Tseliso Ncheke believes in a learner-centered philosophy of adult education that emphasizes self-directed learning and empowerment. Their approach focuses on drawing out the experiences and knowledge that learners already possess, and helping them develop critical thinking skills to analyze issues and make informed decisions. They strive to create a safe, participatory learning environment where learners feel comfortable sharing views and experiences. The goal is for learners to take responsibility for their own learning and development, rather than relying on the educator.

1. My Adult Education Philosophy
By Tseliso Ncheke
Tseliso Ncheke
12-11-2016

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Introduction
The statement below relates my approach as an adult educator to my work in community and
organizational development. I have come to the conclusion of the purpose, process, nature, and
ideals of education through my experience in working with social/community development
NGOs, where I am involved in education for social behavior change. Kindly take note that when
I use the term educator in this document I also mean community development agent, extension
officer, consultant, health educator, social worker etc. The term learner refers to community
members, organization members and development project’s beneficiaries.
I believe that education is an individual, unique experience for every learner who enters a
learning environment. Each learning setting and different audience requires different set of skills
and approaches, my personal adult learning philosophy can be adopted to the various situations
of what education is and should be, and what are the roles and expectations of learners and
educators. I believe in the importance of lifelong learning, especially informal and experiential
learning. My philosophy of adult education is to create learning environments where adults can
go to develop at their own personal will or push. I believe every learner come to the learning
situation with some form of knowledge and skills, and the key purpose of the education should
be to help learners sharpen the analytic thinking and helping them critically examine issues. As
sited by Bwatwa, (1990), in dealing with adult learners, the adult educator needs to be aware that
these learners enter the learning situation with well-established ideas and patterns of behaviour,
most of which are systematically interconnected with the individual’s self-esteem and values.
Education to me is all processes involved in empowering learners with skills and knowledge to
improve their situation and liberate them for socio-cultural believes that hinders their
development to living a better life. I strongly believe in Behaviorism, Progressivism and

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Humanism philosophies, where the purposes of learning are focused on emphasize skill
acquisition, equipping learners with practical knowledge and problem-solving skills, enhance
personal growth, development respectively.
Self-directed learning
I believe education point of departure is affirmation and validation of the experience, insights
and knowledge of the individual. As adult educator I apply encouragement versus excessive
criticism as I have learned it leads to individual initiative instead of paralysis. I believe that
people, as social creatures, have a hunger for interaction and information sharing, and will use
any opportunity to learn from one another. I therefore see my role as the educator as facilitation
of learning by drawing on the experience of the learners, to build on that experience through the
acquisition of new insights, knowledge and skills.
Self-directed learning provides the learner with the ability to make choices, to take responsibility
for their own learning, and “the capacity to articulate the norms and limits of learned society, and
personal values and beliefs” (Goddu, 2012). Self-directed learning provides students with the
“opportunity and freedom to choose the means of acquiring knowledge that is best suited” to
them based on their own self-knowledge (Alex et al., 2007). Practically this means, I develop
learning tools that goes beyond just showing or telling learners, but that gives them opportunities
to choose for themselves what they want to read about, watch, reflect, or do to further knowledge
beyond the learning situation. I create materials, methods and strategies that ensures critical
thinking, problems solving, and other learning-how-to-learn skills. Teachers should seek to help
the learners develop their own potential and capacity by listening to the learners’ demands and
by developing a dialogue between the learners’ feelings and emotions, so as to allow them to

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participate freely in the learning process as sited by (Bwatwa, 1990). My role as the educator I
believe is to help learners know how to think not what to think per say.
It is always my understanding that learning environment should create in the student a hunger for
the acquisition of knowledge, insights and skills beyond the direct experience with the teacher.
As I thoroughly believe that students are responsible for their own learning because the greatest
learning occurs when adults:
• Take responsibility for determining what they learn
• Learn what is personally beneficial
• Learn what they discover for themselves
• Learn from both experience and feedback instead of just experience alone (Adjunct
Faculty Guide, 2012)
My believe is that learning must be self-directed, and my philosophy of education is learner-
centered with an emphasis on empowerment by creating environments that match learner needs.
I always pursue careful investigation in order to understand the situation of the leaners before
beginning the learning processes, which includes conducting learning or training needs
assessment to identify need and relevance, and attentively listen to what is deemed as needs or
priority learning areas by the learners. It is through my experience I learned and came to a
conclusion that learners wouldn’t participate in learning unless they feel and see it helpful in
relieving their situations. I see the role of the learner as being in charge of the direction of their
own education; while the role of the teacher is to provide options that the learner might choose to
use and guidance for supporting the learner’s choices.

