self-direction in learning

The most important attitude that can be formed', wrote John Dewey, 'is that of the desire to go on learning'. Here we explore some of the key issues around the idea of self-direction in learning. We also look at the contribution of Alan Tough and Malcolm Knowles - two of the key North American promoters of self directed learning and associated notions.

Tough: self education and learning projects

Various studies indicate that learning projects are undertaken by individuals outside of formal education provision on a substantial scale. For example a survey of adult learning undertaken by Sargant in the UK revealed that one in six people are trying to learn about or teach themselves something informally - at home, at work, or elsewhere (1991: 15) (see participation in learning). In other words , what we have here is a substantial body of people engaged in the process of what might be described as self-directed learning.

One of the key points of reference concerning such learning has been the work of Alan Tough. In a famous American study (1967) he initially described this process as 'self-teaching'. In such circumstances, learners assumed responsibility for planning and directing the course of study. As he developed his approach Tough tended to conceptualise his approach in terms of learning projects. Having established the existence of self-learning projects to his own satisfaction, Tough then went on to describe what he saw as the 13 key stepped, decision points about choosing what, where and how to learn. He assumed that adults have a sound range of abilities for planning and guiding their learning. (See lifelong learning).

More recently writers like Charles Hayes have returned to self teaching and sought to champion the idea that people should take control of their own learning and adopt self-directed inquiry as a lifelong priority. 'When we fail to take control of our education, we fail to take control of our lives. Self-directed inquiry, the process of taking control of your own educarion... is the lifeblood of democracy' (1998:xiv).

Product and process

So far we have been approaching self direction as a process. As a process, 'self directed learning is a form of study in which learners have the primary responsibility for planning, carrying out and evaluating their own learning experiences' (Merriam and Caffarella 1991: 41). As a product, as Robbie Kidd once put it, the aim 'is to make the subject a continuing "inner-directed", self-operating learner' (quoted in Brookfield 1985: 18). So we have two contrasting foci here. They can be further sub-divided. Candy (1991), in an influential review and exploration of self-direction, suggests that there are four main ways of approaching the literature. The four distinct but related phenomenon are as follows. Self-direction as:

• a personal attribute (personal autonomy)

• the willingness and capacity to conduct one's own education (self management).

• a mode of organizing instruction in formal settings (learner control)

• the individual, non-institutional pursuit of learning opportunities in the 'natural social setting' (autodidaxy).

In the first of Candy’s categories, the focus is on the personal orientation of the learner. In other words, what we are looking at here concerns the importance of understanding the characteristics of successful self-directed learners. In this sense, Brockett and Hiemstra argue that learner self-direction refers to 'characteristics of an individual that predispose one toward taking primary responsibility for personal learning endeavours (1991: 29). This particular strain of thinking owes much to the work of people such as Carl Rogers and Maslow (see, also humanistic psychology and learning. Interest in developing what Candy describes as self-managing learners may be linked to a broader concern to further adulthood or personal autonomy.

However, at this point we begin to run into problems - there are narrow, technical, definitions of adulthood and autonomy and broader ideas about what may make for human well-being. From a narrow view it may be possible to be 'a superb technician of self-directed learning in terms of one's command of goal setting, instructional design or evaluative procedures, and yet to exercise no critical questioning of the validity or worth of one's intellectual pursuit as compared with competing, alternative possibilities' (Brookfield 1985: 29). In other words, gaining a technical ability to manage may not address basic questions concerning social, moral and political dimensions of learning. As Candy again puts it (1991: 22), from the practitioner's point of view it is important to decide whether the interest lies in fostering self-managing learners or self-determining people. 

The full text of this piece which also includes a discussion of Malcolm Knowles' problematic conception of self-direction can be found on the informal education homepage: self-direction @ the informal education homepage; see, also, Brockett and Hiemstra: A conceptual framework for understanding self-direction in adult learning.

First published September 2002. Last update: January 31, 2005