Introduction
Statement of the problem
This paper seeks to understand the readiness of novice teachers in adult education through analysis of the perceptions of principals with regard to qualities of competent novice adult learning professionals.
The 2011 Council Resolution on a renewed European agenda for adult learning opts that adult learning “provides means of up-skilling or reskilling those affected by unemployment, restructuring and career transitions, as well as makes an important contribution to social inclusion, active citizenship and personal development” (European Council, 2011, p. 2) At least 15% of adults should participate in some form of education and training by 2020 (Eurydice Network). In other words according to the European ministers for education adult education is an important tool to improve adults’ability to adapt to changes in the labour market and society (European Council, 2011). The importance the European commission gives to adult education is inextricably bound up with the quality assurance of these adult education programmes. And as in other education sectors, the teacher constitutes the most important quality input factor. Several recent researches (Knowles, Holton III, & Swanson, 2005; Nuissl & Lattke, 2008; Buiskool, Broek, Van Lakerveld, Zarifis, & Osborn, 2010) acknowledge that the quality of the teacher has a significant influence on the quality of adult learning. Hence, we need to have insight into the qualities of competent adult education teachers.
Knowles (1980) argues that adults learn differently from pre-adults in a number of important ways and that adults should therefore be taught differently (Imel, 1989). Knowles et al. (2005) define the specific approach of adult learners as andragogy, while Herman Baert (2016) simply calls it ‘the specific teaching method appropriate for adult learners’. Hence, when adults ought to be taught differently, is special training then required to allow people to take up a job in adult education (Nuissl, 2010)?
Although adult educators often have acquired some kind of specialisation, in many cases they also lack according to Anderson, Köpsén, Larsen, & Milena (2012) formal preparation for teaching adults prior to entering the profession. This is no different in Flanders where several pathways lead towards the profession of adult educator, with staff often entering the field late in their professional lives (Anderson et al., 2012). Teachers in training often complain when trying to implement the competences as defined in the generic teachers’ professional profile in an adult education setting, as some of the expected competences are completely irrelevant, like building a relationship with parents or the role of raising up children/youngsters (Bougonikolou, 2017). Hence the teacher training in Flanders is like in most of Europe, not a specifically designed education programme for adult educators (Unesco, 2010) and as such, no special training is required to take up a job in adult education. Moreover, many adult educators do not undergo any teacher training at all before starting to work in the field (Bernhardsson & Lattke, 2011). In Flanders, this is specifically the case for adult education VET-teachers, who sometimes lack a teacher qualification (cijfers ‘ander bekwaamheidsbewijs’ opgevraagd department).
Finally, there are those who are experts in their craft, only work part-time in adult education, and who therefore do not even consider themselves as teachers (Nuissl, 2010).
As outlined above, the quality assurance of adult education programmes might be questioned. Various European projects (AGADE, Q-Act, ALPINE, VINEPAC, QF2TEACH, etc) have therefore been dealing with the issues of professional development of adult educator’s and (core) competencies of adult educators in recent years. However, according to Bernhardsson & Lattke (2011), all these projects vary in scope and focus and are therefore not directly comparable.
Hence, questioning how well novice adult educators in secondary adult education in Flanders are prepared to perform according to high quality standards in adult education is meaningful. School leaders play a central role in teacher appraisal and as such help to shape the capacity of novice adult educators in teaching adults successfully (Elmore, 2002). We, therefore, focus on principals’ expectations towards teaching approaches in adult education, the competences they deem necessary for novice teachers in adult education, and the perceived competences of recruited novice teachers in current practice. The knowledge gained from this research will give us a better view on adult education principals’ expectations with regard to their teachers, and help principals to better understand how they can support and improve the performance of novice teachers and in this way assure the quality of the adult education programmes. Moreover, it will contribute to raising a specific profile of adult education teachers and underpinning the principles in relation to pre-service and in-service training of adult education teachers.
