The participant experience of a personal development programme aimed at adult learners

M.Ed.Stirring my interest in the area of personal development for adult learners was the recognition of the importance of self-development within the Life Orientation and Arts and Culture learning fields. Within these, the focus is on learners’ “inner” development enabling them to live successfully in a dynamic world. There are a number of self–development programmes and books currently available, and while many of these claim to be transformative they offer little substantiation for this apart from personal anecdotal evidence. Few of the programmes provided evidence of their value for participants over time or of the effect, they had on an individual’s perspectives. Thus, it is my contention that any programme aimed at effecting a personal change would need to focus on facilitating an increase in the participant’s level of self-awareness by empowering them to engage in processes of critical self-examination. Participants should be encouraged to engage in critical discussion of challenging information they are introduced to (Brookfield, 1995; Brookfield & Preskill, 1999; Gravett, 2001). These types of discussions provide a forum in which participants are able to test and validate their transformation. Another consideration for programmes wanting to effect personal change is the learning climate in which the transformational learning takes place. A climate conducive to learning must promote the development of mutual trust and respect between the learners and the educator (Gravett, 2001; Vella, 1994). This helps the participants to gain a sense of psychological safety in which their perspectives are affirmed and validated. Further, it allows the participants the freedom needed to explore alternative points of view and supports them in their transformation. Adopting this approach enhances the learning process, as it allows for the inclusion of individual learning styles, uses the learner’s knowledge base as a starting point in constructing new knowledge, and promotes critical reflection and discussion resulting in transformation (Cranton, 2002; Foley, 2000; Gravett, 2001; Pratt, 2002; Vella, 1994). As Employee Development Consultant, at Contract Marketing, I was co-designer and presenter of a personal development programme. The objective of this specific programme can be summarised as aiming to transform the participant’s view by challenging their current perspectives and exposing them to the concept that everything that is has a unique purpose. In addition, it aimed at assisting individuals in defining and documenting their purpose in the form of a Mission Statement (Juriaanse, 1985). The programme piloted in January 2004 and involved seven participants. There is presently no information on how the programme was experienced by participants. As a period of two years has passed since presenting the programme, I was interested in exploring how participants’ experienced it and investigating what influence this particular programme has had on their lives two years later. In my view, two years would allow enough time for participants to incorporate the principles they had identified during the programme into their lives. Furthermore, I would argue that this gap would allow participants to give a more accurate and unbiased account of how beneficial or detrimental they had found the programme to be in the pursuit of the above. In addition the recommendations for improvement which will be drawn from this study could prove to be valuable in shaping the programme in future