What’s your problem? Giving more than lip‐service to learning support

Suggests a particular practice should be developed when dealing with difficult adult learners. This involves changing the purpose of conventional “tutorials” to “learning clinics”. These would be one‐to‐one, in order to diagnose learning needs, and embed a learning culture designed to develop critical, independent learners. Critical practice in this forum is suggested through evaluating a number of verbatim learner/teacher exchanges including role and behaviour of teacher, use and purpose of language used, and how decisions are made. Suggests a critical framework based on adult learning theories. Includes particularly, the role of experience, as potential barrier as well as resource.