Understanding Adult Learners: An Introduction to Adult Development Early Childhood & Lower School Heads Conference June 2011 Ann Mellow, National Assn. of Episcopal Schools Models of Adult Development Developmental stage Generationa l stage Self Career stage Constructive-Developmental Model: How do we make sense of the world and our experience? • Assumes that people can change over time because development and growth are lifelong processes • Attends to how a person knows, not just what a person knows Constructive-Developmental Model: How do we make sense of the world and our experience? • Distinguishes between transformational learning and informational learning • Sees “development” as a qualitative change in how we make sense of our experience, not simply an increase in skill or knowledge Constructive-Developmental Model: How do we make sense of the world and our experience? • Development is an interactive process between the person and his or her environment • Development happens by way of periods of stability and periods of change Constructive-Developmental Model: How do we support and promote adult growth? Growth requires a “holding environment” that provides a healthy mix of support and challenge by: Meeting people where they are Challenging them to grow and take perspective on their “self” “Sticking around” to provide continuity and context for their experience Constructive-Developmental Model: Three Common Stages of Adult Development • Instrumental Knowers • Socializing Knowers • Self-Authoring Knowers Instrumental Knowers • What do you have that can help me? What do I have that can help you? • Rule oriented; tend to see a clear “right” or “wrong” • Tend not to take the full perspective of others • Approval or acceptance by others is not important Each “Knower” Needs Different Supports and Challenges: Instrumental Knowers Positive Supports: • Clear information, rules and guidelines • Clear expectations and outcomes Healthy Challenges: • Helping them to see other perspectives • Helping them to see more than one way to resolve a problem or conflict Socializing Knowers • Oriented to their inner state; more reflective than Instrumental knowers • Can subordinate their own needs and desires to those of others • Seek consensus and tend to avoid conflict • Identify with their relationships; approval and acceptance by others are important Each “Knower” Needs Different Supports and Challenges: Socializing Knowers Positive Supports: • Having mentors and guides • Sharing or working in small groups • Encouraging them to share their thinking Healthy Challenges: • Developing own beliefs independent of “valued” others • Becoming more comfortable with conflict and differences of opinion Self-Authoring Knowers • Take responsibility for their internal self • Generate their own values and prioritize competing values • Have a personal system of belief or ideology • See conflict as normal • There is not one “right answer”, just pros and cons and a variety of viewpoints with options to be weighed Each “Knower” Needs Different Supports and Challenges: Self-Authoring Knowers Positive Supports: • Evaluating and critiquing their own practice • Having leadership opportunities that allow them to “own” a project or task Healthy Challenges: • Opening up to other people’s values • Accepting different approaches to the process of solving a problem Career Stages: Five Developmental Tasks Across the Career Span Generalizing v. Specializing Establishing an Organizational Identity Redefining Career Dreams Achieving Balance: between work, family, and self-development Maintaining a Positive Growth Orientation How do we support and promote adult growth? Create a community of professional practice with varied opportunities for growth, such as: • Teaming • Leadership Roles • Collegial Inquiry • Mentoring Expect periods of stability and change Expect people to have a variety of needs, perspectives, and responses Questions for reflection and discussion: How do we support and promote adult growth? • What are the characteristics of our school’s “holding environment”? • How does our school both support and challenge adults in their development? • What kinds of opportunities and structures do we provide? • How do we “stick with” people in their development? Questions for reflection and discussion: How do we support and promote adult growth? How do we attend to differences in: • World views/developmental perspectives? • Career stage? • Generational experience, ways of being, and priorities? References • Drago-Severson, Eleanor. (2004) Helping Teachers Learn: Principal Leadership for Adult Growth and Development. Corwin Press. • Evans, Robert. The Human Side of School Change: Reform, Resistance, and Real-Life Problems of Innovation. (1996). Jossey-Bass. • “Talkin’ About My Generation,” Foresight, Fall 2009. Sobel & Co., LLP