Older Learners

Defining older learners is a more complex process than may be assumed initially. For instance, the term older is misleading. Older learner bodes the question “Older than what?” Historically, learning has been primarily associated with the formal learning found in schools. Therefore, young learners were school aged and older learners were beyond the normal age of [Page 745]schoolchildren. Reliance on chronological age alone is a fairly ineffective way to define adult learners, particularly in view of the contemporary concept of lifelong learning. The concept of lifelong learning encourages people to engage in acquiring new skills and knowledge throughout their lifetimes. This is a radical departure from the idea that a high school education was sufficient, in both knowledge and skill, to allow the graduates to assume their rightful place in the workforce and within society.

Current thought suggests that today's high school graduates may change occupations 7–10 times throughout their working lives. This need for continual learning brings an entire segment of the population, whose previous involvements were small, into the learning community. If educational psychologists create an age-based continuum of learners and arbitrarily select age 65 as the point of delineation, by 2030 it can be projected that approximately 20% of those involved in the learning process will be above age 65. They can just as easily identify those above the age of 65 as being older learners.

The use of chronological age persists as a means to identify adult learners. As in the example above, it is a simple process to arbitrarily select an age in calendar years, such as 65, and declare that those over the age of 65 are older learners. Chronological age remains simple and easy to understand, but it reveals only one component of the older learner.

Another component that may be used to define the older learner is to examine the learner in terms of his or her biological age. This is a much more complex process, and because it relates to the person's overall health, physical well-being, or the “true” age of the body, it is a construct difficult to both define and measure. However, a working estimate of a person's health may be directly related to the person's ability. For instance, some are “old for their age,” whereas others are “young for their age.” Although these phrases are not meant to provide empirical accuracy, they do afford insight as to a person's ability. Biological age also affects the learner's ability to sit and listen for long periods, take notes, mentally engage, and myriad other tasks associated with the learning process. These tasks may be considered a given for the younger learner, one better suited physiologically and biologically for the stress of learning, and remain a strong influencing component of the older learner.

The final age reference proposed for consideration is the concept of psychological age. Psychological age relates to the affective state, or how one feels. This feeling may relate to a positive or negative attitude toward learning specifically or in general. The important consideration is that emotionality plays a large role in an individual's learning process. People tend to become more deeply involved in things they like and less involved in pursuits they dislike. Therefore, older learners are more likely to engage in the learning process when they possess an accompanying mature psychological age, and less likely to engage when psychologically immature.

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