I find it interesting that the concept of adult learning (including Knowles) is not more widely known. Its really is obvious that the adult brain acquires information and applies it in different ways to that of a child.

Personally I think the demands of adult learning largely go unnoticed because adults are less likely to go off task and start hitting their neighbour with a ruler when they are bored to tears or confused.

I wonder if our aspirations for developing new systems to support pupil learning are just that: our aspirations as adults i.e. what we wish learning was like for us.

Anyone who has sat though INSET death by power point or experienced the complete tripe which constitutes 90% of adult e-learning courses must be crying out for the application of some of the basic principles of adult learning theory, or indeed any theory at all.

Not wishing to labour the point but the vast majority of training which teachers are exposed to is:

• Depersonalised
• Decontextulaised
• Atomised
• Lacking direct links to practice
• One off events

We break every theoretical principle of learning when teaching adults. We wouldn’t expose young people to it, why teachers?

Teachers are left poorly equipped to embed the information they have acquired in classroom practice. Our research shows that traditional teacher PD leads to enactment levels of only 5%. I.e. only 5% of what they have learned in an INSET actually finds its way into the classroom.

If new and wonderful pedagogies are not being enacted there is no reason to expect and improvement in learning outcomes. Indeed, all the technology in the world won’t make a spot of difference to learning if teachers aren’t effectively supported implementing it (interactive whiteboards anyone?)

We can build wonderful new schools, all chrome and glass, but until it is recognised that the greatest influence on pedagogy is the andragogy which surrounds it; all you will have done is spent money.

I will shortly be launching the enactnow blog site where we will be bashing these sorts of problems (and hopefully some of the solutions) around. I’ll post a link once it’s up!