ADULT EDUCATION QUARTERLY

Volume 42, Number 3, Spring, 1992,192-202

BOOK REVIEWS

Candy, Philip C. (1991). Ser-Direction for LifeIoitg Learning. San Francisco: Jos-
sey-Bass, 567 pages. $45.00.

Philip Candy asserts that the ability to be self-directed is specific to a given

body of knowledge and can be developed only after the learner has a mental map
of the subject matter. Candy has provided that kind of map to help the reader
become self-directed in learning about self-directed learning. He brings great
clarity to the review of a large and diverse body of literature. However, bringing
that clarity was not, I am sum, the main reason the book won the 1991 Cyril 0.
Houle World Award for Literature. Candy’s own contributions to knowledge in
the field offer much to consider and have grcat potential for defining future re-
search. He has also offered provocative ideas about how adult education prac-
titioners can help learners become more self-directed. Thus, this book is ap-
propriate for teachers, learners, researchers and practitioners.
In making sense of existing research and theory, Candy identifies four defii-
tions of self-directed learning used in the field: personal autonomy as a
psychological construct that is exercised broadly in one’s life; the desire to
manage-and skill in managing-one’s own learning; the use of those skills within
a formal learning context; and their use outside of such a context. He casts these
four areas in a new perspective beginning from a constructivist definition of
learning: “Learning consists of the construction of personal meaning and the as-
similation of new information, attitudes, and skills into the existing framework of
personally meaningful constructs” (p. xk). The constructivist perspective includes
an emphasis on the social aspects of constructing meaning. In forming “personal-
ly meaningful constructs,” an individual is influenced by the meaning perspectives
that exist within the social setting. A third assertion of Candy’s new perspective is
that the degree of an individual’s autonomy in learning varies according to the
situation.
Through attention to three aspects of the learning process, Candy discusses
ways practitioners can help learners become more self-directed. First, he shares
with others a belief that certain process skills are required, although he has his
own unique list of skills, and says they can best be learned in relation to specific
content (even literacy, he says, is content Specific). Second, he shares the belief
that the learner must feef capable, although Candy again emphasizes the context-
specific nature of this self-evaluation. Finally, Candy indicates that the learner
must become familiar with the rules that govern the content domain in which the
self-directed learning is to occur. The learner must “be able to distinguish
plausible from implausible knowledge claims or convincing from unconvincing

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 BOOK REVIEWS / 193
evidence” (p. 344). Such independence of thought, Candy says, requires develop-
ment over time, involves forming personal mental maps of the content (a key
constructivist idea), is highly content-specific, and cannot be done without the aid
of a facilitator. Candy states that merely giving learners control over learning-re-
lated decisions will not enhance their autonomy. Furthermore, restraint should be
used in advocating self-directed learning if the aim is to learn some formal body
of knowledge. For future research, Candy advocates shifting from a positivistkm-
piricist paradigm to an interpretive one, saying the interpretive is more consistent
with the underlying assumptions of the content to be researched and that the
shift will facilitate the answering of different questions than have been explored
thus far. He is particularly concerned with giving greater attention to how the
lenmer understands hisher own self-directed learning.
The book is a pleasure to read because the author has, as Brookfield says in
the Foreword, “the rare combination of scholarly credibility and literary grace,
yet one informed by the solid experience of the practitioner” (p. xi). Candy is
consistent in perspective, orderly without being mechanistic, even-handed even
while being critical, and convincing without being coercive. One hopes, of course,
that those who cite him in the future, as is certain to happen, will acknowledge
his constructivist perspective and not quote him to support the very positivistkm-
piricist views he wishes to have the field outgrow.
Two cautions should be noted, however, in order to see Candy’s work in
perspective. One is that the book’s title could lead the reader to expect some-
thing not emphasized. “Self-direction for lifelong learning” led this reader to ex-
pect a focus on the autodidact, a person managing a lifetime of learning, whether
or not that learning involves classroom learning. Candy believes, however, there
is little that adult educators can do to help the autodidact. Further, he believes
that researchers should give less attention to autodidmy, partly because it is so
difficult to study and partly because it is so idiosyncratic that few helpful
generalizations can be made.
The second caution has to do with the contexts in which adult educators can
successfully use Candy’s suggestions for enhancing self-direction in learning. He
says that skills for self-direction are largely context-specific so they havc to be
taught anew for each organized body of knowledge. That seems to indicate the
need for lifelong attachment to instruction. Furthermore, reading his descriptions
of what it takes to be a self-directed learner or a teacher of self-directed learning
gives the impression that both parties must already be far along toward self-ac-
tualization and that the teacher must have an exceptionally well-organized view
of the field of study in order even to begin this process. I find Candy’s ideas
highly appealing in the context of graduate education and potentially useful in
institutions with professional teaching staffs that can invest in the development of
the needed process and content learning. I have doubts about the relevance of
these ideas in adult education settings where teachers are volunteers, part-time
instructors, or havc not themselves had the kind of guidance that Candy wants
them to give to others. Many would value such an approach and would be cap-
able of developing the necessary skills; however, practical considerations could
make it unlikely that they would in fact gain the skills.
194 / BOOK REVIEWS
Overall, this book is a major contribution, not just to the topic of self-directed
learning, but to the field of adult education as a whole. It should prompt discus-
sion and trigger research for years to come. At the same t h e , it cannot be, and
never tries to be, a panacea for the diverse learning issues across the field of
adult education.

L. Adrianne Bonham
Texas A&M University.

Marsick, Victoria J., and Watkins, Karen. (1990). Irtformal and Incidental Leam-
ing in the Workplace. London: Routledge, 270 pages. $47.50.

Infonnal and Incidental Learning in the Workplace poses a challenge to human

resource practitioners, trainers, researchers and educators to reposition themsel-
ves as change agents and champions for the improvement of training and human
resource development. At a time when training budgets are being cut and train-
ing personnel are struggling to demonstrate the transfer of learning to the job,
Marsick and Watkins offer an alternative to formal learning and classroom-based
instruction that will prompt human resource professionals to rethink previously
held notions of workplace learning. While there continues to be widespread in-
terest in formal learning because such an approach is definable, predictable, and
for the most part, controllable, the authors stress the urgent need to develop
informal learning strategies and methods for improving workplace learning out-
side of the classroom.
Marsick, in her examination of informal learning, and Watkins in her exposi-
tion of incidental learning, synthesize numerous widely recognized human
resource and problem-solvingmodels and translate them in light of informal and
incidental learning research. The authors succinctly summarize. key learning
models such as action science and experiential learning and also incorporate less
widely applied theories. For example, through their adroit application of Elliot
Jaques’ concept of cognitive capacity, Marsick and Watkins detail how in-
dividuals will vary in their ability to conceive of the scope of a task from the
perspective of informal learning. Through their continual integration of theory
and practice, the authors help the reader to anticipate the issues associated with
informal and incidental learning practices.
The conceptual’framcworkfor the book is based on the human resource learn-
ing cone developed by the authors to distinguish informal and incidental learning
from formal training activities in organizations. The cone is used to examine
learning at four levels: Individual (with which most of us are familiar), group,
organizational, and professional learning. The authors take great care in specify-
ing how learning at each of these levels is distinguishable by its capacity to either
enhance learning or to promote dysfunctionality.
Introductory chapters, replete with defrntions of learning versus training, and
informal versus incidental learning, are made rich by the use of delimiters and
extensive examples. Readers are afforded additional clarity as the authors care-