Defining adult learners and adult education
When analyzing the readiness of novice teachers in adult education, we first need to define adult education and adult learning. Adult learning is broadly defined as “purposeful and directed learning undertaken by adults, either alone or in groups, to increase knowledge and skills, and/or change behaviours, values, or beliefs” (Myers, Conte, & Rubenson, 2014, p. 3). According to Myers, Conte, & Rubenson (2014) adult learning comprises formal, non-formal and informal learning but does not include all forms of incidental learning. Basically, in Flanders, formal adult education consists of three levels of education: basic education, secondary education for adults and the associate degree. Within the scope of this research project, we focus on secondary education for adults. In 2014 – 2015, 270.578 unique adult learners were enrolled in a secondary adult education programme (Crevits, 2016) as compared to the 108.920 enrolled students in professional Bachelor Programmes (Vlaamse overheid, 2015).
In most researches age (25 and over) is mentioned as the discriminating factor when identifying an adult learner (Holmes & Abington-Cooper, 2000; Myers, Conte, & Rubenson 2014), however, in Flanders learners from the age of 15 are allowed to enroll in centres for adult education (CVO). With over 31.000 learners younger than 25 years (Vlaams Ministerie van Onderwijs en vorming, 2017) age as an approach to define adult learners, is inappropriate in Flanders. Other researchers emphasize the transition to adulthood as the identifying factor, for instance when someone takes up an adult role in life or breaks with school at a younger age (Myers et al. 2014). Again this is not applicable to the Flemish situation, as the curriculum of secondary adult education includes both professional, graduating as personal development courses. Hence, the characteristics of adult education and learning are very different from one country to the next and therefore comparison of international research results regarding adult learners is difficult (Egetenmeyer, 2016). Even within European context adult education projects and researches vary so much in scope and focus and are thus according to Bernhardsson & Lattke (2011) therefore not directly comparable. As most researchers define adult learners by age or transition to adulthood, we must take a certain bias into account when comparing results from these international researches and apply it to the Flemish context.
Defining a specific teaching method appropriate for adult learners
Knowles argued in 1980 that adults learn differently from pre-adults in a number of important ways and should, therefore, be taught differently (Imel, 1989). Knowles’ androgogical model has “strongly influenced the adult education field” (Imel, 1989, p. 2) and remains one of the dominant models of adult learning. (Blaszczak, 2013). According to Knowles (1980), the goal of adult education should be self-actualization, whereby the teacher acts as a facilitator who aids adults to become self-directed learners (Holmes & Abington-Cooper, 2000). Adults define themselves largely by their experience and because of these adults are themselves a rich resource for learning. Knowles (1980) identifies the six principles of adult learning: adults are internally motivated and self-directed, bring life experiences and knowledge to learning experiences, are goal oriented, relevancy oriented, practical and like to be respected. That’s why adult educators should put emphasis on experiential techniques, practical application. The curriculum should therefore not be developed according to logical sequence but more according to problem areas.
Knowles initially defined andragogy as a unique field of practice, one that could be differentiated from pedagogy, he later revised his thinking and represented andragogy and pedagogy on a continuum ranging from teacher-directed to learner-directed learning whereby both approaches can be used with children and adults, depending on the situation (Merriam S. B., 2001). Although andragogy continues to be “the window through which adult educators take their first look into the world of adult education” (Pratt, 1993, p. 7), we raise the question whether andragogy is the specific teaching method appropriate for adult learning Herman Baert refers to.
After all, constructivist thinkers believe that every person is goal-directed; seeks actively information (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000) and constructs actively knowledge and skills through reorganization of their previously acquired mental structures (De Corte, 2012). Vygotsky’s theories show that children’s learning is a situated-contextual process (Hansman, 2001). Thus, all teachers, and not only adult educators, must actively inquire into learners’ thinking, creating classroom tasks and conditions under which learner thinking can be revealed (Bransford et al., 2000). Learning is as such considered to be a situated-contextual process, as it always happens within a social-cultural and historical context (Schunk, 2012). Therefore learning must always be seen in relation to the social, contextual, and cultural environment in which the learning processes are embedded in (De Corte, 2012).
