Why Adults Participate in Education : Some Implications for Program Development of Research on Motivational Orientations / Gordon G. Darkenwald.

While recent research on why adults participate in continuing education programs does not provide educational planners with any easy prescriptions for programing success, it does suggest some broad directions for more effective program development, particularly in relation to needs assessment, the promotional aspect of marketing, and the design and management of learning activities. The most extensive recent studies of motivational orientation (factor analytic studies using Roger Boshier's Education Participation Scale) yielded a striking degree of similarity in findings. Six factors were identified: Social relationship, external expectation, social welfare, professional advancement, escape/stimulation, and cognitive interest. Further study of relationships between the motivational factors and participant and program characteristics revealed little correlation. It can be concluded (1) that Cyril Houle's three-factor typology of the adult learner (goal oriented, activity oriented, and learning oriented) can no longer be considered an adequate representation of reality, (2) that major orientation factors appear to be valid only for participants generally, and (3) that most people appear to participate in adult education for mixed reasons, some of which are unrelated to learning per se or to course content. The research should sensitize planners to the variety and complexity of the motives that underlie participation in continuing education. (Implications for program development, broad-scale needs assessment, marketing, and management of learning environments are discussed.) (JT)

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