In Defense of the Staged Self-Directed Learning Model

Abstract

In response to Mark Tennant's critique of the Staged Self-Directed Learning Model, the author welcomes Tennant's point that a mismatch between teacher and student styles may be at times more effective than a match, and his reminder that self-direction should not be considered a generic quality like psychological maturity. The model, however, does not denigrate directive teaching methods, as Tennant claims. It has found wide acceptance and has been recently re-invented by others at least twice. Teachers can detect a student's degree of self-direction by observation (though this may be more difficult than it first appeared). The author restates the major claims of the model and identifies new research questions.