Although the assumption that teachers should approach adults in a different way than children and adolescents is according to Beder and Darkenwald (1982, p. 143) based on “informed professional opinion; philosophical assumptions associated with humanistic psychology and progressive education; and a growing body of research and theory on adult learning, development, and socialization”, andragogy as concept does not give us a clear answer. According to Beder and Darkenwald (1982) teachers perceive differences in how adults and pre-adults learn but Gorham (1984, 1985; cited in Imel, 1989) found that the use of directive teacher behaviour was essentially the same with both pre-adults and adults.
Hence, although teachers perceive adults as being different, these perceptions do not automatically translate into differences in approaches to teaching. Thus, remains the question: do adult education teachers teach adults in a different way, and if so, what are these differences exactly?
Being an adult education teacher
Adult learning staff plays a key role in the quality of adult learning. It is therefore essential to ensure that teachers are the best suited to the tasks they have to fulfill. The importance of high-quality educational staff has recently been emphasized again by the European Council in 2009 (Buiskool, et al. 2010). In total 6.627 persons are employed in secondary adult education in Flanders, of which nearly 40% is aged 50 and above. Only 8% of the persons employed in adult education are younger than 30 years. More than 40% of the staff has a temporary post, while nearly 60% has a tenured post (Department Onderwijs en Vorming, 2016). According to Sabatini et al. (2000), we should rather define these teachers as professional educators than adult education teachers as most do not have specific adult education training, whereas one might expect that teachers of the highest caliber come with high standard initial education and continuing professional development (Buiskool et al. 2010). According to Nuissl (2010), we talk of ‘profession’ when special knowledge and skills are needed to carry out a job in this field. However, in virtually in no country, we can find a debate on adult education as a profession. So we pose the question: are special knowledge and skills needed to teach in adult education?
A study on adult learning professions in Europe shows that many of adult education teachers have extensive experience in other professional settings, but enter the profession without specific adult education training (Research & beleid, 2008). Moreover, in Europe, there is no standard pathway for becoming an adult educator and little attention is paid to defining the content and processes for the initial and continuous training of adult learning staff (Buiskool et al. 2010). Besides that, ongoing training programmes are often targeted at the adult educators who are full time employed and work exclusively in adult education. But according to Nuissl (2010), they represent at best 10 % of all those people who are active in one way or another in adult education.
The ALPINE study claims that adult learning staff needs particular competences in order to carry out their professional task. Buiskool et al. (2010) defined these particular competences as a cluster of seven generic competences applicable for all adult educators. Every teacher working in adult education should be a fully autonomous lifelong learner, a communicator, team player and networker, responsible for the further development of adult learning, an expert, able to deploy different learning methods, styles, and techniques in working with adults, a motivator, able to deal with heterogeneity and groups.
Thus, if we want to assure a high-quality level of adult learning we need to identify different sets of skills and competencies adult educators need and identify how novice teachers can acquire these skills and competencies.
Being a teacher in the 21st century
Adult education can’t get away from a changing society where knowledge construction and transversal skills play more and more a key role. Moreover, we currently live in a connected world, as you always have a network at hand. Therefore, the next generation of adult learners will learn in a completely different way, with significant changes in what, where, how and when we learn. Henceforth, adult educators not only need to master the adult education core competences, but they also have to know how to be a teacher in the 21st century.
