Letters from the Field

The Case for Pre-Goal Setting

Don Robishaw
Evaluation and Research Consultant
SABES Central Resources Center

Goal setting is a linear, future-oriented, individualistic, Western phenomenon which is not always transferable to English as a Second Language (ESL) learners from non-Western cultures and other domestic cultural contexts

Yet many educators in our field propose goal setting as the panacea to all learners’ problems. Goal setting as an activity has been used in programs for a long time yet retention rates are still low. In this paper I propose a “pre-goal-setting” strategy as a panacea to some of the ills that goal setting activities do not address.

Goal Setting as a Middle Class Phenomenon

I spent a number of years working overseas as an educator and also working as an educator with rural immigrants, refugees and Adult Literacy/Adult Basic Education (AL/ABE) learners in the United States.
I was born in a housing project, spent most of my life in the United States living in the inner city and avoided schooling as much as possible up to the age of sixteen. Based on those “growing experiences” (not negative experiences, as so often perceived and referred to by some adult education professionals) and from that perspective, I view goal setting as an strategy for motivating learning that is embedded with middle class values.

On its own, goal setting may not work well with many ESL learners who are economically disadvantaged, nor with individuals who grew up in an environment where it was not part of their value system. Goal setting is often taken out of context and transferred to individuals who may never have seen any concrete rewards for their own individual efforts or the efforts of groups to which they belong.

As a Western, middle-class activity, it works in that context primarily because there are numerous visible rewards. When people without positive role models, mentors or solidarity in a group (gang) do set goals, it is easier for them to “fall short” than to follow through with the necessary steps needed to achieve them.

“Success” in Adult Literacy/Adult Basic Education (AL/ABE) doesn’t necessarily start with adults walking into a program and setting goals. Nor does it start with teachers expecting adult learners to be able to immediately be successful at using goal-setting.

Teachers should not assume that people with very different life experiences will proceed through classes as they themselves probably proceeded and succeeded through schooling and life.

A case for “pre-goal-setting” as part of a self-directed learning strategy

Adults in their everyday lives are motivated to learn many things. Some day it will become necessary for them to learn on their own in class. Learning on their own is important because many learners fear they cannot learn without the aid of a teacher or, even worse, that they can not learn at all. They must overcome this anxiety and develop self-confidence. Responsible adults need to take control of their own learning.

At the Read/Write/Now Program in Springfield Janet Kelly uses goal-setting as a small group learning strategy for learners with similar goals, such as obtaining a driver’s license. These goals are identified from the student’s goals list.

I agree that goal setting as a strategy can help some learners take control of their own learning and become motivated. But “pre-goal-setting” strategies must be designed and implemented to better help adults develop confidence in their own ability to use goal setting as a strategy for learning. (It is important to remember that these are strategies rather than activities, because the teachers must continue to pay close attention to the learners’ important emotional and psychological processes as well as intellectual processes.)

Many learners need to participate in a “process” in order to find goal setting acceptable. Later I will recommend a strategy that may increase the chances of goal setting being more effective. But first it is important to understand that goal setting, as a strategy, is just a small step in one part of a whole Adult Education philosophy which is self-directed learning.

Self-directed learning can be divided into external and internal processes. Malcolm Knowles is perhaps best known for his understanding of the external processes:

…a process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes. (Knowles, M. 1975, p. 18).

The criteria assume that a learner need only have the ability to learn on his/her own and to manage instructional activities. Educators who try to instill these skills in their learners may be assuming that the learners are aware and consciously prepared to accept them.

Another piece has often been either neglected or assumed in AL/ABE. This other side involves the internal changes needed to become, as Brookfield would point out, fully self-directed.

…self-directed learning is concerned much more with an internal change of consciousness than with the external management of instructional events. This consciousness involves an appreciation of the contextuality of knowledge and an awareness of the culturally constructed form of value frameworks, belief systems and moral codes that influence behavior and the creation of social structures. (Brookfield, S., 1985, p. 15)

Adult learners need to reflect on their past life history and to sort through their experiences in order to see beyond their own formal schooling experiences in order to better develop, persist and continue with learning.

Some adult learners need to channel their former resistance to schooling into the persistence needed to become self-directed learners. A strategy might be to allow learners to reflect on how formal schooling made it more difficult for them as youths to accept the dominant cultural value system because of their lack of dominant “cultural capital” (assets) that their more well-off schoolmates had developed prior to beginning school. Rather than ameliorating this problem, schools did much to perpetuate the differences. Many learners resisted the dominant value system advocated by the schools.

