Problem-based learning

The practitioner-centred approach to vocational and professional education (Chapters 1 & 2, this volume) has stimulated interest in problem-based pedagogy and curriculum. In this chapter Peter Stephenson defines problem-based learning (PBL) and then examines some of its forms. He pays particular attention to the principles underpinning problem-based learning, and to the recent development of more critical and contextual forms of PBL in university professional education. In the second part of the chapter Vernon Galloway examines the philosophical basis of community-based 'problem-posing' education. He then examines a long-running example of problem-posing education, the Edinburgh Adult Learning Project