Notes on the Context for Learning

The author and his assistants examine some of the personal constraints in the teaching and learning process. Teachers need to learn the difficult skill of listening to discover students' real concerns. They must recognize that making decisions nearly always involves giving up options and therefore entails some ambivalence; and that the change learning involves is difficult and slow and must be supported even in its smallest steps. The authors suggest that teachers aware of these aspects of the learning context are more able to respond to students as human beings.