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Motivation in adult education
A problem solver or a euphemis
m for direction and control?
Helene Ahl, Phd, Research Fellow
Encell (National Centre for Life
long Learning) www.encell.se
School of Education and Communication, Jönköping University
P.O. Box 1026, SE-551 11 Jönköping, Sweden
Phone: +46 36 15 75 52, E-mail: Helene.Ahl@hlk.hj.se
Paper presented at Nordic Educational Res
earch Association Conference, Örebro, 2006
Forthcoming in 2006, in
International Journal of Lifelong Education
, 25(5).
Copyright: Taylor & Francis
If citing, please use article ve
rsion, available in fall 2006.
Abstract
Adults’ motivation to participate in continued
education is of immediate interest, as lifelong
learning is now considered as the solution to the pressing problems of increased levels of
unemployment, not least among unskilled workers. Many theories concerning motivation and
adult education maintain that individuals are i
nnately motivated to learn, and conclude that
motivation problems result from various dispositi
onal, situational and structural impediments.
If such barriers are removed, adults will be na
turally motivated to educate themselves. This
article argues against these theories and maintains that motivation should not be regarded as
something residing within the individual. It is ra
ther a construct of those who see it lacking in
others. A critical reading of the literature sh
ows how motivation theory
stigmatizes people
held ‘unmotivated’ in that the theories ascribe motivation problems to the individual, while
assuming the basis upon which the problem is formulated for granted, and making those who
formulate the problem invisible. Instead of a problem solver, motivation becomes a
euphemism for direction and control.
This article suggests that motivation should be seen as a relational concept, rather
than as residing within the individual. Adults’ motiv
ation, or lack of this, is best understood in
relation to those who formulate the problem. Instead of asking what motivates adults to study,
research should focus on
who states that this is a problem, and why, and the reasons for this
conclusion
. This approach makes the operations of power visible, and demonstrates how the
discourse of lifelong learning, as a necessary
political response to economic and technological
determinism, constructs
adults as inadequate.
Introduction
This article springs from a question frequent
ly asked by educators, policymakers and
employers, namely
‘What motivates adults to take part in
and complete courses in continued
education and competence development
?’
.
This question is posed as the call for adult
education, or the more frequently used term,
lifelong learning, is gaining ground today, both
in Sweden and many other industrialized countries. Lifelong learning is seen as the solution to
several urgent problems. Govern
ments realize the need for more
skilled and educated adults,
as the labour market for unskilled labour is sh
ifting to low cost coun
tries, and the resulting
high levels of unemployment erode the tax base
and challenge welfare systems. Industry calls
for a labour force having the latest and update
d levels of competence. Politicians regard
education as a solution to what they see as
democracy problems, as evidenced by decreasing
participation in party politics. Education is
supposed to foster active and democratic
citizenship, in spite of the fact that party
membership, at least in Sweden, seems to be
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decreasing as the general level of education increases. As people undergoing any sort of
education are not regarded as unemployed in th
e official statistics, it is also a means of
keeping open unemployment figures low. Educator
s, finally, call for education as a means for
personal growth and development and for the building of the good society (Gustavsson 2002).
But learners do not always come into the ed
ucational system in the numbers required.
Sweden recently implemented an ambitious, fi
ve-year adult education programme, aimed at
raising the level of education among adults who have not completed their comprehensive
and/or secondary education. The project was gene
rally successful, but some groups seemed to
be very difficult to motivate to participate,
particularly men in rural areas, immigrants and
other groups (Paldanius 2002, Nordström and Bengtsson-Sandberg 2004). Trade unions
reported difficulties in persuading their me
mbers to participate in the adult education
initiative, and also difficulties in recruiting
their members in other competence development
programmes, both within formal education and job related training (Höög 1999, 2001). Small
business owners seemed reluctant to invest in education for both themselves and their
employees. Short-term profitability is prioritized
before long-term competitiveness (Fleischer
2004). If one assumes that education can solve
all the problems raised, the vital question
posed is therefore to identify and determine wh
at motivates people to participate in further
education.
