in the literature, and the third section examines some practical guidance on how to remove, or at least minimise, these barriers. Finally, the article provides a short overview of why educators of adults need to consider barriers to learning in their practice.
Adults as learners
There are several definitions of the adult learner throughout the literature. However, different authors focus on different perspectives.
Merriam and Caffarella (1999: 70-71) define the adult learner in terms of who participates and who does not participate in adult education. They identify the profile of the typical adult learner as being 'remarkably consistent: white, middle class, employed, younger, and better educated than the non-participant'.
Other authors have attempted to define adult learning by distinguishing it from pre-adult schooling. Knowles (1980), for example, identified the following characteristics of adult learners:
* adults are autonomous and self-directed; they need to be free to direct themselves
* adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities and previous education
* adults are relevancy-oriented; they must see a reason for learning something
* adults are more problem-centered than subject-centered in learning
* adults are motivated to learn by internal factors...