Is Self-Directed Learning Emancipatory?
O’Donnell’s critical theory of selves-directed learning has as its purpose the emancipation of individuals from domination and exploitation (p. 251). Merriam and Caffarella (1999) also identify as one goal of SDL the promotion of emancipatory learning and social action. If SDL is intrinsically about self-determination, it should consequently have emancipatory potential. Or does it serve to accommodate learners to prevailing social and political beliefs while conveying an illusion of individual control? (Maehl 2000, p. 51). Building on the liberatory approaches of Paulo Freire, O’Mahony and Moss (1996) note that SDL can be used just as any other approach to deliver a traditional curriculum or dominant ideology. SDL and lifelong learning have become part of mainstream rhetoric as key components of global competitiveness and economic development. Democratic participation and social action are not necessarily the goals of this type of self-directed learning. According to Vann (1996), there
