I am just about to finish my very first German exams, and I’m ready to admit that the process has been a kind of emotional roller-coaster of fear, panic, relief, surprise, shock, anger, disappointment… No one has to go through this intensity of feeling without pills. Anyway, as I was fighting my ambivalence towards my innocent notes, I ran into this passage that spoke to me, and which I’m sure many adult learners will identify with.
What is the problem?
“The evaluator carries the power in the learning situation. Learners know it, and their relationshiü to the instructor is influenced by this dynamic. Two implications are worth noting here. First, if adult learners are used to wielding control and enjoying autonomy, they may resent being thrust into a situation where someone else has power and authority over them. This resentment may be acted out in questioning the instructor’s expertise and resisting directives, or it may be expressed in learner satisfaction forms commonly filled out after a learning experience. The situation becomes more complicated when learners are asked to engage in activities that make them uncomfortable or are confronted with ideas that challenge their values and beliefs.”
What adult learners need to do in order to breathe easy…
“Learners must surrender their own knowledge structures and sometimes their sense of self to enter an unknown realm of learning – and they must trust the instructor or mentor who leads them there. Such learning can be threatening, and it reinforces the power position of the instructor.”
And don’t worry, it’s not all you
“The second issue of power is that evaluators sometimes take their own authority so much for granted that they may forget to examine their own assumptions and choices. They need to ask themselves: Who says this performance or project is better than that one? Why is this concept more important than that one? Who am I to judge – And who do I allow to be my judge?”
I don’t know if I can influence the evaluator’s attitudes, but I’m determined to change my own. I’m going to be such a good student now. 
Quoted from Fenwick, Tara J. / Parsons, Jim (2009): The Art of Evaluation. A Resource for Educators and Trainers. 2nd edition, pp. 10-11. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing.
