ANDRAGOGICAL APPROACH TO IN-SERVICE TRAINING FOR TEACHERS OF ADULT EDUCATION - PRACTITIONER’S REFLECTIONS

Abstract

The paper presents the author’s experiences gained during andragogical courses for teachers head teachers from the schools for adults. The courses were conducted in 2004 and 2005 in the Center for Lifelong Education in Toruń. About 70 persons working in schools for adults in the area of northern Poland attended both editions of the courses. The main problem connected with teachers of adult education in Poland is the lack of legał regulations concerning teachers’ ąualifications and paths of in-service training and professional development.
In the following part of the present paper, the author characterizes the expectations of tye course participants and their attitudes towards practical skills acąuisition usefiil in teaching diiferent subjects. What appeared to be very important and what was appreciated by teachers participating in this course, was the possibility of exchanging their professional experiences and sharing their successes.
Another reflection presented in the article was connected with teaching-learning meth- ods used by the author during the courses. These were mainly active methods that helped the participants to define and solve their solve problems and reflect on their creative work and its implementation, e.g. six thinking hats method by E. de Bono, discussion games by U. Baer etc. Games and relaxation plays were also very important in the very intensive course.
In the summary, it was noted that there exists the real need of adult education teachers to participate actively in this kind of in-service training, to learn with new teaching-learning methods they could apply in their work with adult learners.