Students’ resistance to learning can often come across as a barrier for effective teaching. It’s important for us as adult educators to understand that many times students’ resistance to learning is beyond control. It is challenging to find out what’s the root cause for their resistance and moreover it could be for different reasons for different students. In order to aim at better addressing this problem, Brookfield has made an effort for us to understand what all encompasses resistance among students to learn and acquire new knowledge and skills.
Let’s first understand what are resistant behaviors?
Resistance-related behaviors include passively refusing to participate in an activity, actively complaining or disrupting groups during an activity, or giving low course evaluations to the instructors who use active learning (Prince & Weimer, 2017).
Now why are students resistant?
There could be multiple reasons but if we have to lay the foundational reason – it is the fear of change as Brookfield mentioned. Change brings discomfort when things happen without our will. Also, we as individuals grow and have different mind-sets which encompasses are beliefs and ideas and how we see things.
Some of the reasons Brookfield mentioned for resistance are:
- Poor self-image as learners – Past experiences resulting in self-doubt and low confidence in one’s abilities.
- Fear of the unknown – Perceptions regarding what’s in for the future has no limits. It leads to denial and resistance for change.
- A Dis-junction of learning and teaching styles – Mismatch between teaching and learning style. Students learn in different manners and if the teaching method doesn’t match with their learning style, it may lead to resistance.
- Apparent Irrelevance of the Learner activity – If students don’t believe it is benefiting them in any way, chances that they would oppose or resist it is high.
- Fear of looking foolish in the public – Image in public is fragile so some students fear they would look silly publicly if engaged in some activity.
- Lack of clarity in teachers’ instructions – Unclear guidelines can cause irreparable consequences. If students are confused what the teachers are expecting out of them, they feel highly demotivated.
There are many other reasons for students’ resistance which includes and are not limited too personal reasons, dislike for the teacher, mismatch with teachers’ philosophy, etc.
It’s nearly impossible to have the whole class full of active learners who are happy and paly with their teacher. Having resistance from learners is inevitable and by no means should it be concluded that it is due to the instructor’s fault. We should try to minimize it but not fully focus all our energies in retraining this group of learners. Of course, they are the ones who need to be handled carefully and efforts should be made to better engage them and address their challenges.
Remember you can’t force anyone to learn – all you can do is create an environment which is welcoming and safe for all learners and conducive to their growth.
References:
Brookfield, S.D., (2015). The Skillful Teacher on Technique, Trust and Responsiveness in the Classroom. San Fransico: Jossey Bass
Prince, M., Weimer, M. (2017, November 02). Understanding Student Resistance to Active Learning. Retrieved from https://www.teachingprofessor.com/topics/teaching-strategies/active-learning/student-resistance-active-learning/
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