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The learning environment
In the adult learning I believe for meaningful learning to occur, the educator must create an
environment in which everyone takes responsibility for their own learning and development. I
always work towards creating a learning environment where every learner is free to raise
opinions and participate effectively in the discussions and share experiences on the topic at hand.
In this kind of environment, the educator is not an expert, but inspires a hunger for knowledge,
insights and skills. Through my experience in community development, I have also come to a
conclusion that adult learners comprehend dynamic theories and principles taught through
relating to their experiences, environment and indigenous knowledge base.
Education should cultivate a sense of personal ownership in the learning process and community
life, this helps learners have a mature perspective about their own learning as well as the changes
they desire to implement in the community. I therefore believe the learning environment must be
free, safe, interesting, and participatory to allow learners to feel at ease to express their views,
share experiences, and raise different opinion. I find it crucial to create and preserve a composite,
rigorous, and realistic learning climate that is both student centered and problem centered. In this
method my aim is to get the learners to participate and focus on the problem solving, not look up
to me for answers. Furthermore, my personal methodological contribution to learning includes
being prepared to spend extra time, using a flexible schedule that suits the learners and offering
realistic, practical exercises.
Learning content
I believe education for adult learners should be methodical and balanced, in that it should take
into consideration the varied paradigms around the learner. Learning to me should be as brought

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and encompassing as possible covering science, culture, arts and spirituality, a system of
education that is more inclined to science or either aspect may be destructive to individuals and
communities as it creates an imbalanced world view and denies people diversity of perspectives
and tools that they need to face complex challenges in their lives. Merriam and Brockett
(1997:34) indicate that the content of the program should be based on strategies concerned with
answering questions such as ‘why’ and ‘how’ with a view to understanding human needs and
behavior, achieve unique individuality and potential, creating positive differences among Adult
learners. To me an ideal educational program should strive to address the mental, emotional,
spiritual and physical needs of students and not focus too much on merely one dimension of life.
Having worked for many years in community development through education, for non-profit
organizations, I have developed an interest in discovering and applying educational content that
liberates the learners from mental bondages and make them realize their potentials in changing
their situations and communities. I also believe in the education content or curriculum based on
the socio-cultural context of learners and promotes indigenous knowledge base of the learners.
The building up of Adult Education programs on Indigenous Knowledge Systems is essential, as
Fafunwa (1974) points out that the aim of traditional African education was multilateral, playing
many roles, and that its end objective was to produce an individual who is all-rounded, honest or
trustworthy, respectable, skilled, cooperative and who conforms to the societal order of the day.
Based on my experience in working with the communities on development projects, I believe the
content of education should be more on helping learners how to analytically think and make
informed decisions. Adult learners are taught how to think rather than what to think and their
concern is with improving the quality of life of humankind (Ornstein et al.. 1988).

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Conclusion
In summary, I am a humanism, progressivism, behaviorism educator. As the adult educator my
job is to assist learners, and organizations to adopt the posture of learning, by fostering the self-
directed learning. Through creation of a conducive environment that cultures learners’
participation, the dependency on educators as expert can be replaced with independent learner’s
problem analysis and decision-making learning approach. I strongly believe in an encompassing
education content that covers all aspects of learning in the context of learners, which widens their
world view and encourages diversity of perspectives for learners to cope with their complex and
constantly evolving situations. I therefore have come to a conclusion that the utilization of
education methods and content that balanced, helps culture the infinite and diverse capabilities of
human potential

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REFFERENCES
Adjunct Faculty Guide for Faculty Development Phase I (FDP1) Tutorials and Practicums
(2012), U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS, 9.
Alex, J. L., Miller, E. A., Platt, R. E., Rachal, J. R., & Gammill, D. M. (2007). Making the
Invisible Visible: A Model for Delivery Systems in Adult Education. Journal Of Adult
Education, 36(2), 13-22.
Bwatwa, Y. D. 1990. Adult education methods: A guide for educators. Dar-es-Salaam: Dar-
esSalaam University Press
Fafunwa, A. B.1974. History of education in Nigeria. Ibadan: NPS Educational Publishers.
Goddu, K. (2012). Meeting the Challenge: Teaching Strategies for Adult Learners. Kappa Delta
Pi Record, 48(4),169-173.
Merriam, S. B. and Brockett, R. G. 1997. The profession and practice of adult education. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Ornstein, A. C. and Hunkins, F. P. 1988. Curriculum: Foundations, principles and issues. Boston:
Allyn and Bacon.