Publication: Adult Students: Recruitment and Retention

• Wonacott, Michael E.

How to attract and retain adult students remains an enduring
question for adult education providers. Recent research
sheds light on adult learners' unique learning goals,
needs, and aspirations and offers guidance on recruiting
and retaining adult learners. Adult students' participation
and persistence in educational activities is a complex
phenomenon involving situational, dispositional, and
institutional factors. Because adult participation is
shaped by access to program information, recruitment should
be viewed as a multistep process of drawing people into
programs. Adult education providers must market their
programs. Many view orienting adult students to educational
programs as the first step toward retention. Adult students
need full information about the relevant details of
educational programs. Adults in distance education degree
programs need information about the technology and
procedures used to provide content and establish and
maintain communication. Adult students also need
information on services available to help them meet their
individual needs. Early and continuous follow-up and
attention, both inside and outside the classroom, form a
constant theme in adult student retention. Beginning with
recruitment, the adult learner should be seen as a partner
in a learning process that builds on motivations, counsels
rather than tests, emphasizes relevance, and recognizes
resistance.