Training Skills for

Development Facilitators

Topic: The Concept of Adult

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 Outline
 What is training?
 Training versus education
 Training versus teaching
 Characteristics of teacher-centred
teaching
 The philosophy of learning
 Principles of adult learning

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 What is training?
Training is the process of providing
knowledge and skills and bringing
about desired changes in attitudes
in order to improve the
competence of people being
trained. Its goal is to improve
performance.

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 Training vs.
Education
Training Education
 Usually short term  Long term
 Narrowly focused and  Broadly focused
specific
 Usually designed to  Usually aimed at
meet specific need preparing people
and has immediate for the future
application

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Training vs. Teaching
• Most people teach as they were
taught in schools.
• The teacher controls knowledge
delivery with little or no input
from learners.
• This is teacher-centred teaching.

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Characteristics of Teacher
- centred Teaching
1. Formality
 Classroom arrangement is well defined
- desks arranged in rows one behind
the other.
 The teacher is clearly in charge of the
learning environment, all questions
directed to the teacher.
 Little room for sharing of ideas &
knowledge among learners.

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 Characteristics of Teacher-
centred Teaching (cont’d)
2. Emphasis is on passing exams
 Passing exams becomes ultimate goal
rather than means to the end
 Competition encouraged among
learners, rather than sharing ideas
 So, coaching for exams is common
 If a student fails, s/he is viewed
negatively by peers, parents &
teachers (society).
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 Characteristics of Teacher-
centred Teaching (cont’d)
3. Acquisition of knowledge for
future use
 Knowledge passed onto learners
may not be used for the next 10
or more years, or never used at
all.
 Therefore learning tends to be
detached from practice.

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 Philosophy of learning
 Philosophical basis of conventional
teaching is knowledge acquired through
experiments done in child psychology and
child learning.
 Pedagogy: Science and art of presenting
knowledge and skills to children.
 Unfortunately, the purposes and methods
of this system tend to reward the stronger
students and leave the weaker ones
behind.

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 Philosophy of learning
(cont’d)
 Andragogy: The science and art of
presenting knowledge and skills to
adults.
 Andragogy tends to shift focus from the
teacher/trainer and the transmission
of knowledge, to the learner and how
best to promote learning.
 Other terms: Adult education, Continuing
Education, Self-directed learning, Action
learning, Participatory learning
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 Pedagogy vs. Andragogy
Criteria Pedagogy Andragogy
Learning Vague Precise, clear
objective
Learning External (family, Internal, voluntary
motivation legal), little choice
Roles of Passive Actively involved
learner contribution, little
concern
Roles of Teacher: imposes Trainer/facilitator:
instructor his knowledge an equal & provides
support for learning
Content Curriculum based Needs based
Application Few immediate Immediate, 11
 Philosophy of learning
(cont’d)
It is generally agreed that learning
involves:
1. An active rather than passive
process. Few people now think
of learning as receiving
instructions. Instead learning is
increasingly viewed as an activity
in which learners participate and
are actively involved.
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Philosophy of learning (cont’d)
2. A relatively permanent
change in behavior, where
change is often translated
into an increased capability
or improved performance.

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Philosophy of learning (cont’d)
3. The acquisition of additional
information, skills or attitudes.
Learning may be an addition to what
is already known;
 It may also be a subtraction e.g.
unlearning a bad or ineffective habit;
 Or modification where old
knowledge, skills, or attitudes are
adjusted to cope with new
circumstances.
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 Principles of Adult Learning
1. Adults learn best when their individual
learning styles are respected
2. Adults learn best in an informal, non-
threatening learning environment
3. Adults learn best when they want/need to
learn something
4. Adults learn best when learning relates to
their previous knowledge and experience
5. Adults learn best when they have control
over learning content and activities
6. Adults learn best when training offers
opportunities to practice or apply learning
7. Adults learn best when they can actively
participate mentally and physically in the
learning activities
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 Principles of Adult Learning
1. Adults learn best when their
individual Learning Styles are
respected
 Not everyone learns in the same way,
and each individual has his or her own
preferred style of learning.
 Training design should try to
encompass all or most of the learning
styles for training to be effective

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2. Adults learn best in an
informal, non-threatening
learning environment
 Fear is the greatest enemy of learning.
– It demotivates learners;
– It causes a mental block in the brain.
 Fears and anxieties in training include:
– Fear to expose learner’s ignorance by
trainer or other learners: laughing at a
mistake might diminish the learner’s self-
confidence.

