can be applied to continuing education practice; illustrate to us the importance of our personal histories and how they influence what we do as educators; and free us from dependence one someone else's doctrine.
(Apps cited in Zinn, 1998, p 43).
My results from the PAEI indicated stronger preferences to Progressive Adult Education with 87 points and Humanistic Adult Education with 89 points. The philosophy that scored least points was Liberal Adult Education at 49 points. This perspective reminded me of my primary and high school education where the teaching style very much teacher-centered and generally very authoritative and centered on tradition. .
Behavioral Adult Education as it happened was not far behind with 71 points. On reflection I am not surprised by the overall results. I work in the vocational education training (VET) sector and the system is based on competency based training CBT, which some elements of its structure have been aligned to a Behaviourist perspective (Burns, 2002, P.54). .
However, I strive to support and encourage a learning environment that best caters and for my students best interests. Therefore, for the main part my philosophical standing 'sits' mainly in the Humanistic and Progressive Adult Education paradigms. As Tovey & Lawlor express clearly, "a critical component of the humanist perspective is the full engagement of the learner through learning how to learn, self-evaluation and adjusting the program to meet specific personal needs " (2008, p 71).
Beliefs and Aspects that Shape My Teaching Practice.
Students, young to adult learners will have different levels of motivation, different attitudes about teaching and learning, and different responses to specific classroom (or other training) environments. I believe the more thoroughly I understand the learning process and the way people might learn, the better equipped I will be to meet the diverse nature of my training environment.
