This form of learning also affects perception of reality and our place in the world. Where knowledge is passed as commodity, reality is presented as being ‘motionless, static, compartmentalised and predictable’ (Freire, 1987 p.57). The more the student is rewarded for passively accepting this view, the less likely one is to oppose this power structure. Freire comments that this is ‘the very negation of their ontological vocation to be more fully human’ (Freire, 1987 p.61). If we do not develop the skill to question others’ and our place within the world, then we become powerless to innovate our own positionality. Freire also warns those who espouse liberation from ‘banking’ methods against using the same dominatory actions to humanise people,
Authentic reflection considers neither abstract man nor the world without men, but men in their relation with the world’ (Freire, 1987 p.69).
A new method of ‘problem-posing’ (Freire, 1987 p.66) education has emerged to allow students to develop their own questions and realise their own conclusions. The authority of the teacher does not have to be questioned if one alters their positionality. The student and teacher become jointly responsible for their education. The classical model of teaching is transformed into a conversation where the roles of educator and ‘educatee’ are transformative and reversible. Freire’s aim was to revolutionise the education of illiterate villagers; thus his theories had an impact on national HRD policies, yet his theories are also relevant on an organisational and personal level.
Relationship of social theory with HRD
Freire seeks to break down the predominance of traditional ‘chalk and talk’ teaching models. Within the organisation, classical teaching models may have several detrimental effects. Those who have previously been exposed to such a model in school education and have a negative experience of it may be reluctant to take part in such training. Griffith (1999) notes that the classical hierarchical model is also totally dependent on the skill of the trainer/teacher. He goes on to suggest that it may also prevent 100% participation as the more dominant voices of the group may eclipse the discussion; such a model may also implicitly encourage non-productive competition whereby discussion becomes an opportunity to ‘win’ or ‘score points.’
Finally, and probably most unfortunately, the approach does not promote a balance of ‘real-world’ participant-observer and role constrained activity by students (Griffith, 1999 p.343).
In response to this, Griffith highlights the reflecting team case model as a way of balancing power, dealing with gender difference and encouraging ‘agreements among participants with diverse viewpoints’ (Griffith, 1999 p.344) thus it aims to create increased inclusivity. The model attempts to answer CEOs’ concerns over the preparation of graduates in levels of communication. The reflecting team case model represents a method of dealing with case studies. Within this model the role of the teacher transforms from ‘expert to consultant, or at least better conversationalist’ (Griffith, 1999 p.343). The students in this context take on the roles of the main case characters; the aim was for the instructor and student to enter into a form of conversation rather than a led discussion.
The model needed to flatten the hierarchy but not in the sense that authoritative pattern (as opposed to authoritarian) of the faculty would be removed from the instructional process (Griffith, 1999 p.346).
By removing the traditional power relations, argument and point scoring becomes collaboration. Thus difference and diversity within the group becomes informative rather than causing dysfunctionality.
I believe that one of the most important issues for HRD arising from this model is what Griffith refers to as, ‘explicit and implicit recognition of the clients ability to make major contributions to the advancing change within their own system’ (Griffith, 1999 p.347). It is perhaps through this recognition of the level of responsibility that reflecting on one’s own role and learning creates, that ensures any changes and new behaviours are sustained. I believe that the most important element of the model is to reflect upon the model itself at work, thus reflecting it back to real world situations. Griffith encourages the participants to approach the model from research and educational perspectives: learning, critiquing and developing the ‘model in process’ (Griffith, 1999 p.348).
For the HRD practitioner the reflecting team model helps to ensure that everyone in the learning situation is not merely present, but engages with the situation. By assuming a learning or character role at the beginning of the session the participants are located in the room or situation. Group role play and reflection on it, ensures that the roles of less dominant team members are recognised and not placed at an inferior level of understanding to the more dominant members of the group. Thus through critical debate of learning theories a working model has emerged in the field of HRD not only to incorporate marginalised voices, but to transform the power hierarchy of traditional pedagogies. Clearly it is a powerful learning tool, but Griffith also notes that he has used the model in classrooms of 15-50 ‘making it cost effective, as well as pedagogically effective.’(Griffith, 1999 p.359). Interestingly Griffith noticed that in practice women seemed more attuned to the model, as it is a relational one.
