Chapter 1
This Major Applied Research Project was undertaken at the Ponce Campus of the Inter American University. Inter American University of Puerto Rico is the oldest and largest private university in Puerto Rico and one of the largest in the United States. With over 40,000 students, it serves 25% of the Island's students in . higher education, 50% of those in private institutions. It began as the Polytechnic Institute, an elementary and secondary school system in San German in 1912. It started offering university level courses in 1921 and graduated its first class in 1927. In 1944 it became the first four‑year liberal arts college, outside the continental United States, accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
The institution continued to develop as a small
liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, until its
reorganization as an independent institution known as‑Inter American
University of Puerto Rico. In 1956, it began a decade of rapid growth. More
than fifteen branches were established throughout the island.
In an effort to serve the adult population better, the
Ponce Campus began an experimental project for nontraditional students during
1979‑80. Using innovative educational strategies and a more flexible
academic structure, adults were offered academic programs with university
credit leading to college degrees. In 1985, the program received formal
approval from the Board of Trustees. In the Adult Education Program, the adult
student can find more flexible schedules, a variety of instructional
modalities, and added support from the Program Director and counselors.
The problem was the need for an adult teacher
education curriculum at Inter American University. The Chancellor and The Dean of
Academic Affairs had recognized the need for such a program (M. Wayland, &
M. Nolasco, personal communication, June, 1993).
The purpose of this study was to develop an
undergraduate teacher education curriculum in adult education at IAU, Ponce
Campus, that would prepare adult basic education teachers to‑ teach adult
students in the adult basic education program offered by the Department of
Education.
The adult education programs offered by the Public
Department of Education in Puerto Rico include Adult Basic Education, Adult
Secondary Education, and Conversational English. In 1992‑93, the staff in
the Adult Education Programs consisted of 95 teachers in Adult Basic Education,
55 teachers in the Adult Secondary Education Program, and 14 in Conversational
English. In addition to the teachers, there are administrators, counselors, and
other staff. The group of adult education teachers was serving more than 6,459
students in the three programs in sixteen school districts.
The teachers in the Adult Education Program do not
have a university degree in adult education. They are hired because they have a
university degree in elementary or secondary education or because they are
experienced teachers. The Department of Education assumes that if these
teachers have a university degree in education and they have taught children
and adolescents for many years they can teach adults as well.
The administration of the Inter American University
of Puerto Rico, which is the only university with an adult education program on
the island, recognizes the fact that there is a need to prepare teachers of
adult students. In its attempt to continue improving the quality of adult
education not only at the university level, but also in the community it
serves, the administration of IAU Ponce Campus has established as one of its
priorities the development of a teacher education curriculum in adult education
(S. Correa, personal communication, March, 1994). Several factors have
influenced IAU in making this decision. These are (a) the lack of qualified
adult education teachers on the island, (b) the increasing number of adult
students in adult programs offered by the Department of Education, (c) the
Department of Education of Puerto Rico has made adult education one of its
priorities and is requesting the universities to develop teacher education
programs in adult education, (d) the increasing numbers of adult students
entering the IAU Adult Education Program who have graduated from adult
education programs offered by the public education system, and (e) the
commitment IAU has of improving adult education in the community it serves.
The research questions for this study were (a) What should
be the conceptual framework for the adult
teacher education
curriculum? (b) What are the appropriate processes for developing a curriculum
in adult teacher education? (c)‑What external and internal factors should
be considered in developing this curriculum? (d) What elements should a
curriculum for the preparation of adult education teachers include? (e) What
courses should be included? (f) What processes should be considered for the
implementation of the adult teacher education curriculum? (g) What type of
adult teacher education curriculum should be developed? (h) What changes should
be made within the education department to incorporate this curriculum? (i)
What internal and external stakeholders should be considered in the design,
development, and implementation of this curriculum? (j) What should be the
implementation plan? (k) How should this curriculum be evaluated?
The following definitions are provided to eliminate
confusion and to provide a uniform operational definition of specific terms.
The terms are defined as used in this study.
Adult education is used in this study as Darkenwald and
Merriam (1982) point out "a process whereby persons whose major social
roles are characteristic of adult status undertake systematic and sustained
learning activities for the purpose of bringing about changes in knowledge,
attitudes, values, or skills" (p. 9) .
Curriculum refers to all the learning experiences the students
will go through in the process of obtaining the knowledge, the competencies,
and the skills necessary in the teaching of adult students.
Teacher education refers to the process of
preparing students to become adult educators.
The following assumptions were made in this study.
It was assumed that the review of the curriculum document by the Director of
the Education Department and the Dean of Academic Affairs was valid. It was
also assumed that the formative committee would have the knowledge to assist in
the development of this study. It was further assumed that the adult education
teachers' responses to the questionnaire reflected their actual needs and ideas
about adult education. Furthermore, it was assumed that the questionnaire
generated validated data for the development of the adult teacher education
curriculum.
One of the limitations of this study was that the
use of the teacher education curriculum in adult education may be limited to
IAU, Ponce Campus. This limitation implies that the clientele for the courses will
be limited to the adult basic education teachers from the Ponce region and to
the education students from the Ponce Campus. Another limitation of this study
was that the implementation and evaluation of this curriculum would occur post‑MARP.
This implies that this researcher will not participate in any of these two
processes. The literature on teacher education in adult education constituted
another limitation because there are not many studies conducted in this area.
Still, another limitation was that the data collected for the development of
this curriculum were limited to the adult basic education teachers from the
Ponce region. The utility of this curriculum in regions other than Ponce cannot
be determined because data from other regions were not collected.