ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews several major studies on self-direction in learning employing the qualitative approach. One of the most promising sources of knowledge about self-education is the lives of people who became expert in a field which did not include formal training. A second qualitative study of self-direction in adult learning employed a different approach. It emphasized only learning related to the individuals’ area of expertise. Some of the areas of expertise were organic gardening, chess, philosophy, record collecting, animal breeding, narrow gauge railways, and pigeon racing. The adults believed themselves to belong to a larger “fellowship of learning”. Leean and Sisco investigated self-directed learning among rural adults in Vermont who had completed less than 12 years of formal education. In order to better understand the role of the facilitator in self-directed learning, J. C. Smith focused on one type of facilitator – the public librarian.
