C. Amelia Davis - Meeting the Transitional Needs of Young Adult Learners: New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, Number 143

Meeting the Transitional Needs of Young Adult Learners
C. Amelia Davis, Joann S. Olson (eds)
New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, no. 143
Susan Imel, Jovita M. Ross-Gordon, CoeditorsinChief

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The word transition conveys movement, leaving one thing behind and becoming something else. The caterpillar becomes a butterfly after metamorphosis. With a twist of the wrist, the image at the end of the kaleidoscope changes. For many, graduation from high school seemingly marks the transition from student to something else. Transition begets change, and something new emerges.

And yet, even these examples suggest that looking closely at any particular transition reveals it as more complex than it first seemed. If the caterpillar has two states of beingcaterpillar and butterflythen what is to be made of the time in the chrysalis? The kaleidoscope can produce a seemingly infinite number of patterns. And new graduates are often surprised to discover just how much they still don't know. Transitions often do not have clearly defined beginnings or endings, and they can be disruptive. Given the comprehensive nature of many of life's transitions, what is the role of the educator in helping others navigate transition? More precisely to the point of this volume: What are the transitional and educational needs of young adults as they transition to adulthood?

There has not been a New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education sourcebook related to young adult learners since Darkenwald and Knox (1984) edited Meeting Educational Needs of Young Adults. As the editors stated then, young adults are an important segment of the adult population but have received scant attention in the adult education literature.

Increasingly, youths and young adults are enrolling in adult education programs and in doing so are changing the meaning of adulthood. Given the significant demographic, technological, and cultural shifts during the past 30 years, there is an increasing need for practitioners and program planners to reconsider what constitutes adult and adult education. An understanding of the changing meaning of adulthood is fundamental to developing programs and policies that will address the needs of younger learners, and we believe it is time for an updated discussion among adult educators and scholars in other disciplines. This volume is designed to reignite the discussion related to meeting the educational needs of young adults along with a timely and interdisciplinary discussion that highlights the transitional needs of young adult learners.

In Chapter 1 of this volume, Johanna Wyn challenges a simplistic understanding of transition and adulthood. She suggests that a focus on transition is steeped in linear theories of psychology and human development that rely on normativeand perhaps outdatedunderstandings of the markers of adulthood. As an alternative, she proposes that a metaphor of belonging, rather than transition, more accurately describes this time of life, as young adults understand their present reality and begin to conceptualize their future possibilities in the context of the quality of their relationships and connections.

Brendaly Drayton explores the intersection of cultural identity, social conditions, and the transition to adulthood in Chapter 2. Using a critical sociocultural perspective, she illustrates how culture orients developmental tasks and learning for emerging adults from dominant and minority cultures. Strategies for developing cultural competency and implications for adult education are discussed.

The transitional needs of vulnerable youth are highlighted by Rongbing Xie, Bisakha (Pia) Sen, and E. Michael Foster in Chapter 3. For many of these vulnerable youth, their relationship with the systems they have engaged with or relied onmental health and social service agencies, the foster care system, or criminal justice systemsends abruptly when they reach the age of majority. Xie et al. explore the impact of those individual histories on the process and experience of transitioning to adulthood.

Chapter 4, written by Jessica Nina Lester, focuses on how youth with dis/ability labels navigate the meaning and markers of adulthood. She outlines several of the policies designed to support these young adults, while at the same time suggesting that little research has been conducted related to how individuals, educators, and employers have responded to these policies and mandates. Furthermore, she explores the implications of reframing dis/ability labels as a social construct, suggesting that this approach may help adult educators who wish to support young adults with dis/ability labels in a meaningful way.