Adult learning and self-directed learners

Abstract

Effective teachers realise that adult learning is facilitated by the teacher. Resistant dependent learning may be a product of culture and upbringing, as well as of the education system. Sources of resistance in adult learners may include threats to cultural identity that might have been generated by the pressures of hierarchical medicine. G. O. Grow's Self-Directed Learning (SSDL) model builds on work by Hersey, and is a helpful way to look at tensions that can arise if the learner's and teacher's levels are not matched. Work-based learning aligns with the principles of adult learning, and represents the most accessible opportunities for self-directed learning during clinical work. Formal reporting and analysis of significant events and critical incidents, like the management of complaints, are tasks that require good reflective skills, and are useful catalysts for learning. Handovers are an excellent opportunity for work-based learning. They affect clinical care, and due to shortened working hours they have become increasingly frequent.