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•Fear of not performing well and the
possible consequences of this for
the learner’s career.
Corrective measures
 Create a friendly physical and
psychological environment.
 Avoid training venues that pose physical
danger as they negatively interfere with
learning, e.g.
– building with cracked walls;
– a place of high risk of physical
harassment, theft or robbery.
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 Introduce warm up exercises or ice
breakers at the beginning of the
training programme which would help
to make participants familiar with each
other and the trainers to reduce
psychological fear and promote
learning.
 Avoid making classroom arrangement
that will remind people of old school
days.
 Provide physical conditions that are
comfortable and encourage interaction
among participants.
 Do not threaten participants with
exams.
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3. Adults learn best when
they want/need to learn
something
 Adults may be motivated to learn
something for a variety of reasons:
 a change in their lives or their jobs;
 a desire for job advancement;
 a love of learning or the desire to do
something new.
 Every effective trainer desires to keep
learners motivated throughout the
training session. Learner motivation is
based on various needs.
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Maslow’s hierarchy
of human needs
 Physiological or Survival needs
– These are the most basic needs and
include the needs for food, water and
warmth. If the learners lack these
basic needs, then training should
focus on helping them satisfy these
needs – e.g. food security, training in
basic farming, small-scale business,
and other survival needs.

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Safety needs
 These needs include living in a safe and
secure physical and emotional
environment.
– If learners have been away from
education or training for a long time,
they may feel vulnerable - afraid they
will not fit in with the others, afraid
they may make mistakes or make
fools of themselves. The trainer here
needs to provide a safe and secure
emotional environment.

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Need for love, affection and sense of
belonging
• These needs involve the desire to be
accepted and to develop friendships.
> It is important for learners to feel at ease and
part of the group at the beginning of a training
session.
Need for esteem
 Involves desire to have a positive image of
oneself, and to receive recognition,
attention, and appreciation from others for
one’s contributions.
– The need for esteem and fear of losing esteem
play an important part in training.
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 Need for self-actualization
The individual is concerned mainly with
developing his or her full potential as an
individual. The chance to be creative
and autonomous-creative exercises,
individual learning projects and self-
directed learning will therefore play an
important role in motivating participants
at this level.

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A trainer has a major role in the
motivation of the participants. The
participants’ interest in the course
will, to a large extent, depend on the
trainer’s enthusiasm and interest for
the course. If you, the trainer, are not
motivated and enthusiastic, you
cannot expect participants to be. Your
interest should not only be in the
content of the course, but also in the
way you respond to them verbally and
non-verbally, and through your
interest to work with them.
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4. Adults learn best when
learning relates to their previous
knowledge & experience
 Adults have a richer foundation of
knowledge and experience to which to
relate new information.
 New learning tends to take on more
meaning since adults (as opposed to
children) are able to relate to their past
experience.
 Adults have acquired a large number of
fixed habits and patterns of thought and
therefore tend to be less open-minded
than young people.
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 Learning for adults becomes more
meaningful if training utilises and builds
on their previous knowledge and
experience. This also increases their
participation.
 Because adults know more and have
experienced more, participatory
techniques such as case studies, role
plays, group discussions are highly
effective.
 If you ignore adults’ previous
knowledge and experience, you run the
risk of interfering with new learning.
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 5. Adults learn best when they have
control over learning content &
activities
Involve adults in:
 Self-diagnosis of their own learning needs,
 Formulating their own objectives for learning,
 Sharing responsibility for designing and
carrying out their learning activities,
 Evaluating their progress towards their
objectives.
Use of group presentations and peer critique to
improve on their performance is an effective
way of evaluation in adult training.

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 6. Adults learn best when
training offers opportunities to
practice or apply learning
• Early opportunities for successful practice
increase participant’s confidence and
motivation.
• Repetition consolidates new information
or skills and reduces the effect of
forgetting.
• Review sessions during and at the end of
the course and follow up training
sessions help to re-inforce learning.
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 7. Adults learn best when they
can actively participate mentally
and physically in the learning
activities
We remember more what we do and say
than of what somebody else says or does.
The more a learner physically and mentally
participates in the training, the more
effective will be the learning. This is
particularly true where a skill is being
learned. A Chinese philosopher called
Confucius once said,
I hear and I forget
I see and I remember
I do and I understand
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