NuneEdwxhan Today (1989) 9,30&306 02606917/8910009-0300/$10.

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0 Longman Group UK Ltd 1989

Experiential learning and andragogy -

negotiated learning in nurse education: a critical
appraisal

Philip Burnard

Andragogy and experiential learning have frequently been cited as recommended

approaches to aspects of nurse education. This paper offers a critical appraisal of
the two approaches and offers suggestions as to how a negotiated nursing
curriculum may be developed.

as a learning process and thus experiential

INTRODUCTION learning is learning through the process of
living, working and generally relating to the
Andragogy and experiential learning are two
world. This approach to the concept of exper-
fairly contemporary approaches to aspects of
iential learning is best exemplified by Keeton
nurse education. Both have their advantages
and his associates (1976).
and disadvantages but both, combined, can offer
The other approach is via humanistic psy-
a powerful means of equipping learner nurses
chology and emphasises subjective experience,
with a range of practical, intellectual, social and
personal interpretation and the education of the
interpersonal skills. This article considers
emotions. This approach is best exemplified in
critically the two approaches and then offers an
the writings of Kilty (1983), Shaffer (1978) and
outline for their combined use.
Heron (1973, 1982, 1977).
One of the problems with Heron’s work is that
Experiential learning it is insufficiently referenced and thus it is
difficult to place his work in context. He seems to
Experiential learning has received considerable draw from a wide variety of sources, including
coverage in the recent literature on nurse edu- encounter, gestalt and humanistic psychology.
cation (Raichura 1987; Tomlinson 1985; Kagan, He has recently made his interest in mysticism
Evans & Kay 1986; Miles 1987). The theoretical and transpersonal psychology more overt
literature seems to use the term in two different (1987). Through the Human Potential Research
ways. One approach involves the concept of life Project at the University of Surrey, he has had
much to do with influencing the ways in which
Philip Burnard MSc RMN RGN DlpN Cert Ed RNT nurse tutors have adopted the experiential
Lecturer in Nursing Studies, School of Nursing learning approach to nurse education.
Studies, University of Wales College of Medicine, Apart from these two main themes in the
Heath Park, Cardiff
(Requests for reprints to PB) experiential learning literature, there are also
Manuscript accepted 18 April 1989 some ‘hybrids’. Kolb (1984), for example,

300
 NURSE EDUCATION TODAY 301

combines some of the ‘learning through the including law and anatomy and physiology.
process of living’ approach with ideas from Carl Some see the approach as being concerned with
Rogers and Carl Jung and applies, almost para- learning from practical experience (including
doxically, a fairly rigorous quantitative approach clinical placements) whilst others see it as more
to researching his theoretical constructs. concerned with ‘personal’ learning and self
Boydel’s (1976) theoretical approach also seems awareness. Yet others view experiential learning
to stand outside the mainstream humanistic as being concerned mainly with role play and
approach and yet does not fit completly into the compare and contrast it to more ‘traditional’
first approach either. methods such as the lecture. Some are fairly
zealous in their adoption of experiential learn-
ing and base their entire curriculum on it,
whilst others see it as one of a range of teaching
Experiential knowledge
method amongst a range of teaching methods.
The present writer has proposed the idea of Both the literature and the tutors that the
experiential learning being defined through a present writer has talked to are in agreement on
theory of knowledge (1987). Three types of two issues: that experiential learning is con-
knowledge have been proposed: propositional, cerned with personal experience and with ‘prac-
practical and experiential knowledge. Proposi- tice’ rather than theory. Sometimes those issues
tional knowledge is ‘textbook knowledge of are overlaid with fairly complicated theories
facts, theories and models. Practical knowledge about the person -often humanistic or transper-
is knowledge revealed through practice - for sonal. In other cases, the approach is essentially
example the demonstration of successfully pragmatic: the progress of learning by doing is a
giving an injection or the demonstration of practical aid to developing certain skills.
effective counselling skills. Experiential know- In passing, it is interesting to reflect on why the
ledge is personal knowledge, gained through humanistic and transpersonal themes have
direct encounter with a person, place or thing. It emerged in nurse education at this time, given
is that knowledge that we ‘know’ for ourselves that they developed and perhaps reached a peak
and that cannot easily be transmitted to other in the 1960’s. Much of the ‘classic’ humanistic
people. Experiential learning, then, is any learn- theory was worked out in the 60’s (Rogers 1967;
ing which increases the facilitation of experiential Rodzak 1969). Humanistic psychology has had
knowledge. In this way, it is differentiated from little impact on traditional academic psychology,
traditional learning methods which, arguably, as the late Carl Rogers noted recently (1985),
have mostly been concerned with the develop- and the encounter movement is certainly less
ment of propositional or practical knowledge. pervasive than it used to be.
At least two, very speculative, reasons for the
current interest in the humanistic approach to
experiential learning in nurse education can be
Tutors‘ views of experiential
mooted. One concerns the age of nurse tutors.
learning
Because of the career path leading to the post of
This, then, is a brief overview of the literature. nurse tutor, many tutors will be of an age where
Nurse tutors, it would seem are less certain about they can recall the 60’s and may have ‘brought
how to define experiential learning. In the with them’ the attitudes and values of that
present writer’s ongoing research into the field, period. The second, is the publication of the
it is emerging that nurse educators interprete 1982 syllabus of training for psychiatric nursing
the concept of experiential learning in widely students (ENB 1982). This syllabus was formu-
differing ways (Burnard 1989). Some, for lated, to some degree, by people who had a
instance, see it only as a means of teaching considerable interest in humanistic psychology.
certain topics, notably interpersonal skills. Many aspects of the syllabus reflect the humani-
Others see it as applicable to all nursing topics stic approach and the syllabus has been influen-
302 NURSE EDUCATION TODAY