Society is changing rapidly and this has significant implications for the teaching methods used to facilitate learning (Mohamed et al., 2012). According to the in 2006 adopted European Framework of Key Competences labourers in the 21st century, therefore, need more transversal skills like collaboration, entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity (Van den Brande, 2010). Even lower and average educated people are supposed to perform in self-regulated working settings and to be capable of self-regulated learning (Van Laer & De Pryck, 2014). Consequently, the teaching and learning approach in adult education should focus more on creativity to produce new ideas, teaching content should be revised and changed constantly to meet the needs of time and finally change in and diversification of learning approach should be implemented (Mohamed et al., 2012). Looking at these transversal skills, we see how these skills match the new ways of learning, or what is called next generation learning or learning by collaborating, sharing, anywhere and everywhere (Knockaert, 2012). The results of a recent study (Torrent-Sellens, Ficapal-Cus, & Boada-Grau, 2014) with regard to the use of online tools in adult education are promising as online activities leave much room for adult learners’ prior experience, which serves as the best resource for adult learning. The teacher is viewed as a co-learner in the online educational process (Price, 1999 cited in Wang & Kania-Gosche, 2011) whereby the teacher encourages adult learners to go beyond stated learning objectives or to create the learning objectives together. However, most teachers are commonly taught in a face-to-face environment and are resistant to embed online tools into their teaching practice or to work in blended and online learning environments (Redmond P. , 2011). Although one may expect that young novice teachers master these technology skills far better than the older generation, recent research by Walden’s University shows that the “frequency of technology use does not differ significantly from novice teachers to more experienced teachers” (Grunwald Associates LLC, 2010, p. 11). Although in their private lives most teachers use social networking and other internet-related activities, “they do not appear able to adapt the affordances of these online technologies to make teaching and learning more engaging and effective for themselves and their learners” (Jones, 2012, p. 317). According to Petrea Redmond (2011), this can be explained cause when teachers change the place of teaching; they feel that their professional identity is under threat. The nature of being a teacher is for most a face-to-face teaching environment, the place where they have a high level of expertise (Redmond P. , 2011), their comfort zone. A survey of teachers corroborates the perceived threat as the survey identified one of the major restrictions being a lack of teacher confidence in a classroom of ICT and a perceived lack of access to quality resources, which included hardware, software, and professional training (Jones, 2012). Yang and Cornelious (2005, p. 1) pointed out that “an online learner must be a constructivist learner” and hence when teachers move from a face-to-face to an online environment they also need to make the shift towards a constructivist approach. However, this often results in “a change in roles and responsibilities; use of technology; relationships; presence; and a perceived lack of prestige” (Redmond P. , 2011, p. 1052). The link between the use of ICT and constructivist paradigm is corroborated by Moseley and Higgins (1999, cited in Shazia, 2000) as they found that teachers who successfully make use of ICT have not only a rather positive attitude towards ICT but also rather focus on learner’s choice rather than teacher direction, focus on learner empowerment rather than learners receiving instruction and have a preference for individual study rather than learners receiving instruction. Despite technical support offered by school and technology training courses, the change does not easily occur. Hargreaves (1994) tries to answer the challenging question ‘What makes teachers change in the face of change, and what makes them dig in their heels and resist?’ in his book ‘Changing teachers, changing times’. Veen (1993 cited in Shazia, 2000) showed that teacher factors far outweighed the institutional or school factors as the teacher factor that involved beliefs about the way the subject should be taught is one of the most influential in teachers’ use of computers. According to Hargreaves (1994) practice changes before beliefs and it is better to think big but start small. According to Becker and Riel (2000, cited in Shazia, 2000) teachers who are motivated and have strong commitments to their learners’ learning and their own professional development will evidently integrate computers more easily within their teaching. Moseley & Higgins (1999) further found that teachers who successfully use technology in the classroom have positive attitudes to ICT and employ a more constructivist approach in their teaching practice.
Therefore, we argue that focusing on the quality of novice adult educators should not only incorporate the core competencies of adult educators but also involve the 21st-century teaching skills.
