How residential adult education transforms learning and lives
A report, commissioned by the residential Institutes of Adult Learning, examines the specific value of a residential component in adult and lifelong education. The report shows how residential education in the colleges plays a powerful role in accelerating and deepening learning experiences for adults, leading to personal transformation.
The report was researched and written by Dr Sharon Clancy and Professor John Holford from the University of Nottingham and was undertaken through 41 interviews during May 2017 with current and former staff and students from:
The experience in a small college residential environment is particularly valuable for those who have faced extraordinary personal and societal challenges and offers crucial second chance learning opportunities. Experiential learning from the group – ongoing discussion and debate after classes and in informal interactions – leads to an intensity of learning experience and real intimacy, and the absence of rigid formality fosters learning. The education on offer, with an emphasis on critical thinking, provides adult students with “the tools to learn anything”, to test and experiment without “fear of failure” and, crucially, it opens up the job market for older learners. The colleges’ ethos, curricula and traditions foster an “ethic of service” and social justice - students and alumni take their compassion and understanding back to their own communities and the dominant aspiration is to work in social care, the care sector or the voluntary sector, helping others access what they have had.
The college settings – their beautiful and peaceful grounds and historic buildings – confer feelings of worth on students who have been subject to social exclusion and have often stepped out of difficult home lives, offering a sense of safety, security, retreat and refuge. This is complemented by the quiet spaces for learning (such as libraries and computer suites), and the individual, private rooms. The substantial pastoral and academic support from tutorial and operational staff is vital, as are the networks developed with other students, outside and within class.
Download full report
Posted on Friday 2nd February 2018