tial in aspects of nurse education beyond Another observation that may be made about
psychiatric nursing. The syllabus is also unusual both andragogy and experiential learning is that
in that it recommends that experiential learning they are both very American in their approach.
methods be used. The American educational system, influenced as
it has been by Dewey’s work, has always tended
towards a more student-centred, individualistic
Andragogy approach to education. It was something of a
Andragogy, a term associated with Malcolm surprise, therefore, for the present writer to find
Knowles (Knowles 1978; 1980; 1984), though little or no evidence of experiential learning
used before his time, is one used to differentiate methods being regularly used in the parts of
the theory and practice of adult education from California, Florida and New England, visited
pedagogy - the theory and practice of the early in 1987 (Burnard 1987). The accent, there,
education of children. Knowles claimed that was very much on learning to pre-set, prescribed
adults differed in some fundamental ways from objectives. In California, particularly, ‘experien-
children and, therefore, required a different tial learning’ was something associated with the
educational system. Such a system included the encounter movement of the 1960’s. On the east
ideas that: coast, and particularly around New York,
humanistic psychology was often not recognised
- adult education should be grounded in the
as a separate school of psychology at all. Whether
participants wealth of prior experience,
- or not all this means that we are behind or ahead
adults need to be able to apply what they
of the Americans in terms of modern
learn,
- approaches to nurse education, is a moot point.
adult education should be an active rather
Some would argue that we have arrived at
than a passive process.
student centred learning rather late in the day.
Out of these ideas, Knowles drew up a method of Others would no doubt argue that we are putting
conducting adult education sessions. into practice what American educators have
One objection that may be raised about been preaching for years.
Knowles’ theory is that the ideas identified above
may be applicable, also, to children. If this is the
case, it is difficult to see how he can argue for a APPLICATION
discreet theory of adult education based on these
principles. Knowles acknowledges this problem How, then, may aspects of experiential learning
and, in later writing, tends to describe andra- and andragogy usefully be combined in nurse
gogy as an attitude towards education rather education? Such a combination needs to take
than as being a discreet theory of adult edu- into account certain basic principles such as
cation. This argument and others relating to negotiation, the importance of personal experi-
andragogy have been well described by Jarvis ence and the use of self and peer assessment.
(1983, 1984) and Brookfield (1987). What must also be borne in mind, however, is
Andragogy has much in common with the that learner nurses and nurse tutors have to
student-centred learning approach of the late work to a prescribed syllabus of training laid
Carl Rogers (1984). This is not surprising as both down by the English and Welsh National Boards.
Knowles and Rogers were influenced, through This fact makes nurse education somewhat
their respective professors of education, by John different to many of the experiential learning
Dewey, the pragmatist and philosopher of edu- training workshops at which all of the content
cation (Dewey 1966, 1971; Kirschenbaum 1979). may arise out of participants needs and wants.
It also has much in common with many of the Many nurse tutors may encounter problems in
approaches to experiential learning, emphasis- translating workshop experience into practice
ing, as they do, the centrality of personal experi- because of this fact. Also, there is a large
ence and subjective interpretation. difference between using experiential learning
 NURSE EDUCATION TODAY 303

