This study outlines what 29 part-time adult learners perceive as effective teacher (tutor/instructor/lecturer) practice in supporting their learning. The positive characteristics of teacher support from the students' perspective are first examined, and then what they found to be disappointing. Finally, the underlying themes that emerge are considered and the data is subjected to a holistic interpretation. Overall, the study confirmed the usefulness of a framework developed from a consideration of literature on learner-centred education and students' conceptions of learning. The investigation was able to reveal both key differences between and key similarities among the groups of students. The differences relate to conceptions of the roles and responsibilities of both students and teachers, while the similarities relate to the relationships between the parties in the teaching and learning environment. The implications for tutors/lecturers in improving their support to their students are highly significant. However, the most challenging task in establishing a learner-centred context is to influence students' learning conceptions and help them take a more active role in their learning.
[Copyright of International Journal of Lifelong Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02601370210156754]

This study investigated the perceptions of good teaching of adult students. Fifty-three students enrolled in part-time courses in Hong Kong were interviewed about a range of issues concerned with teaching, tutoring and learning. The initial analysis showed that there was no universal view of what constituted good teaching, as approaches preferred by some students resembled those disliked by others. These apparent contradictions were resolved by the recognition that perceptions of teaching quality were framed by conceptions of learning, which were shown to be consistent with a continuum from a reproductive pole to a self-determining one. Each of the four quadrants of the framework represents a conception of learning receiving teaching consistent or inconsistent with it. The quadrant representing self- determining learners receiving consistent facilitative teaching is seen as the goal for adult education to strive for. Didactic teaching was consistent with reproductive conceptions of learning. Teachers faced with predominantly reproductive classes are urged to help in developing greater levels of self-determination by progressively exposing students to forms of teaching requiring active involvement in the learning process, in a supporting environment.
[Copyright of Studies in Continuing Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0158037032000131556 ]