Introduction to the Adult Learning Special Issue

Highlander’s Significance to the Adult Education Field

Popular education at Highlander Research and Education Center has a long history of supporting social justice activities within diverse populations with both common and special interests (Glen, 1996; Horton, 1998; Horton & Freire, 1990). The legacy of Myles Horton, Septima Clark, and other Highlander leaders remains visible as examples and models for transformative leadership (Preskill & Brookfield, 2009) within the adult education literature. Highlander continues to be an active center for learning how to be a leader, how to organize peacefully and strategically to make changes in society, and how to train citizens to build a democracy.

The ideas presented in this Adult Learning special issue developed while facilitating and participating in multiple workshops on authentic leadership and popular education that were conducted at Highlander. When we began to plan these workshops, we had no preconceived notions about authoring a special issue of Adult Learning. This is a co-constructed artifact: In some ways, it represents a phenomenological response to the collected experiences. In other ways, this issue embodies a form of case study that allows us to reflect on our teaching practices, working with groups, and leadership development through an adult education lens, and take forward what we experienced and learned into subsequent teaching situations. By inviting participants to share the meaning they made from their experiences at the workshops, we have been able to see ways in which they applied the tools, skills, and the new relationships to their own experiences. We traveled to Highlander to get away from our “real” worlds, to reflect in different ways and in different physical spaces how we fit into a bigger world, and to increase our awareness of how people struggle in positive ways.

Authentic leadership can be defined in many ways. Discovering authentic leadership requires a commitment to developing oneself. Authentic leaders are self-aware, practice their values and principles, and balance their motivations so they are driven as much by values as external rewards. They also have a strong support team to ensure they live integrated, grounded lives (George, Sims, McLean, & Mayer, 2011). During the two workshops, we relied on facilitators who demonstrated authentic leadership characteristics, and we invited participants who were interested in improving their own authentic leadership skills. Authentic leadership characteristics defined by participants included an increased ability in worldview expansion, more deliberate perspective-taking, deep examination of assumptions and beliefs, and greater understanding of the direct influences and effects of those in the lives of others, leading to mindful and deliberate change in their own development and, consequently, to be more effective participants in their larger communities.

Through writing this special issue, we examine how popular education and participatory research can develop authentic leadership within multiple contexts. We also develop and share an authentic leadership action model for integration in other adult education settings.

In “Creating Highlander Wherever You Are,” we introduce the Highlander Education and Research Center, its approach and philosophy to popular education, and its action-based programs. Through an interview with Susan Williams, education coordinator and supporting literature, we share strategies and techniques to develop similar popular education programs in other settings.

“Embodying Authentic Leadership Through Popular Education at Highlander Research and Education Center: A Qualitative Case Study” presents a qualitative case study analysis of two workshops held at Highlander related to authentic leadership. The research team of Highlander participants examined multiple sets of written reflections to examine how participants applied the content of the workshops in their current practice, and its impact on the approach to adult education.

In “Facilitation in Action: The Reflective Practice of Two Facilitators Using a Participation Training Model,” the facilitators describe the history and development of the model used to direct the processes the group members used to plan and conduct discussions, leading to contextually relevant plans of action specific to individual group members. They also share the professional values that framed the planning, challenges that arose and how we addressed those, and the changes and actions we have incorporated into our professional lives as a result of these workshops.

“Making Hope and History Rhyme: Reflections on Popular Education and Leadership Following a Visit to Highlander” is an autobiographic approach where the authors review their own development as critical educators, exposed to deep inequalities in Irish society, as they explore the role of popular education in social change. The Highlander experience provided the opportunity to interrogate related assumptions that underpin the concept of leadership, pointing toward a more collective and political framework.

The futures column, “Where Do We Go From Here?” examines aspects of popular education where this type of learning could be applied more widely, focusing on dialogue, creating safe space, collaborative inquiry, and relationship building. It connects the personal, reflective aspects of experience to the ways in which leaders and teachers model authenticity.

The personal reflection, “I Remember Highlander,” highlights the author’s growing awareness of the various groups who have come to Highlander for preparation in making the world a more inclusive and accepting place through civil rights training.

While using Highlander Research and Education Center as the location and inspiration to this issue, we also recognize that each program has its unique qualities and that context varies depending on perspective and content. We hope that adult educators will find ways to utilize the models and approaches to popular education and authentic leadership that are presented in this issue.