Power and Authority in Adult Education

Abstract

This paper covers power and authority in adult education, focusing on the modern definitions of power and authority in the educational context, then moving into past precedents of the use of power and authority of classrooms. Finally, the optimal types of power and authority to apply to adult education are examined. Power defines a relationship between two parties where one follows the directives of the other. Authority is a legitimizing of the power, essentially the why one party should follow the other. What is concluded is that adults have different needs than younger students, and so power-sharing in the classroom with loose authority is likely the best way to approach an education situation due to the fact that adults are already autonomous in their everyday lives, have fully-developed brain physiology, and are more capable of communicating their concerns in a way that does not require heavy-handed, interventionist types of power and authority.

Keywords:, power, authority , and adult education