Abstract:

Over the last decades, there has been a sustained research activity on adult learning. There is a great deal of debate surrounding the cognitive and motivational aspects of facilitating adult learning. However, as far as we know, studying from a didactic perspective the affective and emotional regulation of adult learning has received limited attention in literature. A deeper understanding of how to support the adult learner regulating the arising emotions and affects during the learning process is required to address working on a systematic methodology of containing the feelings and affects. The purpose of this support is to create educational conditions that will allow for the mutual development of the learner and facilitator.
This paper aims to generate a didactic framework about regulating affects and emotions during learning of adults. The exploratory question of how to develop a didactic framework to contain learning emotions in adults’ learner is the area to which this study now turns.
Based on the theory of Winfried Bion and learning psychology insights, we will analyze how to transfer the model to the learning process of adults.
The analysis revealed that the model consisting of three dimensions and three perspectives can be transformed into a more complex and dynamic one. These findings can inspire a didactic approach in lifelong education integrating the cognitive, motivational and emotional aspects of learning as well as the mutual development of learner and facilitator.

Keywords:

Adults, learning, containing, pedagogical methods, didactic framework.