Abstract

An increasing large population of elders living to four score years and more has prompted a call for educational institutions to prepare more professionals and paraprofessionals to work with elders. This study investigated adult education processes in fieldwork supervision in geriatric and gerontological settings in the Montreal Island area. A two-part questionnaire formed the first step of a triangulation research methodology. Forty fieldwork supervisors responded whose group scores supported a collaborative teaching-learning mode as conceptualized by Gary J. Conti's central principles of adult learning. From the forty respondents, four supervisors working in a variety of agencies serving elders were selected for deeper inquiry through interviews and observations, forming the second and third triangulation steps. The interview and observation findings showed additional support for a collaborative mode of teaching-learning. An incongruency between the survey results and the interview and observation findings was linked to emergent contextual fieldwork factors associated with experiential learning. Two other emergent factors were examined as a function of adult education occurring outside traditional classrooms. In this study fieldwork settings were a significant variable in determining the transactive nature of teaching and learning. Future research of adult education processes is recommended for other professional fieldwork settings