Being a novice teacher
Regardless of the above-mentioned expectations adult educators face, all novice teachers experience several problems during the induction phase. The majority of the teachers enter the profession highly motivated (Brighton, 1999) and yet within the first five year nearly one out of four teachers quit the job (Goethals, 2016), and this is not only in Flanders the case, several international studies estimate that 40-50% of novice teachers leave the profession within five years (Ingersoll 2010 as cited by Kazin-Boyce, 2014). Researchers characterize the first years of teaching as a time of survival and discovery, adaptation and learning (Nemser, 1983 as cited by Feiman-Nemser, 2001) Too often the swim or sink principle (Feiman-Nemser, 2001) is still the most common way for novices to start their teaching career as novice teachers often are assigned the most challenging es and schedule, while having the least amount of experience to teach (Kazin-Boyce, 2014). They must not only learn the school, its rules, the new colleagues; they must also learn the specific – often new – course material and on top of that get to know the class, who they are, what level they have, which life experiences they bring into the classroom (Feiman-Nemser, 2001). And although teaching involves intense interaction with students, it is largely done in isolation from colleagues and within the walls of the classroom (Johnson, 1990, 2004; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004 as cited by Kazin-Boyce, 2014). Being alone in the classroom, novice teachers face the multiple challenges of teaching alone for the first time. That’s when the uncertainty arises as they fear the judgment from learners, colleagues, principals and they start to struggle to reconcile competing images of their role. And thus, new teachers choose rather for safer, less complex activities instead of trying out ambitious teaching methods (Feiman-Nemser, 2001). That’s why novices need opportunities to talk to others about their teaching and the problems they encounter. As such, “collaboration and collegial sharing minimize new teacher feelings of isolation, increase teacher perception of belonging to a school community” (Kazin-Boyce, 2014, p. 1) But one of the reasons for early attrition is according to Struyven & Vanthournhout (2014) precisely the lack of support by colleagues and management. A Swedish study on early attrition of teachers mentions work overload, increased documentation and the notion of altered professional objectives as triggers for considering leaving (Lindqvist & Carlsson, 2014), while Allensworth, Poniciak & Mazzeo (2009) report that the working conditions and administrative support play a crucial role in novice teachers’ decision to stay of quit the job.
Hence principals must take into account the preparation new teachers bring and the realities they encounter and must extend across a reasonable span of time of 2 to 3 years (Feiman-Nemser, 2001, p. 15).
The significance of principals’ perceptions
There exists a strong body of research on the perceptions of teachers on principals’ competences (Blase & Blase, 2002) and on perceptions of principals on school leadership (Poloncic, 2016; Helms, 2012; Rouse, 2005; Carlton, 1987). But little research has examined the perceptions of principals with regard to qualities of competent teachers. Yet, according to Evans (2016), the principal’s role is of paramount importance in influencing teachers to excel and to keep their job satisfaction high. Evans’ study corroborates the stance that job satisfaction of teachers is strongly related to perceptions of their principal. The conceptions of how principals perceive novice adult educators competences have a positive or negative impact on teacher behaviour (Ballantyne, Thomson and Taylor as cited in Cheng & Cheung, 2004). Principals can affect teaching practice directly through teacher supervision and evaluation (Halverson, Kelley, & Kimball, 2004). Unfortunately, teacher assessment is frequently been used to weed out the poorest performing teachers (Halverson, Kelley, & Kimball, 2004) rather than to assess the effectiveness of teachers’ instructional practices, and provide opportunities for instructional improvement (Billibas, 2015). Therefore, focusing on the perceptions of principals with regard to qualities of competent novice adult education teacher will give us knowledge, which will help principals to better understand how they can support and improve the performance of novice teachers and in this way assure the quality of the adult education programmes.
Methodology
The purpose of this study is to explore the views of principals with regard to specific teaching method(s) appropriate for adult learners. Secondly, the study is designed to determine the perceptions of readiness of novice adult education teachers according to principals. In addition, this research is to provide insight into expected skills and core competences of adult educators in Flanders according to principals. Furthermore, this study will allow principals to determine possible actions in the future that will strengthen novice adult educators.
