As a follow up to Dr. Peter Rushbrook’s post on keynote speaker Stephen Billet, I was curious to find out Prof. Billett’s insights on what makes some adults learn better than others.
I asked the Professor what helps adult learners succeed at work.
Here are 7 things he zoomed in on:
- Being respected
Through being treated with respect and involved in workplace decision-making, adult learners are likely to be both more fully engaged in their work activities and learning for their work, and are motivated to do both.
- Given opportunities
Opportunities for adults to utilise and extend their capacities through work activities generate rich learning and strong commitment to contribute to the workplace.
- Peer guidance and support
As work requirements change, adults need support and guidance to learn new skills. The best way to show such support is in ways that are respectful of the learner. For instance, older workers in Singapore have said they prefer to learn through processes that permit them to share what they know and also learn from others in reciprocal sharing, not being positioned as students and being taught by others.
- When work becomes a vocation
When workers come to identify with their occupation, it becomes a vocation, a calling, rather than a job. They become motivated in not only being good at what they do but also actively engage in learning more about it. This happens when we find meaning and value in our work.
- Commitment to learning
It’s very rare to find a worker who doesn’t want to be competent in their workplace and effective at work. Most people want to do a good job, and to be utilised effectively. By providing opportunities that bring out the best in individuals, the workplace benefits too.
- Active learning
The best learning takes place through observation, listening and practice, rather than through formal training courses. Such everyday learning is active and on-going as workers engage in work activities and interactions. These provide a strong base for continuing education and training (CET) arrangements.
- Engaging in new challenges
Tackling new tasks and challenges opens the door to new skills and knowledge. The claim that older workers are not adept with new technologies is largely untrue! The irony is that restricting older workers’ access to new technologies may well make such claims correct! So, having expectations for individuals to engage in new tasks can be central to their learning.
Enjoy this post? Do tune in for more tips and insights from our symposium speakers in the weeks ahead!
Professor Stephen Billet, a keynote speaker at July's IALS12, recently published (December 2011) a 'landmark paper' on the future of Australian higher education, including adult and vocational provision. Titled 'Change, work and learning: aligning continuing education and training' the paper also has relevance to the Singaporean Continuing Education and Training (CET) system. Professor Billet, along with the team that produced the paper, asks the question, 'What models and practices of continuing tertiary education and training can best meet workplace demands and sustain Australia workers' ongoing occupational competence and employability across their working lives?' Given that seventy per cent of learners enrolled
in courses in Australian CET providers are also in full-time or part-time
employment, the team questions current forms of higher education, adult and
vocational education provision which historically have been organised around
the idea of full-time student attendance. In a system that largely provides for entry-level learners, the team proposes a radical rethink of the dominant institutionally-based model of learning. Instead, it suggests that in addition to the accepted model, CET provision might also include a wholly practice-based, or workplace-centred, learning model, or at least a hybrid that includes elements of both. These forms of learning would, it is argued, provide for more authentic workplace knowledge acquisition and sustainable skills transfer.
The proposed models, if enacted, would force a wide-reaching review of existing Australian CET provision. With its well-established higher education systems that include advanced forms of workplace learning and assessment, credit transfer, recognition of prior learning and recognition of current competency, Australia is well-placed to respond to the Billet team's challenge. Singapore, however, with its more recently established CET sector heavily dominated by institutionally based learning and assessment models, would require a radical rethink of current forms of practice. A change, however, may be warranted as a means to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of adult education provision. Like Australia, the sector consists largely of non-entry level learners located in workplaces. As the Billet team suggests: 'The concern here is to identify how best the tertiary education and training system; that is, vocational education and training (VET), adult and community education (ACE), higher education, learning in the workplace can sustain Australian workers' employability across their longer working lives and maximise their contribution to the settings in which they work, and, collectively, to the nation's productivity.' The questions, then, are: Do the Billet team's models have relevance to Singapore? If so, how may they be applied? And, what changes would need to be made to prepare for implementation?
I have supplied links below to the paper and a recent interview with Professor Billet on the paper's main ideas. Of course, questions could also be asked of Professor Billet at ALS12.
For the Billet et. al paper: http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2484.html
For the Billet interview: http://transmoder.com/2012/04/23/continuing-education-models-interview-with-dr-stephen-billett/
