Identifying Appropriate Adult Educator Practice: Beliefs, Feelings and Behaviors

The literature of adult education provides a broad spectrum of characteristics necessary for adult educators to practice in this emerging field. It was the purpose of this study to take some major steps toward developing an assessment instrument indicating the beliefs, feelings and behaviors adult educators need to possess. The instrument emphasizes the teacher's personal and contextual identification, actions and competencies in the classroom, and philosophical beliefs for guiding practice. Two major groups totaling six hundred adult educators were used to test and refine the instrument: faculty in an Adult Basic Education/General Education Development/English as a Second Language Program in Chicago City Colleges (CCC); and, faculty at the St. Louis Community College (SLCC). The instrument was developed into a Likert type scale. Each questions became "How frequently do you...?" The answer for each item had four choices: Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Often. The factors analysis for the CCC group from top rank in descending order were: Factors: Teacher empathy with learners (Mean = 3.79) Teacher trust of learners (Mean = 3.53) Planning and delivery of instruction (Mean = 3.50) Accommodating learner uniqueness (Mean = 3.28) Teacher insensitivity toward learners (Mean = 2.86) Learner-centered learning processes (experience-based learning processes) (Mean = 2.75) Teacher-centered learning processes (Mean = 1.89) The factor analysis for the SLCC group from top rank in descending order were: Factors: Sensitivity to learner differences (Mean = 3.82) Teacher trust of learners (Mean = 3.45) Teacher-centered learning process (Mean = 3.10) Experience-based learning techniques (Mean = 2.70) Teacher insensitivity toward learners (Mean = 2.42)