Research questions
1. What are principals’ perceptions of specific teaching method(s) appropriate for adult learning
2. What are principals’ perceptions regarding specific adult educators’ core competences?
3. What are principals’ perceptions regarding the degree to which novice adult education teachers are ready or not to deliver qualitative adult education programmes when they start teaching for the first time?
4. Do principals perceive that adequate professional development is provided for adult educators?
Design
The study has a two-stage design: the initial method used is an explorative survey to determine the overall expectations with regard to novice adult educators, followed by in-depth interviews with principals of centres of adult education based on the results of the explorative survey. The focus of the explorative survey is thus purely on the discovery of insights in order to further define and prioritize the issues used to structure the in-depth interviews. Hence, it does not intend to offer conclusive answers to our research questions. In building the online explorative survey we have several informal talks with various ‘hands-on experts’. Six experts are identified through our own professional networks and all have current experience either as mentor, coordinator, HR or teacher in adult education. All six are asked what according to their experience are important topics for novice teachers in adult education. The data received, are then arranged in a mindmap, whereupon the different constructs are operationalized in 42 statements structured according to six different categories:
- Structure and organization of adult education in Flanders
- Personnel matters and wages
- Didactical approach in adult education
- Class management in adult education
- Me and a new organization, a new team
- ICT and new media
The design for the second part of the study is a qualitative method. The aim of this component is to conduct in-depth interviews with a small group of experienced principals (and assistant-principals) whereby semi-structured interviews are used to further explore the views, experiences, beliefs and motivations of individual principals. The qualitative method is selected to understand the meaning principals have constructed regarding the readiness of novice teachers in adult education. As an adult educator and assistant-principal of an adult education centre, this researcher has personal experience and prior knowledge, which allows the researcher to be connected with the insider’s perspective (Merriam S. , 2009). We believe that interpretative qualitative research is the best way to explore and investigate how principals perceive competences of novice teachers, how they interpret these perceptions.
Participants
This study involves principals and assistant-principals employed in publicly funded, privately run Centres of adult education (CVO) of Flanders. The explorative survey is conducted as a census. We received a listing of the 65 principals and assistant-principals, belonging to the umbrella body Katholiek Onderwijs Vlaanderen. The online explorative survey is sent to every unit in the population.
The sampling technique used for the in-depth interviews is a purposeful sampling technique. It involves identifying and selecting individuals, in this case, principals, that are especially experienced with the topic, furthermore we take availability and willingness to participate, the ability to communicate experiences and opinions in an articulate, expressive, and reflective manner into account (Palinkas, Horwitz, Green, Wisdom, Duan, & Hoagwood, 2015). Maximum variation is used to purposefully pick a wide range of variation along dimensions of interest amongst the participants. We aim to include principals and Assistant-principals as they both have a different perspective of novice teachers, include male and female, large (> 700.000-course hours) and small CVO’s, with and without an embedded teacher training programme, with mainly vocational study programmes.
Instruments of data collection
The instrument for data-collection used for the online explorative survey is a combination of a structured and unstructured questionnaire in which respondents rate 42 questions with Likert-scale on 6 topics using a checklist, added with six open-ended questions. This pre-categorized-response checklist, sent to the 65 principals of centres for adult education, permits us to make a general comparison between expectations of principals about competences of novice teachers and in how far these competences are or are not acquired by novice teachers, while the open-ended questions collect more detailed information that can lead to new or expanded insights (Brill, 1995).
Data for the second part are collected by means of a one-on-one semi-structured interview with seven participants. The questions for the interviews are based on the spider-charts gained from the online explorative survey but are posed as open-ended interview questions
Data quality control
Validity & reliability
In a try-out two adult education experts fill in the survey, and give feedback in terms of clarity, relevance, accuracy and meaningfulness of the questions. By asking these two experts to evaluate the instrument’s intent we ensure the face validity. The specific feedback on the questions is also used to assess the content validity and check whether the statements measure what it is intended to measure and make sure that all key related items are included in the survey.
