Philosophies of Adult Education

Philosophies 1

Running Head : PHILOSOPHIES

Philosophies of Adult Education

Philosophies 2

The five major philosophies in adult education are : liberal progressive behaviorist humanistic and radical adult education

Liberal adult education is the philosophy that emphasizes mastery of the content . The teacher is acknowledged as an expert and where the information flows in one direction , that is from the teacher to the learner and not vice versa (Kumar ,n .d . Its purpose is to develop intellectual powers of the mind to enhance the broadest sense of learning and to provide

a general well-rounded ' education (Spurgeon Moore , 1997 . Here , the education of the mind in general is more important than training the people for specific jobs or careers in particular (Roney , 2007 . Lecture , reading and critical analysis question-and-answer teacher led discussion individual study and standardized testing are the methods of learning used in this philosophy (Zinn , 1990

Progressive adult education is the philosophy adopted for training in many organizations . The programs based on this belief are learner-centric and problem focused (Roney , 2007 . Learner-centric since the course design emphasizes the experience of the learner as the main determining factor in achieving the goal and problem-focused because the courses are designed around solving problems (Kumar , n .d The teacher 's role is to stimulate , instigate and evaluate the direction of the learning process (Spurgeon Moore , 1997 . Creating projects use of scientific or experimental methods simulations group investigations and cooperative learning are the methods of learning applied in this philosophy (Zinn , 1990

Behaviorist adult education...