Foundational Concepts of Andragogy and their Relation to Pedagogy

Andragogy and Pedagogy
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Andragogy and Pedagogy
Andragogy refers to the understanding of the art and science of helping adults learn. It is founded on a humanistic idea of self-directed and independent learners and teachers as enablers of learning. Andragogy has a long history of growth and evolution, starting in 1833 when Alexander Kapp, a German education theorist, first coined the term. However, the concept did not become prevalent until Eduard C. Linderman expanded the theory in 1926 (Caruth, 2013). Malcolm Knowles is credited for improving Lindeman’s work and developing the term into a theory of adult learning. Knowle’s version of andragogy is widely applied and based on six primary assumptions: self-concept (adult learners are independent, self-starting, and self-governing), the role of experience (adults tend to learn effectively by drawing from their experiences), readiness to learn (adults acquire knowledge that they believe they need to know), orientation to learning (adults’ learning is problem-centered and life-focused and they learn for immediate applications rather than for future uses), internal motivation (adults believe in themselves rather than seek external motivation), and need to know (adults require to understand the importance of learning and its application to real-life) (Blondy, 2007).
While Knowles’s assumptions reflect the realities of adult learners, several educationalists have challenged his prevalent andragogical model. For instance, various studies of adult learners have determined that adult learners are not entirely self-directed. They often lack the critical resources to function independently and thus require guidance and support in the learning process. The assumption that learners bring their life experiences to the learning environment has also been challenged because experiences vary by social situations and cultural influences. Consequently, instruction must be packaged differently to accommodate the qualitative differences in learning from different personal experiences. Similarly, the assumption that adults enter the learning environment willing to learn has been criticized for assuming that all learners know what they wish to gain or that all courses are the product of choice (Caruth, 2013). Thus, facilitators must aid adult learners in examining and expressing their learning objectives so that they are more ready to acquire knowledge. Besides, the assumption that adult learning is problem-oriented has also been faulted by several educationalists for assuming that the concept of problem-focused learning versus subject-focused learning is linear. Several theorists have claimed that it is more dichotomous and that adults sometimes utilize both pedagogical and andragogical concepts simultaneously, albeit with different goals.
Knowles’s assumption that adults are interested in learning more because of internal factors than external ones is valid. However, several theorists have challenged the same as being contradictory with the conjecture that learning is problem-centered. While adults are more practical in their learning and self-motivated to acquire knowledge, some educationalists believe that the two assumptions are somewhat inconsistent, even if they apply in certain instances. They argue that acknowledging adult learners’ accomplishments and practical application of class material facilitate feelings of self-worth and self-esteem (Holmes & Abington-Cooper, 2018). Although these criticisms by various educationalists may appear immaterial to the widely accepted definition of andragogy, they can help educators create a more practical learner-focused approach to adult education by balancing the needs of the learner, the demands of the course and education institution, as well as the professional assessments of the facilitator.
On the other hand, while pedagogy is generally assumed to refer to the art and science of teaching, it explicitly denotes the techniques and strategies of educating children and assisting in their development. Pedagogy is multidimensional and not restricted to the classroom: it is also related to the relationship between students, tutors, the learning environment, and the world outside. For this reason, pedagogy examines the quality of teaching, mainly how pedagogical practices facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and access to opportunities that advance children’s skills, concerning the learning objectives of curriculum along with cultural, family, and community values (Cuenca, 2010). Although negotiating these competing and multiple dimensions are challenging, most educationalists agree that specific characteristics define successful pedagogies. It is widely accepted that effective pedagogies: give importance to the voices of pupils; are founded on the behavior, knowledge, and beliefs of the facilitators; consider both short-term goals and long-term ones; are founded on pupils’ prior understanding and experiences; entail supporting of pupil learning; are founded on evaluation of learning; include various techniques such as individual activity, whole-class, and formatted group work, as well as guided learning; and are inclusive of the diverse needs of students and work towards establishing classroom equity.
However, before the importance of education and care services for learners were reconsidered and students accorded somewhat similar status to teachers, pedagogy was initially focused on the instructor. It excluded the student from the learning process. One of the initial assumptions of pedagogy was that learners were only required to learn what the teacher introduced in class and that the most crucial aim for acquiring knowledge was to pass the course. Students were not supposed to understand how the material presented applied to their external lives outside the learning environment (Hood Cattaneo, 2017). The facilitator also viewed the student as a dependent entity. The learner’s previous knowledge was considered little consequence since the essential components were the instructors and educational materials. Fortunately, after revisiting the term pedagogy, all educationalists now hold that pupils must take a more active role in their learning and that their needs are central to instruction.