This instructor has worked at an adult learning center for 4 years, helping students earn their GED. The center offers classes twice a week in the evenings for Pennsylvania residents aged 18 and older. Students pursue self-directed learning to earn their GED and are taught skills like reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. The instructor finds the work rewarding but also challenging, as adult students have complex lives that can interfere with their studies. They aim to support students and guide them towards future opportunities like community college or vocational programs.

1. Interview with a
Professional Teacher
of Adult Learners

2. I interviewed one of the instructor’s at the Adult Learning Center where
I’m completing my Site Report. At the Adult Learning Center, a
Community-based non-formal learning environment, adult learners strive
to gain their General Education Diploma; GED (Merriam, Caffarella, &
Baumgartner, 2007, p. 32). Students attend class either every Monday &
Wednesday or every Tuesday & Thursday evenings from 6:30-9:00pm.
This instructor works with the students ever Monday & Wednesday
evening. The program is designed for residents of Pennsylvania; eighteen
years or older not currently enrolled in an approved or licensed
secondary school. Students in the classes are attending with the primary
initiative for planning, carrying out, and evaluating their own learning
experiences; self-directed learning, because it’s by choice that they’ve
decided to fulfill the obligation of gaining their GED (Merriam, Caffarella,
& Baumgartner, 2007, p. 110). While attending the program students are
educated on the five topics covered; language arts (reading), language
arts (writing), mathematics, science and social studies.

3. What position do you hold in higher
education?
I’m currently a secondary-education teacher
full-time throughout the academia year;
however, I also work with adults in the
evenings preparing them for their GED. I don’t
have any formal education with teaching adult
learners. I do attend educational workshops
that are offered through Franklin, Cumberland,
and York counties in Pa.

4. How long have you been in that role?
I have been working with the Adult GED
Center for about 4 years now.

5. What do you like about your job?
I enjoy my ability to help adult learners gain
access to their independence. They are able to
gain self-confidence through their learning.
They discover that they can achieve.

6. What are some of the positive benefits that
you see while in your position?
In my position I’ve watched young, single
parents; immigrants; those involved with the
criminal justice systems; those in addiction
recovery; and many more adult learners with a
wide array of dynamics presenting that have
been able to gain their diploma. This is the
most gratifying part of my position.

7. What are the challenges you face in your job?
Challenges have been diverse; sometimes even emotionally and mentally
draining. As an educator there are boundaries that I maintain within the
secondary environment that are different than the boundaries I am
required to maintain within the adult learning environment, so I can be
easily affected by the struggles I know my adult learners are
experiencing. Their dynamics are different, more complicated, than those
of my high school students lives are. When I have a single-parent unable
to secure proper child-care or an adult learner in recovery that’s
bordering a relapse; my efforts with that adult learner are tested, I have to
also be a counselor to help guide them, offer them outlets and resources
that may be able to keep them in their educational program. Being able to
offer such resources is for their betterment. It’s a challenge for me to face,
especially when I recognize that the adult learner is not open to my
counseling. There is not a parent or other supportive member I can call
for assistance to help them. It’s strictly up to that learner to either want
their education or not; to accept my counseling and resources or not.

8. Do you discuss college and career goals with
your students?
Yes; I do encourage many options with my
adult learners. The options discussed are
typically their moving forward to a community
college or to the vocational center. Some
students will ask further questions and want
further guidance and in those cases; I do my
best to offer those learners all of the resources
and guidance I can to get them on to the next
phase of their educational experience.

9. What are the demographics of your
institution?
The demographics change from week-to-week
and month-to-month due to the program being
offered. I have many immigrants who have just
learned English, single parents, probation and
parolees, and many learners that are in their
addiction recovery process.

10. Have you noticed equity and diversity getting better,
getting worse, or staying about the same since you
were hired?
I have noticed that the adult learners will treat one
another with respect and equality. They all tend to
respect the fact that they are in the same program;
many at different learning stages within the program,
but in the same program. They all share the same
ultimate goal. I notice that equity and diversity is
accepted and encouragement among adult learners
remains in as a positive facet within the GED Program.

11. What have you learned in your position?
I have been humbled since beginning my position
with this program. I have learned to have a greater
appreciation for the adult learners and their life
circumstances. Prior to holding my position here I
did not have the understanding of these learners
daily life struggles. I can honestly say I’ve been
humbled and have a gained appreciation for them
and their lives.

12. What advice do you have for someone starting out?
Remember that you are in the field of education to help others;
whether they are students under the age of 18 or above it, you are
in their presence to help assist them with learning. You cannot
force anything upon them, but if you recognize their need for
motivation, simply speaking to them can go a long way. Don’t
allow yourself to become too emotionally involved, but expect
that working face-to-face with adult learners and their many
dynamics and life circumstances, that you will become emotional
at certain points. It is at those times you’re going to need to recall
your role and think outside of the box to offer them the assistance
and resources they may require without allowing yourself to be
engulfed by their situations. Besides this; simply become the
educator that you feel you’re setting out to be and do your best job
at it.

13. I felt that my interview went well and was conducive to what I’ve been
learning in this course. The interview focused on the same organization
that I’ll being completing my Site Report at; so I gained greater insight into
working with their adult learner students. The environment is a
structured classroom setting with a learner-centered approach; the
educator works with the adult learners on areas, such as, direct writing
samples, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, reflection on the
diverse roles adults play in society, understanding the sources of societal
change, and contextual settings relevant to adults. I believe that this
community-based learning environment experience will be insightful for
me in the area of andragogy and heutagogy. Andragogy was able to take
learning from face-to-face teaching methods, along with an individual’s
ability for self-directness, and incorporated heutagogy, self-determined
learning, one that allows for a new set of principles and practices across
the entire spectrum of education (Hase & Kenyon, 2000). These theories;
their principles and practices are seen within the teaching methods of this
Adult Learning Center.

14. References:
Merriam, S.B., Caffarella, R.S., & Baumgartner,
L.B. (2007). Learning in adulthood; a
comprehensive guide. 3rd edition. San Francisco,
CA. Josey Bass.