Taking recent debate into account on whether validity and reliability are appropriate to evaluate qualitative research (Noble & Smith 2015) we suggest using the alternative criteria for ensuring credibility within qualitative research namely ‘truth value’, consistency, neutrality and applicability (Noble & Smith, 2015). The ‘truth value’ and consistency is according to Noble & Smith (2015) ensured through reflection on the researcher’s perspectives whereby the researcher’s decisions are systematically documented. Noble & Smith (2015) call it the ‘researcher’s decision-trail’, while Wolcott (as cited in Flick, 2009) describes it as ‘procedural validity’. The researcher also uses peer discussion to establish possible biases or assumptions. Furthermore, the semi-structured interviews are recorded, this allows the researcher to re-listen the interviews repeatedly and check the emerging topics while remaining true to the participant’s meaning (Noble & Smith, 2015). To ensure respondent validation participants are invited to comment the interview transcript (Long & Johnson, 2000). Finally, the applicability is ensured as the findings can be applied in other contexts such as teachers in basic adult education or associate degree programme.
Data collection procedure
The online explorative survey sent by email, followed by a kind reminder two weeks later, results in a 67,69% survey response rate. According to Fincham (2008), response rates approximating 60% for most research should be the goal of researchers.
The in-depth interviews generally take one hour and are recorded with permission. The interviewer is trained as a social worker and thus knows very well when to use explorative and supplementary questions. By doing so interviewees are encouraged to give more narrative responses. This results in a flexible, interactive interview, which according to Hatch (2002) is important for researcher and participant as this opens the door for shared ownership of the knowledge.
Data-analysis
The results of the online explorative survey are processed through a gap or discrepancy analysis (Stamatis, 1997), which assesses what is considered as the most important competence a novice teacher needs to have according to the principals and compares these with the performance of novice teachers. The discrepancy analysis consists of detailed types of satisfaction questions that focus on the different competences which the principals value most and where the gap is with regards to the performance or current knowledge of novice teachers (Lee, Altschuld, & White, 2007). To visualize the gap, a spider chart or radar chart is used. It is an interesting way of comparing multiple quantitative variables, as the outliers amongst each variable are visible to the naked eye. All axes are arranged radially starting from the center, each variable value is plotted along its individual axis and all the variables in a dataset and connected together to form a spider web or radar (data visualisation catalogue).
The first stage of the analysis of the in-depth interviews, is reading the transcripts of the interviews whereby the qualitative data was reduced, highlighted, arranged and rearranged using Quirkos software. To ensure the confidentiality of each participant, numbers replace the names of the principals. During the first analysis level we use the technique of open descriptive coding (Saldana, 2009). Each time an interviewee mentions a specific theme or something related to that theme, we use the same colour highlight in Quirkos software. In total 71 meaningful quirks (descriptive codes or labels) are identified, of which 17 are parent codes, while the others are children and sibling codes (Saldana, 2009). These are used to index and categorize the collected interview data. In the next phase we look for patterns, linkages (Crabtree & Miller, 1999) whereby seven Quirk-levels are linked to different quirks. This process of axial coding, allows further grouping of related information from various participants to answer the research questions (Saldana, 2009). The corroborating phase can be summarized as the re-viewing phase, which is done by discussing the results with the promoter. The final phase of the interpretive process consists in sharing the new understandings and interpretations (Crabtree & Miller, 1999) by writing this dissertation.
Findings
The seven interviews are coded into a 288-page Quirkos report. As the language of the interviewees in this study (Dutch) is different from the dissertation (English), one of the major challenges is gaining conceptual equivalence or comparability of meaning (Birbili, 2000). The quotations are translated as literal as possible, but for the readability of the text some quotations are translated more freely.