1
Stage One: Self-Assessment plus input from the syllabus

1
Stage Two: Negotiation of the Timetable

I
Stage Three: The Learning Process

/\
Theqry Skills

1
Various methods
T
Use of the Experiential Learning Cycle

I
Stage Four: Self and Peer Evaluation and Tutor Evaluation

t
Fig 1 A cycle for combining andragogy and experiential learning in nurse education

methods in a Z-day to l-week training workshop nurse tutor.

and using them on a regular basis throughout a The theory element may then be learned
3-year-programme. using a whole range of educational approaches,
Figure 1 offers a tentative cycle which acknow- including the traditional ones of lecture and
ledges both the principles of andragogy and the seminar, as required. However, for the skills
principles of experiential learning, as outlined element, it is recommended that the experiential
by Kolb (1984), Heron (1973) and others learning cycle be followed. Such a cycle is
(Burnard 1985; 1987; 1989; Burnard & illustrated in Figure 2. Its use has been de-
Chapman 1988). scribed, in detail, elsewhere (Burnard 1987).
In stage one, two things happen. First, the
students identify their own learning needs
Self and peer evaluation
through direction from the tutor and in line with
the ‘learning contract’ approach described by Following the learning of both theory and prac-
Knowles (1975). Second, the tutor identifies tice, learners are called upon to self and peer
certain learning needs out of the prescribed evaluate their new learning. Again, this has been
syllabus. The students can draw from their
previous ward experience, here, and may find a Stage One: Brief Theory Input
‘brainstorming’ session a useful means of
generating topics. y of
Stage Five: Application <aTwo: Structured
Thus, in stage two, a timetable is negotiated. It New Learning Exercises

will consist of the two elements described above t

and may be divided into a ‘theory’ element and a Stage Four: Generation of New
Theories and
‘skills’ element. The skills element may include Knowledge Out of
both practical nursing skills and interpersonal that Reflection

skills, as appropriate. Again, it will be remem- 2 J

bered that the content of this theory and skills Stage Three: Reflection on the exercises
and discussion
mix will arise jointly out of the expressed needs
of the students and the suggested ideas of the Fig
_ 2 An experiential learning cycle
304 NURSE EDUCATION TODAY

described elsewhere (Burnard 1987; Kilty 1978).

Essentially, the aim is to encourage learner Student Directed Tutor Directed
autonomy by developing in those learners the Methods Methods

ability to check the learning development of

themselves and their colleagues. At this stage,
too, it is usually necessary (if not mandatory) to
\ I
I J
include the more ‘objective’ evaluation processes
that are instigated by tutors: examination, tests,
I I
I
Negotiated Learning with Students as
questionnaires, check lists and so forth. the Focal Point

Out of this evaluation phase can emerge and

evolve a new assessment phase and thus the cycle
Fig 3 Combining student directed and teacher
continues.
directed methods

