Does the capacity to learn increase or decrease over time? How does the sense of self and identity change over the adult years? What are the educational implications of that change? And how can teachers acknowledge the experience their adult students bring to the classroom?

In this book, Mark C. Tennant and Philip Pogson draw on the field of developmental psychology to provide new insights into the critical connections between experience and learning in all areas of adult education and training. Integrating findings from both adult developmental psychology and adult teaching and learning, the authors examine how experience generates developmental change. They look at how the relationship between self and others changes across the lifespan and, in turn, affects the teacher-learner relationship. And they describe the processes that promote separateness, indepAndence, interdepAndence, and autonomy in adult learners.Learning and Change in the Adult Years thoroughly explores the role of development in adult learning, the investment of ‘self’ in learning, and the link between social development and personal development to give teachers and trainers both the concepts and tools for promoting autonomy and self-direction in learners.