| Why do some
learners quit and others succeed?
Learning theory tells us that students often go through four distinct
phases when they are learning. In one of those phases they are more
likely to quit. Helping learners to identify this phase and their
responses may just help them to persist and succeed.
There are four well-established stages that people go through when
learning something new. The four stages are:
Mapping the stages against learners’ states of mind helps
us to think about why learners drop out and to predict when it’s
most likely to happen. The fact that learners have enrolled on a
course suggests that they are already at the consciously incapable
stage. They know that there is a lot that they don’t know
and they want to learn. However, this stage can also be psychologically
painful as the learner struggles with the task ahead. So what motivates
some students to keep going while others drop out?
If you have other ideas/views please email them to claire@creatingcareers.com
and we’ll share them in the next issue.
How can tutors help learners through the
stages of learning?
Creating Careers’ Reach programme includes
a practical framework to help students to understand the four stages
of learning that it’s natural to go through. Students at participating
colleges complete a series of short activities to help them to reveal
how they currently respond when learning is difficult, together
with action points for new approaches they could apply to their
current and future studies. By understanding how students are currently
feeling tutors can encourage learners to develop a series of simple
coping strategies to use when the going gets tough and they are
thinking of leaving the course.
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