Factors Supporting and Preventing Academics from Becoming Lifelong Learners

Abstract

In present circumstances, it has become inevitable for individuals to continue obtaining new information and skills throughout their lives. Having learned to learn and information literate individuals are able to meet their learning needs both in career and personal terms by themselves. The important aspect is the individual feels the need to learn and knows how and where to meet these needs. Feeling those can be considered as the basic requirement to make efforts in order to meet them. However, the surrounding circumstances may support or prevent meeting these needs. Therefore, the main questions to be answered in this study are as follows: (1) what are the factors supporting academics, holding office in the faculty of education, to become lifelong learners? and (2) what are the factors preventing academics, holding office in the faculty of education, from becoming lifelong learners? Since the situation of being a lifelong learner will be examined by being based on the present working conditions, the study is designed as embedded multiple case study. It is endeavored to ensure maximum variety in the study group by taking into account the various academic titles, gender and fields of study. The interview form is developed based on the literature and revised according to the opinions of specialists. The data has been collected by having individual interviews with academics and a content analysis has been performed. In conclusion of the analysis performed, such themes as the need to become lifelong learners, the factors supporting to become lifelong learners and the factors preventing from becoming lifelong learners have been reached.