BARRIER ANALYSIS
“What’s in the Way – Blocking My Learning?”
by Jane Vella
GLP
What we perceive as recalcitrant, rebellious resistance is often
a set of old, unconscious habits at play. "There’s a teacher
up there; I am the student and I am going to give her trouble."
Or it may be a reluctance to open up among peers, or strangers,
family or friends. "This is my life and nobody else’s business."
This also is unconscious at root and painful in action to all
involved.
My own resistance is manifest when a professor starts preaching –
so a real barrier can be the mode of operation of the teacher. I am
so sure of my being “right” about how to teach, I put up a barrier
to learning when someone uses a different approach.
Any omission of any one of the principles and practices of
Dialogue Education in the preparation of a session can be a barrier
to learning: when it is not relevant ( yawn!) , when learners are
not engaged ( bigger yawn!) , when respect is not manifest in the
selection of challenging content ( yawn! Again!) - you can go
through the list and see how not using these principles and
practices raises or supports barriers to learning.
At a recent meeting of a nutrition education group, the presenter
kept asking closed questions that had simple, obvious answers. I
felt insulted and angry that I was wasting my time there – and a
barrier to learning grew instantly in front of me. A simple open
question, the response to which I could share with the person next
to me would have helped me learn what I desperately need to know.
Barriers named and recognized can be avoided. Barriers avoided
unleash learning potential and indirectly deal with what we perceive
as resistance.
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