PROBLEMS FACED BY WORKING ADULT LEARNERS
1.0 Introduction
There are many understanding of the term ‘adult learners’. Some said they are ‘nontraditional students’ and the others said they are ‘working students’. But in another way they also called as ‘part time’ students. According National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2003) as cited in http://www.luminafoundation.org.com , adult learners show seven characteristic. They are:
Delayed enrollment
Attend part time
Financially independent
Work full time
Have dependents
Single parent (not necessary)
Lack a standard high school
While further their study, they often have many commitments and responsibilities that they must entertain such as their families and jobs. Sometimes they are facing problems with their own families which are not supported or employer to come back to school again. It is important to identify the problem faced by adult learners because without the knowledge, may be the learners will lose their focus and motivation.
2.0 Three Main Problems Faced By Adult Learners
2.1 Time Constraints
This is one of the major problem which will make them think twice before decide to advance their study. The adult students usually have many commitments and responsibilities that they must attend while doing their educational goals. Many of them are commuters and are married, work full-time and of course have children. All of this, if not carried out, can cause the student to drop out from their learning. According to Kinsella (2002), as cited from Journal of Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, the time percentage which was spent by adult learners is about 83 percent for their responsibilities and only 17 percent for their study. From this survey, we can conclude that adult learners have limited time to do their study. Although we cannot generalize from one survey for all adult learners, these results at least give us some ideas of the reasons for retention...