Training Adult Educators

Many thousands of adult educators are constantly at work in regular jobs throughout the United States and Canada. The majority of these, however, have either been pushed into their jobs by circumstances or been pulled into work with adults by their own concerns and interests, without previous training. Training has two points of reference: on the one hand, the jobs to be done, already referred to, and on the other hand, the body of knowledge. The content of training for adult educators grows out of the philosophy of training and the concept of the body of knowledge. Some of the best material available for use in training adult educators grows out of the problems, which have been, or are being, encountered in experience. The training of lay leaders is not essentially different from the training of professionals. Even a trained adult educator is illiterate in some areas of living and in many areas of knowledge.