Psycho-Andragogical Implications of Ageing: Focus On Later Years Learning In Nigeria

Abstract

Learning remains a complex process involving an equally complex set of mental, social, and physiological interchanges. If this is true for young learners, then this process is more complex, cumbersome and often frightening for adult learners who ordinarily enter the learning encounter with a vast wealth of experience. This is made more troublesome by the fact that adult learners usually have predetermined purpose(s) and goals for engaging in the learning programmes, while at the same time grappling with the challenges of physiological changes. This paper problematizes the reality of chronological ageing against the imperative of “necessary” learning among older learners in Nigeria, while arguing for a proper forensic configuration of the actual physical and psychological environment, with a view to making adult learning beneficial, rewarding and interesting to both the instructors and the learners.