Andragogy[3]

ANDRAGOGY

Andragogy

The notion of andragogy has been around

for nearly two centuries.

• The term andragogy originally formulated by a German teacher, Alexander Kapp, in 1833 (Nottingham Andragogy Group 1983: v). He used it to describe elements of Plato's education theory. Andragogy (andr- meaning 'man') contrasted with pedagogy (paid- meaning 'child' and agogos meaning 'leading')

• (Leading Man)

History

• In 1921, Rosenstock stated that 'adult education required special teachers, methods and philosophy.

• He used the term andragogy to refer collectively to these special requirements' .

Lindeman

• Edward Lindeman, the first writer in English to pick up on Rosenstock's use of the term Angragogy.

• Working as an educator in a variety of settings with young people and adults, Lindeman wrote The Meaning of Adult Education in 1926,

Lindeman

Eduard C. Lindeman's vision for education was not one bound by classrooms and formal curricula, but involved a concern for the educational possibilities of everyday life; non-vocational ideals; situations not subjects; and people's experience.

Lindemen - A fresh hope • - a new kind of education with assumption affirming

that education is life - not merely preparation for an unknown kind of future living.

• Consequently all static concepts of education which relegate the learning process to the period of youth are abandoned.

• The whole of life is learning, therefore education can have no endings. This new venture is called adult education not because it is confined to adults but because adulthood, maturity, defines its limits...

Please write a one sentence definition of “Adult Learners”

By definition of an adult is someone who has achieved the self concept of being responsible

for their own life

• Rogers (1951) suggested that learning is natural ‘like breathing’ and that it is an internal process controlled by the learner.

Malcolm Knowles

Andragogy and the name of Malcolm Knowles have become inextricably linked.Andragogy has been defined as the art and science of helping adults learn.

Malcolm Knowles• For Knowles, andragogy is

premised on at least five crucial assumptions about the characteristics of adult learners.

• Malcolm Knowles' instructional model based on assumptions about how adults learn can also be viewed as an alternative to pedagogy, a more learner-centered approach for students of all ages.

Malcolm KnowlesThe Assumptions (Knowles, 1989, pp. 83-84)• "Adults need to know why they need to learn

something before undertaking to learn it." • "Adults have a self-concept of being responsible for

their own lives." • "Adults come into an educational activity with both a

greater volume and a different quality of experience from youths."

• "Adults become ready to learn those things they need to know."

Malcolm Knowles• "Adults are life centered (or task centered or problem

centered) in their orientation to learning." • "While adults are responsive to some extrinsic

motivators...the more potent motivators are intrinsic motivators."

• Later in his career Knowles added two further assumptions regarding adult learners; that adults need to know the reasons behind what they are learning, and that the most critical motivators for adult learning are internal, such as self-esteem. (Knowles, 1984)

Malcolm KnowlesKnowles theory can be stated in four easy

postulates:1. Adults need to be involved in the

planning and evaluation of their instruction

2. Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for learning activities

3. Adults are more interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance to their jobs or personal lives

Malcolm Knowles

• Adult learning is problem centered rather than content oriented (orientation to learning

• Knowles observed that becoming an adult was a process, culminating in the self concept of being responsible for our own lives – having self - direction

Malcolm Knowles

“Art and science of helping adults learn” was built upon two key principles: that adult learners are self-directed, and the role of the teacher is as a facilitator of learning. These principles are fundamentally different than the focus on pedagogy.

Malcolm Knowles

Another significant difference is the focus and direction of communication; pedagogy suggests one-way communication from teacher to learner, while in andragogy the facilitator encourages integrative learning.

Malcolm Knowles

“The andragogical model is a process model, in contrast to the content models employed by most traditional educators.” (Knowles, 1973, p.102)

Criticism • Roberson, 2002 • states that it reflects only to male-dominated

Western values and that not all learners share the white, male, middle-class background from which this theory originates.

• Are the experiences of young people any less real or less important than those of adults in the learning process.

• There are elements of self-directedness and independence found in children’s learning.

• Adult learning is most effective when concerned with solving problems that have relevance to the learner's everyday experience.

• Constructivism asserts that people construct their own individual mental models of the world in order to make sense of their experiences.

• Learning is the process of adding to or refining this mental model. The key to effective learning is thus to involve the learner as actively as possible in the learning process.

Heutagogy

`Heutagogy` is the principle of teaching based upon the concept of truly self-determined learning. It is suggested that heutagogy is appropriate to the needs of learners in the twenty-first century, particularly in the development of individual capability, individualised learning and independent learning using the internet-based systems including multimedia, virtual learning environments, online assessments and social software.

• Heutagogy, the study of self-determined learning, may be viewed as a natural progression from earlier educational methodologies - in particular from capability development - and may well provide the optimal approach to learning in the twenty-first century.

• Heutagogy looks to the future in which knowing how to learn will be a fundamental skill given the pace of innovation and the changing structure of communities and workplaces.

• A heutagogical approach recognises the need to be flexible in the learning where the teacher provides resources but the learner designs the actual course he or she might take by negotiating the learning.

Summary• Rogers (1951) suggested that learning is

natural ‘like breathing’ and that it is an internal process controlled by the learner.

• People know how to learn, they did it from birth until they went to school. It’s a question of helping them remember how to do it.

• We need to help people have confidence in their perceptions and how to question their interpretation of reality, within a framework of competence.