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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