Marginalised voices: poststructural feminism, a response to Freire
Similarly, to the critical argument of Freire, poststructural feminism aims to be inclusive of all student voices, irrespective of gender, race, class or ableness. In her analysis of this theory Tisdell (1998) focuses not only upon the voice and positionality of the student, but also the instructor, ‘I teach not only as a woman, but as a middle class white woman’ (Tisdell, 1998 p.139). She goes onto agree with Freire’s humanist proposition, suggesting a shared power, authority and responsibility in the classroom. Tisdell’s argument questions and problematises the oppositions expressed by Freire. Tisdell refers to this overlapping of literature as ‘engaged pedagogy’ (Tisdell, 1998 p.141) a conversation between teaching methods and learning theories. The main opposition with Freire’s work lies in the fact that he constantly refers to the masculine subject and thus the focus lies on rationality.
Critical pedagogy that is rationally focused and devoid of affectivity seems to reproduce the power relations of society that have privileged rationality (Tisdell, 1998 p.141).
Thus poststructural feminism has emerged as to question and seeks to prevent the duplication of this form of oppression.
Tisdell notes that structural feminist thought moves beyond Freire’s focus on class oppression and deals with other power relations. Thus Freire’s focus on knowledge as commodity is developed to examine the ‘politics of knowledge production’ (Tisdell, 1998 p.142), that is that ‘what’ and ‘who’ of constructed knowledge. The theory aims to expose not only the dominant discourse, but also who constructs it. Whereas Freire focused on contesting power relations, Tisdell develops this to examine the identities of student and instructor and their shifting positionality. She believes poststructuralism, whilst recognising the influence of social structure, does not perceive it as being of sole importance. In this respect it can be closely aligned with postmodernist thought and the acceptance of multiple ‘truths.’ These ‘truths’ which have previously been marginalised by the dominant ideology, could come to light.
Thus feminist postmodernism of resistance would keep women in mind, while attempting to change educational systems to benefit those who have been marginalised (Tisdell, 1998 p.146).
Poststructural feminist pedagogy highlights how the race, gender and class of the adult educator have an influence on the method of teaching and also which knowledge the instructor privileges as most relevant. Tisdell notes that feminist pedagogies aim to create a ‘safe’ learning environment. Her poststructural perspective then questions whom the environment is made safe for. She cites an example of her own experience as an adult educator. An African-American woman proposed a dissertation topic of women’s hair in relation to adult development,
As an instructor (and as a white woman) I didn’t see what hair had to do with adult development. I questioned it …my whiteness informed what I initially saw as valid or relevant knowledge (Tisdell, 1998 p.148).
Tisdell recognises that although her positionality defines her as the ‘official’ teacher, the African-American women were the real teachers, as they informed her of the symbolism of hair in terms of racial and gender identity in their culture. This form of reflection is developed in the ‘feminist classroom’; thus one is encouraged to reflect on one’s own and others actions and reactions. Poststructural feminist educators encourage students to ‘take into account peoples’ emotions as well as critical thinking in learning and working for social change’ (Tisdell, 1998 p.152).
Relationship between feminist learning theory and HRD
The Plusspferd Women’s study camp in Slovenia represents an incredible example of the relational aspects of women’s learning and the importance of this recognition for HRD. The event was organised by the Frauenanstiftung (FAS) an international organisation based in Hamburg. The organisation received drastic fund cuts from the German Green Party and thus Dadzie (1996) notes that the initial problem faced was a decreased budget- an important factor in any HRD initiative. The camp was developed to overcome the prospect of insufficient funds for travel, accommodation, speakers and conference space. The transnational planning group of 8 women also faced many practical considerations. Dadzie cites these as organising crèche facilities, (a problem which Marks (1999) suggests should be addressed in many UK universities), ensuring travel subsidies for the poorest women, catering, location and liasing with the local, onsite organisers.
