2019 Annual Conference

Research to Practice

Shared Concurrent Session (Approx. 12 or 20 minutes)

The grit mindset has permeated higher education practice, particularly in programs and institutions that cater to adult learners. We present an intersectional critique of the grit literature, and discuss a re-imagining of the notion of persistence for adult learners within the context in which many adults navigate the learning experience.

Adult learning program faculty, professors of adult education, adult education program administrators. 

After attending this session, learners will be able:
• To discuss the basic tenets and critiques of the grit mindset literature;
• To synthesize the grit mindset within a broader, systems-focused context of adult learning;
• To consider ways in which the grit mindset has permeated their own practice and how this mindset may be detrimental to adult learners;
• To acknowledge opportunities for moving toward andragogy- and structurally-informed practice at the individual, classroom, and institutional levels.

The notion of grit, as presented by Duckworth (2016), has received little attention in the adult education literature. Elsewhere, we have offered a critique of the grit framework through the lens of andragogy (Pemberton & McCadden, 2019), as an approach to teaching adults that largely overlooks the context in which adult learners live and make meaning. The primary critique of the grit literature rests in its inattention to the context in which adult learners navigate their learning experiences. We present the grit narrative as institution-centered rather than learner-centered with its focus on extrinsic motivators, such as completion of a degree. We recognize, however, the value of tenacity and motivation in measuring outcomes of adult education programs. In this session, we will present a brief critique of the grit literature in adult education and K-12 education, and present an alternative set of assumptions about adult learners and learning in an intersectional systems-focused framework. We will then facilitate a discussion around those assumptions to situate adult learning within the context of the learner, and solicit feedback on a model in development.

We will begin with a brief overview of the grit literature, including the basic tenets and research methodology in which it is derived. Then, we will present our critiques of the literature (Pemberton & McCadden, 2019) as the basis through which we have developed our assumptions of adult learners and adult learning.  We will use an interactive small group activity to further examine these assumptions and the intersectional context in which adults navigate their experiences of formal adult education, and discuss the implications of a re-imagining of the grit narrative as context-cognizant persistence and individualized meaning-making of adult education.