A recording made at Est Chian Normal University, Shanghai, 10th December 2025

Whilst similar in many ways to the spirit and qualities that would be expected of educators working with children and adolescents, there are some nuances associated with being an adult educator.

Central here is perhaps that rather than being inherently more knowledgeable and experienced then their students, that adult educators are peers (i.e. equals) to their students. Adult students will have experiences, talents, capacities and contributions that might well exceed those of the educator, yet in the particular educational program, the educator may have specific knowledge, expertise and capacities related to their field of education that will be benefit the students. Alternatively, if the roles were reversed the students will likely have a set of capacities and knowledge that will not be known by the educator. So, adult educators are more of peers and collaborators who have specific knowledge of a particular field which may be greater than that held by the students whom they are teaching.

In this way, the spirit of adult educators is perhaps premised upon four key qualities:

• Respectful engagement
• Empathy and tolerance
• Competence within the field
• Facilitating applicability of learning