Mediating Effects of Graduate Faculty Habits of Mind on the Relationship Between Core-Self Evaluations and Adult Learning Practices

Abstract

The intricacies of teaching-learning situations in graduate education are complex and unpredictable owing to the dynamics of adult learners pursuing graduate studies. Most of the graduate students are full-time professionals who come for classes on weekends and who are into juggling their jobs, family responsibilities with the demands of school. Adult learning literatures suggest that adult learners in graduate schools need teachers who could both address the diversity of students’ multi-faceted roles and maximize the richness of their life experiences as learning resources. This paper discusses the influence of the graduate faculty’s habits of mind on their core selfevaluations and adult learning practices. The study sampled forty-one graduate professors from three non-sectarian universities in Northern Philippines. Using Baron and Kenny’s (1986) Mediating Model, the study reveals that habits of mind mediated the relationship between how the faculty regard self (core self-evaluations) and how they view their adult learning practices. The study concludes that habits of mind play a central role in the instructional decisions of the graduate school faculty in facilitating learning. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are drawn for the non-sectarian universities involved in he study. Keywords - habits of mind, adult learning, core self-evaluations