Early Childhood & Lower School Heads Conference June 2011 Understanding Adult Learners: An...

Early Childhood & Lower School Heads Conference

June 2011

Understanding Adult Learners: An Introduction to Adult Development

Ann Mellow, National Assn. of Episcopal Schools

Models of Adult Development

Career stage

Developmentalstage

Generational stage Self

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 thinkingHealthy 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