The female participants were allowed to sign up for any course on offer and in developing the camp the organisers tried to connect available resources to learning desires. This formal learning programme was perhaps not as innovative as the vast amount of informal and incidental learning that occurred through the exchange of stories over lunch and in the shower queue. Dadzie notes that it was through this form of learning that the stereotypes and prejudices of national groups could be addressed. Similar to the reflecting team model, Dadzie recognises that these issues could not always be resolved, but understanding and tolerance are vital skills that need to be developed. Dadzie notes that the camp acts as a reminder of
The value of innovative adult education, and the powerful tool it can become, particularly when placed in the hands of women (Dadzie, 1996 p.50).
In terms of HRD the camp represents a learning microcosm and the hope not only of learning organisations, but also of learning communities and similar national policies where learning is formal, informal, structured and incidental. Thus these small learning communities if proved to be effective, do explain and could predict HRD policies.
Ruth Trinidad Galvan (2001) undertook an ethnographic study of rural women in communities in Central Mexico. She undertook the study from a womanist or ‘womanish’ perspective. That is an effeminate and unmanly approach, which Galvan notes is described as being wilful and outrageous by outsiders, yet encompasses informal and incidental learning within its pedagogies. She observed the women who collected in Small Savings Groups (SSGs) and the learning that arouse from these discussions. The pedagogy of these groups ‘extended to include everyday teachings and learning within a multitude of spaces’ (Galvan, 2001 p.605). Through an exploration of the learning arising from these groups, Galvan notes the mundane and ordinary as powerful sites for the learning of these women. Thus educators need to transform their notions of pedagogy to include the everyday, that is to become culturally and gender specific. In such a cultural environment, classical classroom based teaching would be ineffective and perhaps offensive to the women and their families.
The formality and structure of traditional education is not effective or relevant within these groups, ‘they are amused at the irony that as formally uneducated women they are handed the responsibility of the educators’ (Galvan, 2001 p.605). These women have many seats of learning and knowledge that are not recognised or privileged by established teaching bodies. The classical view of pedagogy does not include the informal or incidental learning of these women. The teaching does not occur in the classroom, thus Galvan must ‘consider the importance of the ‘where’ of teaching and learning’ (Galvan, 2001 p.606). Through this Galvan also notes her own positionality as a researcher/ observer, ‘However my insider/ outsider position as a Mexic Amerindian/Xicana ethnographer in Central Mexico was an issue I also contended with’ (Galvan, 2001 p.606).
The importance for HRD in this case study as with the Plusspferd study camp is the overcoming of barriers to learning. Galvan notes the environmental and socio-economic barriers: the lack of precipitation in a predominantly farming area; the lack of roads and transport; the women work both at home and are employed in the fields or shops. Thus the women have managed to ‘find personal growth and community in a manner flexible to their positions as heads of households and working women’ (p.607 Galvan, 2001). The women also have to overcome social and cultural barriers. The belief that women only gather together to gossip unproductively is denoted by the local saying ‘women together only dead’ (p.610 Galvan, 2001). The national HRD policies should aim to overcome these barriers to ensure the progress of the SSGs. Thus in her research Galvan emphasises the importance of the aim to include men in the SSGs and the emphasis they put on production over consumerism. Learning is expressed through metaphors of spirituality and well being. HRD practitioners can learn from these successful learning cites, as national policies need to be made more relevant to the local culture and community.
