Providing Education and Training for At Risk ... - Victoria University

Individuals appear to perform better when they are taught by teachers who share similarlearning approaches and they do better in tests which match their ways of perceivingreality…There is some evidence to suggest that learning outcomes are more successfulwhen delivery of instruction matches student learning styles…There is some anecdotal evidence that some TAFE teachers hold firm beliefs, based ontheir teaching experience, and reinforced by their peers, about how vocational knowledgeand skills can best be imparted to students….The role of the teachers in constructing theculture of the classroom and responding to the cultural backgrounds of the learners isincreasingly being seen as important in understanding teaching and learning processes.(1997:3)Even allowing for the behaviourist tone of this analysis (‘performing’ ‘delivery of instruction’),the main point is clear. Learning is an easier achievement where congruence between learners’experiences and teachers’ expectations is apparent. Tracking this through many types ofeducational provision has been a major and abiding research enterprise for several decades. Inthe current policy environment, program designers need to consider differences in vocationallearning approaches, between males and females, and on an age basis:Looking at TAFE students in apprenticeships and certificate courses, Anderson et al.report (1997:2) that ‘reading is not the preferred learning mode for a great many students(Misko 1994)’, yet for females ‘working with words, language and people and usingreading as a learning mode’ was a preference. Males ‘preferred to work with numbersand logic, building and repairing and designing things’. Significant differences betweenage and various learning preferences were identified:Younger students were more likely to be concerned with working in teams and gettingon with fellow students, knowing and liking the instructor, working independently andwith things, viewing visual illustration and using direct experience as a mode of learning.Older students, however, were more likely to prefer logically structured and clearlyorganised course work, competition, specific information about assignments and rules,authority, working with numbers and logic, working with words and language, listening,reading and [to have] above average expectations. (1997:2)Those learning preferences held by young people appear outside formal institutional settings.Other research, this time from evidence from ‘in the wild’ - outdoor programs for youngoffenders in detention (Reddrop: 1997) - reinforces certain desired characteristics of youngpeople’s receptivity to learning:These are, in summary, that a survival (or adventure, or experiential learning) approach increasesself-esteem by teaching youth how to discover behavioural alternatives; by providing immediatesuccess; by setting their own goals; by working with a small group (respect, cooperation); by‘stretching’ potential; by resolving stress appropriately; by applying skills in a simplifiedenvironment; by rule-following which is practical (safety); and by requiring honest, directcommunication. (19, 24)This project is about young people, and connects with their alienation from traditional schooling,and traditional learning, and teaching, approaches. We may have to look far beyond thetraditional settings to find learning preferences - but then, many of the young people who may24