Analysis of Adult Education with Dewey’s Perspective

Almaha Radha Alruwaili^1, and Mark Templin²

¹Doctor of Education, Curriculum consultant and specialist at Tatweer Company for Educational Services (Talemia), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

²Professor of Education, Department of Teacher Education, Judith Herb College of Education, The University of Toledo, USA

Cite this paper:
Almaha Radha Alruwaili and Mark Templin. Analysis of Adult Education with Dewey’s Perspective. American Journal of Educational Research. 2023; 11(7):457-466. doi: 10.12691/education-11-7-2

Abstract

This article analyses adult education from John Dewey’s perspective and the effectiveness of his theories if applied to the adult education system. Adult education is seen as a social and political issue that contributes to educational and economic development. The paper starts off by analyzing Dewey’s experiential and continuity based progressive learning. Then goes on to show how reflecting on past experiences and knowledge, backed by action, enhances experiential learning. Furthermore, the paper examined how Dewey’s experiential theory can be applied, and the progress made so far towards the promotion of adult education. A significant effort has also been made to outline the role of education, student-centered learning, as well as the limitations encountered. Following Dewey’s theories, adult education can prove to be effective in getting real-life skills and these skills can later on, help the people get better jobs and secure futures. We conclude by arguing that adult education should be based on experiences and practical implications in order to form a system that promotes real-life experienced based education.

Keywords:
adult education experiential learning Dewey’s perspective past experiences progressive learning theory

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