Marginalised voices: The effect of race and cultural change on HRD
The cultural constructions of nations and communities shape the learning of that society. Thus a cultural approach to learning emphasises the importance of gaining knowledge of a culture before imposing learning practices upon it. Marks (1999) notes that adult learning should seek to ‘stress the value of an education over that of a degree’ (Marks, 1999 p.17). Therefore, the emphasis is placed upon learning and education of all forms and not just learning that is recognised by a formal or governmental body. Such an approach aids HRD as no single type of learning is privileged over another and cultural change would not simply shape learning, but personal development could change cultures, organisationally and nationally.
Grace’s (2000) study of adult learning in Canada and the USA explores the use of adult learning to inform HRD to develop adult education as a cultural device to help citizens cope with cultural change in a post war and post industrial society. Adult learning and national HRD policies are working together to cope with the emerging cultural situation of crisis and challenge. The post-industrial society led to the development of technological, scientific and telecommunication knowledge. Within this changing, challenging and consumer centred society, knowledge and development are essential for progress. Thus adult educators and HRD practitioners needed to be
Proactive problem solvers, building human dignity and worth as they dealt with the impacts of cultural change and contributed to social progress (Grace, 2000 p.143).
HRD policies were not merely concerned with knowledge production, but with the development of new identities and positionalities within a new culture.
The study of Diouf et al (2000) suggests that locating HRD and adult learning in a non-Western context, influences the what, why and from whom, but not the how, of adult learning (Diouf et al, 2000 p.32). The example of a Senegalese farming village cites adult education as a national priority, a culture within which only 30% of the population is literate. The study is based on the prospect that adult education has not been effective because previously it had been based on Western models and thus did not incorporate, ‘the informal and community-based educational practices used in African villages’ (Diouf et al, 2000 p.33). The Western approach privileges its own practices and attempt to impose these on a culture whose values and beliefs are so opposed and contradictory to Western contexts.
Diouf et al demonstrate the effectiveness of their study both to help develop the learning of the villagers and also inform the field of adult learning and the foundations of HRD. To do this one must develop an understanding of the learning practices and traditions that are already in place. Diouf notes that such knowledge would aid other government agencies develop adult learning in African farming villages and develop Western conceptual models of adult learning such as Griffith’s reflecting model. The aim of the researcher was to understand the causes of the failure and rejection of previous governmental attempts to ‘educate’ the villagers. To gain this information Diouf conducted a series of interviews with open-ended questions to gather general information about the village’s social organisational and the educational system already in place.
Diouf establishes that tradition located education as a process confined to childhood. For example, knowledge about farming processes is learnt in childhood; therefore one villager noted that,
Asking adults to learn farming when they are only supposed to teach it, is perceived as denying their own knowledge and treating them like kids
(Diouf et al, 2000 p.36).
Learning in adulthood was confined to any process that fulfilled the criteria of ‘community usefulness.’ The perception of professional knowledge in the village was that it served the interests of young people to make money for themselves, without considering their community responsibilities. Learning about religion was seen as a lifelong process, knowledge learnt from the Elders, whereby age signifies knowledge and valued experience. Such people controlled the learning situation, knowledge was only imparted after a process of observation to ascertain the motives and priorities of the learner; The learner has to earn the right to be taught. As many of the people in the community were illiterate, most of the learning was experiential with a clear learning cycle:
Observation
More Practice
Information
Feedback
The villagers were offended by Western teaching models as they demanded that they be taught ‘as children;’ many of the government’s learning interventions were not seen as relevant to the community; traditional methods did not allow for the villagers preference for hands-on learning and on many occasions they were taught by younger educators, who could not gain the respect of an Elder. The villagers may also have perceived the knowledge as worthless as it was so easily handed on. The implications for HRD from this study are clear; the government agents gained no research on the cultural and human needs of the community before their learning interventions were implemented. This has reverberations for national and organisational HRD, as it is necessary to understand cultural traditions, before one can implement training and changes. In this study the failure to collaborate led to the failure to learn.
