I have long been of the firm belief that good teaching is good teaching, and the same principles apply across a variety of settings and whether you are teaching kindergarteners, teenagers, professionals, or anyone else. The courses I have taken through the University of Maine Educational Technology program this year have introduced the ideas of “andragogy” and “adult learning theory.” I have had the opportunity to lead a variety of adult learning opportunities that have been successful and well-received during my career, and I attribute my success to my very conscious effort to design learning experiences for adults the same way that I would for children. The lingering reservations I have regarding “adult learning theory” are not with the actual strategies or frameworks, but rather that these are built upon the core assumption that treating adults “like children” is inherently disrespectful and demeaning.

In Aguilar and Cohen’s The PD Book (2022), chapter four opens with an anecdote from co-author Elena Aguilar’s first year of teaching. Aguilar and her new colleagues are subject to a poorly-planned and ineffective PD session on the new reading curriculum–a story that will feel all-too familiar to many educators reading the book. Among other issues, Aguilar notes that participants “had complied with the instructions, but they hadn’t learned anything” (Aguilar & Cohen, 2022, Chapter 4, para. 6). Unfortunately, this kind of scenario is not unique to adult learners. In her 2020 book Learning First, Technology Second in Practice, Kolb describes chatting with a kindergarten student who was expected to be engaged with an adaptive literacy application on his iPad, but in her conversation with the child, Kolb learned that he had discovered a way to bypass the phonics lesson in order to get to the game portion of the application. The data collected from the adaptive program would be meaningless, yet the boy was “working quietly and behaving” (Kolb, 2020, p. xi); in other words, he was complying with instructions, but not learning anything.

Aguilar and Cohen (2020) go on to outline Aguilar’s seven principles of adult learning: adults must feel safe to learn, adults come to learning experiences with histories, adults need to know why we have to learn something, adults want agency in learning, adults need practice to internalize learning, adults have a problem-centered approach to learning, and adults want to learn. I would argue that all these very same principles could apply to children and other young learners. The authors do note, however, that they specifically use the term “adults” because “somehow we often forget to provide adults with the conditions for learning that we often provide children” (Chapter 4, “Adult Learning Theory 101” section, para. 9), which is an important and valid point. I have certainly become frustrated with PD sessions in which I sat passively being lectured about not lecturing passive students.

However, in her list of “What NOT to do when I deliver PD,” Aguilar’s first item is “Treat adults like children” (Chapter 4, para. 13). By presenting “adult learning” in contrast to and as distinct from learning for children and adolescents, an unfortunate dichotomy is created. The implication of this dichotomy–whether intentional or not–is that the inverse must be true or acceptable for young learners. For example, in their discussion of characteristics of adult learning, Rohlwing and Spelman (2014) note the importance of context, citing several theorists who argue that “adult learning needs to be set in the context of the learner’s environment” (p. 235). I frequently see the decontextualization of learning as a common problem and point of frustration for both teachers and young learners. For example, a colleague once lamented to me that her students’ writing was not improving although they scored well in IXL drills. But IXL drills disconnect the skills we want students to develop from the appropriate context. I would argue that the most effective way for students to strengthen their writing skills is through writing. Context is important for all learners.

Aguilar and Cohen (2022) argue that the poorly-equipped PD presenter introduced in the opening anecdote likely did not view the teachers as “adult learners” or “people who wanted and needed to learn something” but rather as “laborers to control” (Chapter 4, para. 22; emphasis in original). This is an important and insightful criticism. From Aguilar and Cohen’s (2020) example, we can also see how adult learners are cognizant of and (justifiably) annoyed by would-be learning activities that are more focused on compliance and control than transformational learning. I would argue that the true difference between adult and young learners is that adults, broadly speaking, have the awareness and social capital to push back against enforced compliance. Leading for compliance and control leads to distrust and resentment and will miss opportunities for true engagement and transformative learning (Brown, 2018). The power differential between educators and their students is so significant that ongoing efforts to enforce compliance are so commonplace as to become effectively invisible to both sides. Far too often, what we observe as “engagement” or “working quietly and behaving” could be more accurately described as compliance. If we perceive treating adults “like children” as demeaning and insulting, we ought to be treating our children better.

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