The obvious way of seeking an answer to this question would, of course, be to ask the
individuals concerned what it is that motivates them to participate in, or abstain from,
continued education. However, such a study would be at risk for taking it for granted that
there is such an entity as motivation – an entity th
at is easily identified and explained, and that
interviewees are also able to verbalize and explain. This article suggests another route. Instead
of asking people about their motivation, it tries to determine what the concept of motivation is
all about. Based on an extensive literature study concerning motivation, and motivation and
adult learning (Ahl 2004a), this article questions and critiques the motivation concept, and
suggests an alternative way of looking at motivation in adult education.
The article begins with a discussion of concept definitions, and a brief historical
overview of how social science has conceptualized motivation. Building on this, the next
section discusses how the motivation concept is re
flected in theories abou
t adult education. As
the literature review gave reason for ques
tioning, the following section challenges the
conceptualization of motivation as something
residing within the individual and resulting in
behavioural patterns. If this is not so, how sh
ould social science approach motivation theory?
The next part suggests an alternative way of regarding motivation theory, namely the
Foucauldian perspective that motivation theory constitutes a body of knowledge that has
power effects, i.e. it determines what is right
or wrong, and it positions people and actions in
certain ways. Using this perspective, the follo
wing section discusses how motivation theory
constructs the adult learner as
deficient and inadequate. The
last section concludes that
motivation is a construct of those who find it wanting in others. It suggests an alternative way
of conceptualizing motivation, namely as a
relational concept, and proposes a different
direction for future motivation research.
What is motivation?
A search in encyclopaedias shows that the word motivation comes from the Latin term
‘motivus’
which means ‘a moving cause’. Research
on motivation is concerned with the
overall question ‘What creates human action’
writes Franken (1994). When looking for more
precise scientific definitions, however, one find
s a large variety. Some suggestions are offered
below:
...how dispositions lead to action through th
e interaction of biological, learned and
cognitive processes (Franken, 1994:19)
...1) what energizes human behaviours 2) what directs or channels such behaviour 3)
how this behaviour is maintained or sust
ained (Björklund 2001:4, Porter et al.
2003:1).
...the process whereby goal-directed activity
is instigated and sustained (Pintrich and
Schunk 2002:5).
3
...inner needs causing certain (potential) be
haviour (Nationalencyklopedin, 1989-96)
...a process governing choices made by persons or lower organisms among
alternative forms of voluntary
activity (Vroom 1964/1995:7).
These definitions conceptualize mo
tivation either as dispositions, as energy and direction, as
something instigated by goals, as based in needs, or as a process governing choices. Common
for these conceptualizations is that motivation is
seen as something residing primarily within
the individual, and therefore possible to research by focusing on individuals. Motivation
theory, moreover, seems to require a theory
of the human species, as different motivation
theories make different assumptions about
human nature. My review of the literature
concerning motivation identified six different ou
tlooks on people, as shown below in table 1.
Table 1. Classical motivation theories
Humans as are motivated by:
1. Economic/rational Rewards and punishments
2. Social Social norms, groups
3. Psycho-biological Instincts and drives
4. Learning Stimuli and/or rewards
5. Need driven Inner needs
6. Cognitive Cognitive maps
Theories that specifically examine motivation in
adult education are usually based on general
motivation theories. As this article’s critique
of adult education and motivation is better
understood if one has an appreciation of the general theories, I begin with a brief historical
overview. I also note some of the cr
iticism levelled against these theories.
1. Economic human
Library databases reveal that motivation
was mainly of concern for philosophers and
economists until approximately the turn of the pr
evious century. The theory of human beings
as rational decision makers is one of the earlie
st theories of humans and their motivation,
dating back to Adam Smith ́s
The wealth of nations
(Smith 2000/1776). This theory states that
humans act rationally and in their own self-inter
est. They choose the alternative that gives
them the highest economic returns. Motivating
someone, according to this theory, is fairly
straightforward – one only has to offer more
money (or other