A cultural perspective on HRD can also inform the practitioner as to how adult learning theories can create a new organisational culture through changing behaviours. O’Hara and Sayers (1996) demonstrate how individual learning can bring about cultural and organisational change. They suggest that from a research perspective of practical circumstance, organisational change can be analysed and diagnosed from the perspective of personal change. Such a program requires participants to be proactive and collaborative in the process. Participation should be interpreted not simply by presence, but by involvement and cooperacy. O’Hara and Sayers propose a narrative approach to change, whereby adult learning theories are used to change behaviour. Behaviour can be altered by ‘finishing old stories,’ ‘creating new stories,’ and only then can they ‘move forward’ (O’Hara and Sayers, 1996 p.40). The adult learners need to envision the changed behaviours and their new roles at work before they can move forward. Adult learning does not end with the conclusion of the learning intervention. Through developing a safe environment, continuous and sustained learning and change, O’Hara and Sayers are aiming to build the foundations of a learning organisation.
Conclusion:
Power relations of oppression and repression inevitably refer to the original thinking of Marx, although the basis of his discussion lies in Class struggle. Thus critical adult learning theorists must also consider this on an economic basis. Brookfield (2001) notes that continuing educators have criticised the use of adult education programs to ‘prop up’ (Brookfield, 2001 p.9) departments faced with falling numbers of applications.
By processing as many adult students as soon as possible through such programs, these institutions are commodifying learning and education and selling these as products in the exchange economy (Brookfield, 2001 p.9).
Within this exchange economy the profitability of learning is privileged over learning as personality and identity development. Thus Brookfield notes it is along these lines that many courses are funded and evaluated. Thus critical theory and theorists must also recognise themselves as a product of the social hierarchy and structures they seek to reform. In the same way as HRD is shaped by the nation, society or organisation it exists within.
The learning theories I have examined develop the ‘what’ of HRD; that is what learning or training is implemented. Learning theories explain this area of HRD in a multitude of ways. Firstly, they develop the importance of assessing training needs or desires by demonstrating that these are often gender or culturally specific. I have demonstrated that in many cultures, imposing a training solution can lead to rejection or the instruction and the instructor if sufficient cultural research of traditional learning methods is neglected. On the reverse side of this the critique provided leads the teacher to question the learning content, questioning why it is that we deem specific knowledge to be relevant. Secondly, learning theories can affect the ‘how’ of HRD, addressing and transforming traditional training methods. Through an examination of adult learning theories the HRD practitioner can gain insight into numerous teaching alternatives, which would be more effective in the emerging culture of the ‘learning organisation.’ Perhaps most importantly, is the discussion of the ‘by whom’ of training and development, questioning the positionality and cultural specifics of the instructor. The titles of teacher/instructor/trainer/developer imply a knowledge and power base that can be used negatively, if one exploits the authority of the position to reinforce our own ideology. Or through investigation of innovative teaching methods the positionality of the teacher can be altered without affecting their authority or control in the learning situation, but promote a safer environment for training.
Whether adult learning theories alone provide adequate explanatory and predictive foundations for HRD is questionable. In organisations that strive towards a vision of continuous learning and development, adult learning theories could provide endless resources and foundations. A more economic perspective on the role of HRD as a developer of adult learning theories would have to question firstly, the cost of the research that would be required before any instruction could take place. Secondly, whether practitioners should focus upon theoretic approaches when organisations require practical responses. Thirdly, whether this investment in the employee or citizen is going to provide economic gain or growth in the future. Although, as many of my case studies have demonstrated, economic requirements often create barriers for learning, they are a factor that in practical terms must be taken into consideration. That is why I perceive Griffith’s reflecting team model to be the most effective example I discovered in researching this essay. The model is grounded in and developed from critically assessing adult learning theories and most importantly for the practitioner provides an energetic and effectual response to the problem of the power hierarchy of the traditional classroom.
References
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