The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition

The Five Steps to Expert Learning

Find out the stages that people go through as they learn new skills.

© iStockphoto/thesuperph

When you're in charge of developing people's skills, as all managers of people are, it's important that you determine the level of proficiency they need. It's also important that you help them learn, and that you monitor their progress systematically.

This is why the Dreyfus Five-Stage Model of Adult Skill Acquisition is useful for training and development. It identifies five different stages that people go through as they learn new skills.

In this article, we'll examine each of the five stages, and we'll look at how you can use this model to develop your people more effectively.

About the Model

The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition was developed in 1980 by Stuart and Hubert Dreyfus through their research at the University of California, U.S.

It illustrates five stages of learning that people go through when they acquire new skills. As a person progress through the stages, his or her ability with the skill increases.

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