Teachers as Adult Learners: Re-Conceptualizing Professional Development.

Abstract This case study examined a professional development experience that was facilitated for career and technical education teachers to help foster the integration of academics and career and technical education. Unlike most professional development experiences that treat teachers as passive learners, this professional development experience was designed to reflect principles of adult learning. The findings of this study suggest that when principles of adult learning inform and shape professional development experiences for teachers, teachers are able to reflect on their practice, construct professional knowledge with their peers, and develop more collaborative relationships with their fellow teachers. The examined professional development experience was deemed as highly effective by the participants and the participants recommended that principles of adult learning be foundational to all future professional development efforts. Introduction For more than two decades, teachers have been asked to respond to various educational reforms, including changes in curriculum that require more authentic activities and assessments; integrate state standards into the curricula; prepare students for standardized assessments; and include other innovations. These complex changes require teachers to rethink their beliefs about teaching and practices in the classroom. Professional development that provides teachers the opportunity to investigate, experiment, reflect, discuss, and collaborate with other teachers can help them change their practice (Darling-HammondM Lieberman, 1995; Little, 1993); however, the one-size-fits-all workshops that are usually offered try to disseminate new information to teachers in an effort to fix what is broken (Diaz-Maggioli, 2004). This common approach to professional development "requires little in the way of intellectual struggle or emotional engagement, and takes only superficial account of teachers' histories or circumstances" (Little, 1993, p. 22). In such situations, teachers have been told that other people's understandings of teaching and learning are more important than theirs and that outside experts have determined the content and delivery of teachers' professional development (lieberman, 1995). Such experiences can turn adults into passive learners, who can develop negative attitudes that become a barrier in the learning process (Knowles, Holton III, & Swanson, 2005). In fact, research suggests that "teachers are loathe to participate in anything that smacks of one-day workshops offered by outside 'experts' who know (and care) little about the particular and specific contexts of a given school" (Wilson & Berne, 1999, p. 197). The purpose of this manuscript is to explore the needs of teachers and the learning contexts that will help them to grow as professionals. By conceptualizing a learning environment suited for teachers as adult learners, we propose that professional development can provide meaningful learning experiences for teachers within the context of their classroom. We then discuss a successful professional development program that was designed around an andragogical framework, and we provide data on the teachers' learning and collaboration that occurred as a result of creating a learning environment reflective of principles of adult learning. Background If teachers are considered as professionals capable of making complex changes to their practice, they need opportunities to learn with other professionals within the context of their profession. Knowledge is not discrete, but rather it is situated in the specific activity and context in which it is learned and used (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989). Lave and Wenger (1991) suggested that learning is situated within a community of practice. New members of the community start on the periphery of the community, and as they learn knowledge from more senior professionals, they become more fully contributing members. …