Student-centred learning
The cycle, briefly outlined here incorporates the Having said this, the attitude towards nurse
student-centred, negotiating approach of andra- education should always remain student
gogy with the accent on personal experience and centred. The issue is not whether or not the tutor
self and peer evaluation of experiential learning. or the student should serve as the focal point of
It also acknowledges that learner nurses need to the educational process but the means by which
work to a syllabus and that nurse tutors can the students educational needs are identified
contribute much to effectively planning a course and satisfied. In this sense, then, the focus
of study around such a syllabus. In this cycle, remains the student. Figure 3 identifies this
‘negotiation’ means just that - the programme dialectical relationship.
emerges out of the experience and knowledge of
both students and tutors. In recent years it has
been almost as if tutors were required to OBJECTIONS
remain quietly in the background and ensure
that they never inflicted their views on their There may, of course, be some practical
learners! Whilst it would be difficult to sensibly objections to this combined approach. First, the
advocate a return to the days of a totally pre- approach takes time, it is far easier and less time
scribed course of training, it seems reasonable to consuming if the tutor prepares the timetable
acknowledge the educational skill of tutors in and the lessons. However, the negotiated
helping students to build an effective pro- approach is likely to yield a more appropriate
gramme of nursing education. timetable, geared to this group of students, at
Perhaps, then, it is a question of developing a this time.
balance between what Heron (1986) calls ‘follow- Second, it is likely that many students have
ing’ and ‘leading’. Following involves taking the been socialised into a more teacher-directed and
lead from the students, using their experience teacher-centred approach. In the present
and ideas. Leading, on the other hand, means writer’s experience it takes time for such
making suggestions and using structure to help students to adapt to the approach suggested
the students. Together, these methods can here but when they do, they seem to prefer it to
ensure balance and symmetry in the nurse the more traditional approach. Some, of course,
education programme. If the programme do not prefer it and it seems reasonable to take
involves too much ‘following’ or is too student- into account the needs and wants of the other-
directed in its methods, it will be unbalanced. On directed student. Not everyone, after all, is
the other hand, if it involves too much ‘leading’ necessarily self-directed (Reisman 1950).
or is too teacher-directed in its methods, it will Third, there is the question of ‘getting
also be unbalanced. through the syllabus’. This seems a sensible issue
 NURSE EDUCATION TODAY 305

to consider as, like it or not, students have to sit Burnard P 1987 Towards an epistemological basis for
experiential learning in nurse education. Journal of
examinations during and at the end of their
Advanced Nursing 12, 189-193
training. Whilst the literature on the question of Burnard P 1989 Exploring nurse educators’ views of
content in the curriculum offers various views of experiential learning: a pilot study. Nurse Education
Today 9: 1,39-45
what should, could or may be included in a nurse
Burnard P 1989 Counselling skills for health
training course (Cork 1987; Greaves 1987; professionals. Chapman and Hall, London
Beattie 1987), in the end, all schools of nursing Burnard P, Chapman C M 1988 Professional and
are constrained, at least to some degree, by ethical issues in nursing: the code of professional
conduct. Wiley, Chichester
syllabuses prescribed by the National Boards Cork M 1987 Approaches to curriculum planning. B.
(this may, of course, change with the introduc- Davis (ed) In: Nursing Education. Research and
tion of the recommendations of Project 2000). If Develdpments. Croo; Helm, London
Dewey J 19 16 ( 1966) Democracy and education. Free
the negotiated approach, as indicated here, is Press, New York
used and the syllabus is repeatedly referred back Dewey J 1938 (197 1) Experience and education. Collier
to as a sourcebook for guidance, then such Macmillan, New York
English and Welsh National Boards for Nursing,
problems should not arise. The accent, here, is Midwiferv and Health VisitinK 1982 Svllabus of
on negotiation: the tutor should be free to training: hart 3 (Registered &ntal N&se)
recommend that certain aspects of the syllabus Greaves F 1987 The nursing curriculum: theory and
practice. Croom Helm, London
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noted above, the student-centred approach to Potential Research Project, University of Surrey,
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Heron J 1982 Education of the affect. Human Potential
redundant in the educational process and she Research Project, University of Surrey, Guildford
should feel free to exercise judgement in such Heron J 1977 Behaviour analysis in education and
aspects of curriculum planning. In the end, training. Human Potential Research Project,
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however, no course of training, traditional or Heron J 1987 Confessions of a Janus brain. Endymion
negotiated, ever covers every aspect of the Press, London
syllabus. Heron J 1986 Six category intervention analysis.
Human Potential Research Project, University of
As we move into the late 1980’s it is important Surrey, Guildford
that our teaching and learning methods remain Jarvis P 1983 The theory and practice of adult and
up-to-date. It is hoped that the combined continuing education. Croom Helm, London
Jarvis P 1984 The sociology of adult and continuing
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guide to negotiating some aspects of nurse Kagan C, Evans J, Kay B 1986 A manual of
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