Redefining Adult Learning: 6 Principles for Effective Professional Development

Teachers are students too.

by the WriteBoston Coaching Team

What does the phrase “professional development” bring to mind? It might be an image of educators in small groups, deeply engaged in researching, discussing, and practicing the moves they know they need to grow their professional practice. It might be an image of a speaker who clicks methodically through slides, while a large room full of teachers face front and try not to zone out or stress about the pile of grading back at their desks.

For many educators, it may be some of both. Or, one might be the dream and one might be the reality.

At WriteBoston, we are dreamers. We’re also experienced educators and instructional coaches with a mission to bring the reality of education up to its full potential. Professional learning is critical to any educator’s practice, and excellent professional development is not only what teachers need, but what their students deserve.

This summer, we took a dive into adult learning theory. We synthesized key research and our own experience with professional development (or PD as we call it) as both leaders and participants. We’ll use this to grow our own practice and to share with our colleagues, clients, and anyone leading professional learning for educators.

Read on for our six principles of adult learning for education:

Motivation

Adults are motivated to learn things that are meaningful, useful, or solutions-oriented.

Professional learning should feel purposeful. Adults are the most open to learning new things when they see a gap or problem to solve in their own practice; internal motivation is more effective than external.

Teachers frequently experience more learning and change if they choose to participate in a PD opportunity than if it’s mandated—although that’s not always possible for schools and districts. Leveraging motivation could also look like teachers participating in goal or topic setting, coaching that responds to teachers’ own practice goals, or spending extra time grounding in the “why” of professional development.

Context

Adults integrate new concepts best with “on-the-job” learning: as close as possible to the context in which they’ll apply them.

Adult learning is most effective when connected to the context where the learner will be using it. The further away a person gets from the learning context, the more difficult it is to access and implement the new knowledge. This is one of the reasons that job-embedded or in-house professional development (PLCs, coaching, lesson study, etc.) can be very effective.

For external professional development, presenters should put effort into learning about the host site, to be as responsive as possible to the specific context of the school and classrooms. Schools can consider team learning; research has shown that collective participation in PD (teachers from the same grade, department, or school) is correlated with teacher learning.

Experience

Adult learning is grounded in experience, including past experiences and new learning experiences.

Adults bring a greater reservoir of experiences to the learning environment than children do, which they use to make sense of new information. Prior experiences can provide the framework for incorporating new learning—but they can also be obstacles. Giving space for teachers to share and draw on their background knowledge about a topic can set them up to engage more deeply.

Adults also need practice to internalize learning. Professional development that involves active learning experiences (such as student work analysis, observations, or curriculum creation) will be more effective than passive learning such as lectures and presentations. Providing time and support for teachers to integrate new professional learning into their current practice will help ensure that it sticks.

Reflection

Reflection is essential for adults to learn from past experiences and integrate new information.

In order to learn from experience, adults need dedicated time and space for reflection. This step is often skipped when PD time is precious, but in reality, reflection is a critical part of effective professional learning. Reflection helps teachers interpret and analyze their experience and consider when, whether, and how to incorporate new ideas into their existing practice.

Reflection can occur individually or collectively, through thinking, writing, or discussion. It can take place throughout professional development, as a recurring part of team meetings, or through ongoing cycles of experimentation and reflection. Consider questions like:

What’s working? What’s not working? What could we do differently?
What’s resonating with me? What do I have questions about?
What do I already know? What do I want to learn or take away?

Dialogue

Discussion and collaborative meaning-making play an important role in adult learning.

This element is a key difference between the two images of PD that opened this article. Through conversation, discussions, and dialogue, adult learners share learning and begin to develop common understandings. Dialogue can play an important part in:

Motivation; by getting a glimpse of what’s happening in other spaces and setting collective goals;
Experience, by engaging in collaborative tasks to co-develop and internalize new ideas; and
Reflection, by discussing practices and how to implement new learning;

Outside of formal professional development, school structures can support discussion-based learning. This can range from organized professional learning communities (PLCs) to simply a practice of using discussion-based protocols to support productive conversations. Protocols can be used to discuss student work, backwards plan, share problems of practice, and more.

Two great resources for protocols are the National School Reform Faculty and the School Reform Initiative.

Informational & Transformational Learning

Different types of learning necessitate different learning processes.

This key principle calls on leaders and facilitators to determine whether the professional learning goal is informational (a straightforward increase in knowledge or skills), or transformational (shifting beliefs, points of view, or habits of mind). Teachers’ existing beliefs impact their interpretation and adoption of instructional reforms. Transforming these beliefs requires expanded awareness, critical reflection, discourse, and action.

Transformational learning offers teachers the opportunity to reflect on the origins of their beliefs (e.g. ideas about race/gender/disability, or early educational experiences), encounter new information, and come to recognize alternate beliefs. Some topics that call for transformational learning:

Antiracism and other anti-bias work
Shifting from teacher-centered to student-centered pedagogy
Making foundational changes in grading or behavior management practices

Both types of learning, with their own intentional approach and considerations, are necessary for effective professional development.

Learning about adult learning has helped us grow our own practice as educators and facilitators. We’re excited to put these principles into action as we work toward a vision of professional learning that is deeply engaging, student-focused, growth-oriented, and joyful.

Join us on this journey by spending time on your own learning, individually or collectively, with our slide deck Teacher Learning Theory which digs deeper into these principles, or learn more about our work as instructional coaches and facilitators in the Greater Boston area.

Want to explore the research yourself? Here are a few key resources:

Adult Learning Theory

Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007).

Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide. Jossey-Bass.

Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress.

(The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series.)

Rohlwing, R. L. & Spelman, M. (2014). Characteristics of adult learning: Implications for the design and implementation of

professional development programs. In L. E. Martin, S. Kragler, D. J. Quatroche, & K. L. Bauserman (Eds.),
Handbook of professional development in education: Successful models and practices (pp. 231-245). The Guilford Press.