3.2.3 Attitudinal barriers

The literature continues to record barriers to participation based on attitudes and values of both the learners, their significant others, the community and far too many educational providers. Most attitudinal barriers are viewed as the result of some inadequacy on the part of the learner.

Attitudinal or dispositional barriers to participation include:

• Low self-esteem (Cumming, 1992; Gaikezheyongai, 2000; Mullen, 1992), lack of confidence (Millar & Falk, 2000).
• General nervousness about ability to succeed (Hart et al., 2002), feeling like a fraud (McIntosh, 2000; Robbins, 2004).
• Lack of personal or career development goals (Kerka, 2002).
• Feelings of being stigmatized as “non-traditional” by administrators, instructors or traditional students (Mullen, 1992).
• Feelings of being isolated in the learning environment (Galusha, 1998).
• Past negative experiences as a student (Cumming, 1992).
• Negative image of self-as-learner resulting in feeling that learning is a burden rather than an investment (Gorard & Selwyn, 2005).
• Myths about negative relationships between aging and learning – and the age at which this myth begins is usually the age at which the adult stops being a full-time participant in education (at 18, 21 or 24 years) or an active participant in the paid labour force (at 55, 60 or 65 years) (Dench & Regan, 2002).
• Negative attitudes keep many adults from participating in learning activities. Many of these attitudes are based on stereotypical myths and include:
  • Attitudes of the learners toward themselves: the “too” myths – I'm too old, too busy, too tired; too sick; and the “not” myths – not smart enough, not rich enough, don't have enough time, don't need any more education (I've done enough already), don't have adequate language skills (OECD, 2002).
  • The “not interested” myth is difficult for staff and instructors in educational institutions to address, although one article made an excellent case for all educators learning to market their programs more effectively (Dench & Regan, 2000; Hansen, 1998; Hart et al., 2002; Mullen, 1992).
  • Attitudes of others toward adult learners: “you're too old to be back in school,” “if you didn’t make the grade as an adolescent, you’ll never make it as an adult,“ ”it’s a waste of resources to help adults gain access to educational opportunities for adults”, “anyone with a disability must not be a very good learner” (ERIC Clearinghouse, 2000; Mullen, 1992).

Attitudinal barriers are problematic because they are hard to document; but their negative impact of an individual can be devastating. While staff in educational institutions may not be able to change the attitudes of potential learners, like harassment and bullying, negative attitudes on the part of any educational provider should not be tolerated, must be identified and changed.