1. Humanism and person-centred learning
   1. Carl Rogers (1902–1987)
      1. Rogers developed a theory of personality and personal relations which emerged from his psychotherapy practice, and then extended its reach to the education field.
      2. The central tenet is that humans have a propensity to learn and teachers should facilitate – not instruct or impose – that learning.
      3. Importance of setting a positive learning environment and facilitating learning that is relevant for individuals according to their experience, needs and self-concept.
   2. Facilitation process can be enhanced (Smith, 2014).
      1. Realness (or genuineness) in the facilitator of learning.
      2. Prizing, acceptance, trust.
      3. Empathic understanding
   3. (Rogers and Freiberg, 1993)
      1. Each person exists and behaves according to his or her own experience - see constructivism
      2. Humans constantly strive to maintain a consistency in the way we see ourselves and the way others perceive us to be.
      3. When faced with situations that do not fit our experiences, we will be more rigid and less likely to learn if these are imposed upon us, and more flexible to change if we don’t feel threatened
2. Adult learning theory
   1. Malcolm Knowles (1913–1997)
      1. Children and adults are qualitatively different types of learners.
      2. Adult educators cannot use learning tools and techniques that derive from the principles of ‘pedagogy’ (which literally means teaching children)
   2. (Knowles et al., 2007).
      1. Helping adults to learn should be informed by the principles of adult learning, also known as ‘andragogy’
      2. Traditional lectures may be suited for unexperienced young learners, but not for adult learners.
      3. Adults will be more likely to learn through activities such as case studies, where they can use their experience and learn from others.
      4. Adult learners are orientated towards learning that can have clear application
   3. (Rachal, 2002)
      1. The differences between young learners and adults are perhaps less clear than the theory suggests.
3. Social and situated learning
   1. (Lave, 1988; Vygostsky, 1978).
      1. Learning theories are based on the idea that learning cannot be understood separately from the context and culture in which it occurs.
      2. Based on a wide range of schools of thought including social anthropology and social theory
   2. Etienne Wenger (2000)
      1. Proposes that learning happens through active engagement with the practices of communities to which individuals belong, or ‘communities of practice’.
4. Learning how to learn - Learning styles.
   1. (Fleming and Baume, 2006)
      1. According to this model each person has a preferred way to process information and learn – which may be visual, auditory, read/write and kinaesthetic.
   2. Kolb’s (1984)
      1. Engaging in actively experiencing the environment, standing back and reflecting on the experience, and using analytical reasoning and planning prepare for the new experience in a sort of continuous cycle
   3. Honey and Mumford’s (2006)
      1. Learning Styles Questionnaire is one of the most widely used instruments in learning and development.
      2. Learning styles inventory developed to help individuals to identify where they have the greatest strengths and weaknesses on the learning cycle,
   4. Hodgkinson et al., 2009).
      1. Baroness Susan Greenfield, a professor of pharmacology at Oxford University, was quoted in the Times Educational Supplement as saying that ‘from a neuro-scientific point of view [the learning styles approach] is nonsense’ (cited in CIPD, 2012, p. 6).
      2. Only one out of the 13 diagnostic tools examined showed acceptable standards of reliability and validity (the Cognitive Style Index or CSI). Nonetheless, a later study has also evidenced problems with the statistical validity of this tool.
      3. Helpful in raising awareness about their learning preferences and how to manage their own learning more effectively.
      4. A criticism of the psychometric properties of these tools comes from their lack of ability to reflect the learning demands of current environments.
      5. Learning styles are more heavily focused on cognitive-led behaviours whereas contemporary workplace demands also place significance on emotional and affective-led behaviours to do with discerning patterns that drive innovation, and a high degree of self-awareness about how one’s own decisions might impact others (CIPD, 2012).
   5. (CIPD, 2014)
      1. information processing
         1. Habitual modes of perceiving, storing and organising information (for example, pictorially or verbally)
      2. instructional preferences
         1. Predispositions towards learning in a certain way (for example, collaboratively or independently) or in a certain setting (such as a particular environment or time of day)
      3. learning strategies
         1. Adaptive responses to learning specific subject matter in a particular context.