from Jan Schwartz
I’ve noticed that there are a fair number of teachers, particularly in career education, who are not familiar with the term pedagogy and even fewer with the term andragogy. As we are now firmly entrenched in the technology or information age, I think understanding the language is critical in order to have critical conversations because the pedagogy/andragogy of face to face education and online education are not always the same. I sat with some teachers not too long ago who had never heard of these terms despite having taught for years. This opens the door for many more blogs, but I think defining these two terms is a good start.
Pedagogy comes from the Greek paidos, which means child and ago, which means lead, and so it literally means “to lead the child.” In modern times the word also refers to the art, science and methods of teaching (anyone of any age). This is generally a teacher centered philosophy (but not always–Paulo Freire created an important exception).
Andragogy, originally a term coined by Alexander Kapp, was made (somewhat) popular by the late Malcolm Knowles as a term that refers to the “art and science of teaching adults.” Also from the Greek, it means “to lead the man.” Knowles thought it was important to distinguish between teaching children and teaching adults because adults have different motivations to learn. Andragogy is generally a student centered philosophy.
Knowles’ five assumptions about adult learners are:
1. Self concept (need involvement in determining their education)
2. Experience (draw on their experiences to aid their learning)
3. Readiness (interested in the relevance and immediate application of what they are learning)
4. Orientation (problem centered rather than content centered for the learner)
5. Motivation (responds better to internal rather than external motivators)
Do the above assumptions fit all adult learners? No, but they help to make more clear the difference in the theories between teaching children and teaching adults. And knowing, in general, what these terms means allows for a coherent conversation to take place.
Image credit: Fitzsimmons in the AZ Daily Star
