My Masters class yesterday was illuminating. It was focused on adult learning and androgogy, which is an area I have done little research in, even though I have spent this school year as a mentor. I suppose in our drive to improve student learning, we seldom think about the most effective, and ethical, ways to teach other adults.
One of the issues that came to the forefront for me was that of ethical adult learning, highlighting the importance of careful consideration of what we present to adult learners before a training or learning session. We read a chapter from Mezirow’s Transformative dimensions of adult learning (1991) that really made the case that we must be cautious to meet ethical criteria in our work with teachers. Part of this ethical work involves being aware of some of the changes in personal perspective that occur with transformative learning, and being willing to support the teacher through the transformation and afterward. This is essentially relevant to those who teach seminars and one day sessions. We must be willing to follow up with and continue to work with teachers we inspire or shift into new perspectives on learning, as we are the impetus for such learning.
Another ethical issue we must consider with Professional Learning is the concept of balanced or honest representation of ideas. As with the students we teach in class, we have to be willing to offer multiple perspectives in our teaching, and let the adult learners choose the option that is best suited to them, even if it is not the option we would choose. If we don’t provide this balanced perspective, the perspective we believe is best is not an authentic choice, and Professional Learning merely becomes indoctrination. I’m glad I came to this learning in the week I begin to plan my first half-day Professional Learning session with another school. It will change the way I engage the teachers in learning, and certainly in how I follow up afterward with them. I mean, how often do we think about providing alternative perspectives to concepts like technology integration and infusion? Even if the alternatives are highly deficient (in our eyes) our ethical responsibility is to ‘put it out there’ so the learner can choose the most effective perspective for their practice and belief system.
Let me know what you think!
Have a great day, and thanks for reading!