After developing persistence they may then be able to make the behavioral changes necessary to accept goal setting strategies and even more important, self-directed learning. Learners need to discover alternatives through a “dialogical process” with their peers.

Activities vs. Strategies

This is one strategy in addition to other strategies mentioned in Group Goal Setting Activities: An Approach from Youth Services Corps, an article that appeared in the previous edition of Adventures in Assessment. The Youth Services Corps first suggested “activity” is a participatory group process that allows learners opportunities to self-reflect and to share their experiences through a dialogical pedagogy that respects learners as having valuable prior life experiences. Their first suggested “activity” is called “Thinking about Learning”.

Their process begins with participation. I know little about the organization nor their retention rates. Although their “activities” may not be designed exclusively to prevent dropouts, I am curious to know if these suggested “activities” at all contribute to reducing their drop out rates.

My only problem is they refer to what they do as activities rather than strategies. There is a difference between goals, which should be addressed through a strategy and competencies, such as found on some reading skills and life skills checklists, which should be addressed through activities. (See Janet Kelly’s article in the first issue of Adventures in Assessment.) Maybe this is only a semantics issue, but I hope in the future that they choose to call the wonderful things they do strategies rather than activities. Activities are fine for addressing competencies but it is better to choose strategies to address goals.

Beginning with
the Internal Piece

I also suggest a small group dialogical strategy to allow learners the opportunity to self-reflect and to share their reflections and experiences with their own cohorts. Dialogical pedagogy is participatory and respects the learners as adults with numerous valuable life experiences or, as Shor points out: “A participatory class begins with participation. A critical and empowering class begins by examining its subject matter from the students point of view and by helping students see themselves as knowledgeable people (Shor, I., 1992, p. 37). The facilitator creates an environment that respects the learners and allows the learners the freedom and opportunity to grow and develop.

But what is often neglected by facilitators who use a dialogical pedagogy with AL/ABE learners is the need to first set and establish the ideal conditions for discourse before entering into a group discussion.

Another important aspect often neglected is the need for solidarity building between the participants and the facilitator. At the Read/Write/Now program,

“It is all part of the activities early in the class cycle. We usually have a group lesson/discussion on goal setting. We have also used readings from learners-written publications or oral histories which touch on educational experiences and life experiences that many learners can identify with as a starting place for analysis and discussion about where we have been, where we want to go, and how we can get there” (Kelly, J. 1991, P. 24).

Janet does a lot more at the Read/Write/Now Program in this area than most programs and I applaud her work and the same goes for the Youth Service Corps Program in Philadelphia.

Yet when it comes to developing solidarity it is very important that the facilitator has had similar life experiences and experiences with formal schooling as the learners. I can read, study and talk to a lot of people about breast cancer, battered women, alcoholism… but that doesn’t qualify me to facilitate a discussion group made up of these victims. It is no different with Adult Literacy and Adult Basic Education learners.

Conclusion

Adult learners can benefit from programs which center on pedagogy that focuses on participation, dialogue, and self-reflection prior to engaging in goal-setting strategies or other aspects of external self-directed learning. In addition to increasing the chances that goal setting will work, the process will also help empower both learners and facilitators. Self-reflection is an important piece in Adult Education and teachers will also learn much about themselves and their practice through self-reflection.

References:

Brookfield, S. (1985). (ed.) Self-directed learning: From theory to practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc.

Kelly, J. (1991). Read/Write/Now Adult Learning Center Assessment adventures. Boston: Adventures in Assessment, SABES/World Education,
1, (1).

Knowles, M. (1975). Self Directed Learning: A guide for learners and teachers. Englewood Cliffs, N J: Prentice Hall Regents.

Urban Corps Expansion Project. (1993). Group Goal Setting Activities: An approach from Youth Service Corp. Boston: SABES/World Education, Adventures in Assessment, 4, (4).

Shor, I. (1992). Empowering Education: Critical teaching for social change. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

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This article was published in Adventures in Assessment, Volume 5 (October 1993), SABES/World Education, Boston, MA, Copyright 1993.

Funding support for the publication of this document on the Web provided in part by the Ohio State Literacy Resource Center as part of the LINCS Assessment Special Collection.