In the online explorative survey almost everyone agrees that the teaching approach typical to adult education is important or very important for novice teachers (97,4%). Almost as important is getting to know the organisation, the new team (92,1%), knowing how to use ICT and new media (89,2%) and class management in adult education (81,6%). Although the explorative survey was merely a way to explore the topics to be discussed during the in-depth interviews, the questionnaire covered according to the interviewees the most important topics. To get a closer look at the discrepancy between the desired and present state, the explorative survey zooms into the different categories, which were visualized in a spider chart. These radar charts show the gap between the importance and the perceived readiness of novice teachers according to principals. When showing the results to the interviewees, the gap was often striking and made them think about their expectations. A statement made by Principal 4 illustrates the gap “we expect super humans, yes that is true”. This corroborates the study by Cheng and Chueng (2004) that principals consider teacher competence items to be more important than that of the perceived performance of the novices.
Specific teaching approach in adult education
Taking a closer look to what is considered in the online survey as the most important topic – the specific teaching approach in adult education, we are specifically interested in whether according to the principals, teachers teach adults differently compared to pre-adults, and if so what exactly these differences are. All the interviewees emphasize the different teaching approach of adults compared to pre-adults, which corroborates Knowles’ initial stance regarding andragogy. All interviewees, except one, also stress the importance for novice teachers to be skilled in the specific adult teaching approach. Especially the degree of emotion in the responses is an illustration of this, as the respondents use words like incredible or extremely important. According to one interviewee however, not the specific adult teaching approach but the specific vocational expertise of a teacher is most important. As this interviewee is principal of a centre for adult education that mainly has vocational training programmes, it is understandable as vocational andragogy differs from general andragogy because of its agogic component emphases the technical, hands-on and technological aspects (Mohamed et al., 2012).
When asked to define the specific didactical approach of adults, we got a litany of answers, and for most of the interviewees, it was not easy to define the specific approach. This was illustrated by long pauses of silence or giving vague answers like “teach in an adult way” (Assistant-principal 1, 2017). When analysing the wide variety of answers, principals mostly agree with the idea that the pedagogical model is better not to be used with adults. When asked to describe the specific teaching approach for adults, the principals argue that instead of using the pedagogical model – often referred to as ‘conventional way of teaching’ – teachers have a responsibility to encourage and nurture the learning needs of adults, whereby teachers should make more use of experiential techniques, discussion, problem-solving cases, simulation exercises, field experience, which brings us to the andragogical model of Knowles (1980) and constructivism.
By using the technique of supplementary questions, the description of the specific adult educating teaching approach becomes more tangible. According to the principals, one of the major differences with pre-adults is that adults do not need to be educated, only be trained. Adults bring in maturity and as a consequence adult educators can focus exclusively on the learning goals. While in secondary education on average 13% of teaching and learning time is lost to keeping order (OECD, 2009), this is not the case in an adult education setting. As you do not have to repeat everything constantly and adults learn according to the principals faster, the pace of a lesson is far higher than in secondary education. This also translates into a more friendly, amicable teaching style, whereby principals often refer to the more social role of an adult educator. When describing the typical way of teaching adults, principals refer in many cases to the diversity of target groups in adult education and the need for adult education teachers to have the flexibility to adapt their teaching style to these different target groups. As an adult educator, you have to have the broadest palette of teaching techniques and working methods in order to deal with this diversity and implement methods to differentiate in class. The importance given to methods to differentiate in class as a specific teaching style in adult education is illustrated by the number of times this is explicitly mentioned in the interviews, only within one of the seven Quirk-levels it is mentioned over 20 times. Specific for the adult vocational education teaching approach is the mix of theory and practice whereby adults should immediately feel the link with the vocation or the profession they are trained for. Although the supplementary questions give us a better understanding of the expected specific teaching style in adult education, it is far from conclusive. Principals themselves often conclude with referring to the personality of teachers as a decisive factor rather than the specific methodical adult education expertise.
Thus, principals expect adult education teachers to be competent in using a broad palette of teaching techniques; applying a more amicable teaching style, adapting their teaching style to different target groups, dealing with diversity in a class, implementing methods to differentiate in class and mixing theory with practice.