Characteristics of Adult Learners

Brookfield identified six main characteristics of adult learners.

1. They are not beginners, but are in a continuing process of growth
2. They bring with them a unique package of experiences and values
3. They come to education with intentions
4. They bring expectation about the learning process
5. They have competing interests - the realities of their lives
6. They already have their own set patterns of learning

Adult education is therefore most productive when:

• The learners are engaged in the design of learning
• The learners are encouraged to be self-directed
• The educator functions as a facilitator rather than a didactic instructor
• The individual learners' needs and learning styles are taken into account
• A climate conducive to learning is established
• The learner's past experiences are used in the learning process
• Learning activities seem to have some relevance to the learner's circumstances

Adult education

The purpose of adult education is to help them to learn, not to teach them all they know and thus stop them from carrying on learning.

Rogers

BMJ Article

Read the full article from which this came from

Valuing learners' experience and supporting further growth: educational models to help experienced adult learners in medicine
Penny Newman and Ed Peile
BMJ 2002; 325: 200-202.