CONCEPT OF ANDRAGOGY: :TEACHER EDUCATION HISTORY AND POLICY PERSPECTIVE) SECTION B

The methods or techniques used to teach adults is called andragogy. Typically, andragogy means the understanding of the science and practice of adult   learning. This contrasts to pedagogy, which is the understanding of the science and practice of children learning.

Andra = adult

Peda = child

In the Greek, andragogy means "man-leading" while pedagogy means "child-leading." The term "andragogy" was first coined all the way back in 1833 by a German teacher named Alexander Knapp in an effort to categorize and describe Plato's theory of education.

However, the term is most closely associated with Malcolm Knowles, an educator who had a massive impact on the adult-learning field. Knowles was convinced that adult learning had to be self-driven. Rather than having education be teacher-centric, adult learning should be centred around the students and teach them the power of self-motivated learning.

the philosophy of andragogy is based on five key principles:

The first assumption focuses on self-concept: as a person gets older, their personality changes. As a child, they are dependent on others, whereas when they age, they become a human being with a greater degree of self independence. This means that they are usually able to have more control and responsibility for their own personal learning and progression.

Secondly, is the assumption of experience. Many philosophers argue that we learn everything through our own experiences, and sometimes that of others. Naturally, older people have experienced more things due to having lived longer, and so they are in a position to use these archives as a useful tool in self-education. This means that in education programs, there is a greater scope for open discussions and experimental tasks based on what is already known. However, there are times when totally new knowledge is required, and so the tutor must step in - as is necessary for more of the time when schooling children and young people.

An adult's readiness to learn is the third element of the five-staged philosophy of Andragogy. Through maturity, a person's readiness to learn shifts towards the 'developmental tasks of his social roles', as depicted by Knowles himself. Because of this concept, adult education is considered to be most effective when centered around 'life education' matters and an adult's 'readiness to learn'.

The penultimate stage is the orientation to learning of an adult. This is founded upon the basis that adults become less subject-centered and more problem-centered with age. This means that adult learning is less generic and content-focused; it is much more specific than it was throughout their childhood.

The last assumption of Knowles' philosophy of Andragogy relates to motivation. It is here stated that adults typically respond more positively to internal motivators, rather than external influences. Knowles believed this to be a conditioned behavior - not one we carry out naturally.

According to Knowles, adult education should always produce at least seven outcomes.

OUTCOME 1: A MATURE UNDERSTANDING OF ONESELF

Proper adult education helps adults understand themselves clearly and objectively. They learn to grasp their:

• Motivations.
• Needs.
• Interests.
• Goals.
• Capacities.
• As they grow in self-understanding, adults should also increase in self-respect and a passion for continuing growth.

OUTCOME 2: ACCEPTANCE, RESPECT AND LOVE TOWARD OTHERS

In addition to increasing self-respect and love, andragogy should lead adults to increasingly accept, respect, and love others. There must be a keen understanding of the difference between people and ideas.This understanding will give adults the power to thinking critically about ideas without attacking or threatening the people who hold them.

OUTCOME 3: A FLUID AND DYNAMIC ATTITUDE TOWARD LIFE

Every experience is a new opportunity for adults to learn. Additionally, people are always changing, which adults must learn to accept and even embrace.When combined, this means that adult learning should create a dynamic, even passionate attitude toward life that causes people to embrace every new experience as an opportunity to learn.

OUTCOME 4: UNDERSTANDING AND REACTING TO CAUSES, NOT SYMPTOMS

Typically, when a problem arises, people respond to the symptoms. Proper andragogy should change this.Rather than only seeing symptoms, adults should be able to see beneath to the actual root causes of the problem. Once they understand the root causes, they can appropriately react.

OUTCOME 5: UNDERSTANDING HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Everyone tends toward recency bias. In other words, people tend to assume that modern equals better and to ignore the past. Andragogy creates a perspective shift. It teaches people to understand, appreciate, and share the ideas, experiences, and traditions of the past. Rather than denigrating the past as irrelevant, it highlights it as essential.

OUTCOME 6: UNDERSTANDING OF AND ABILITY TO CHANGE SOCIETY

Living in a democracy requires that adults be able to understand the society they live in and bring about effective change. Thus, proper adult education educates people on the social order and how that social order is shaped.

Characteristics and principles of Andragogy:                                         

Following are the characteristics of Andragogy.

1. Self-direction: Adults feel the need to take responsibility for their lives and decisions and this is why it’s important for them to have control over their learning. Therefore, self-assessment, a peer relationship with the instructor, multiple options and initial, yet subtle support are all imperative.
2. Practical and results-oriented:-Adult learners are usually practical, resent theory, need information that can be immediately applicable to their professional needs, and generally prefer practical knowledge that will improve their skills, facilitate their work and boost their confidence. This is why it’s important to create a course that will cover their individual needs and have a more utilitarian content.
3. Less open-minded And therefore more resistant to change.Maturity and profound life experiences usually lead to rigidity, which is the enemy of learning. Thus, instructional designers need to provide the “why” behind the change, new concepts that can be linked to already established ones, and promote the need to explore.
4. Slower learning, yet more integrative knowledge:-Aging does affect learning. Adults tend to learn less rapidly with age. However, the depth of learning tends to increase over time, navigating knowledge and skills to unprecedented personal levels.
5. Use personal experience as a resource:-Adults have lived longer, seen and done more, have the tendency to link their past experiences to anything new and validate new concepts based on prior learning. This is why it’s crucial to form a class with adults that have similar life experience levels, encourage discussion and sharing, and generally create a learning community consisting of people who can profoundly interact.
6. Motivation:-Learning in adulthood is usually voluntary. Thus, it’s a personal choice to attend school, in order to improve job skills and achieve professional growth. This motivation is the driving force behind learning and this is why it’s crucial to tap into a learner’s intrinsic impetus with the right thought-provoking material that will question conventional wisdom and stimulate his mind.
7. Multi-level responsibilities Adult learners have a lot to juggle; family, friends, work, and the need for personal quality time. This is why it’s more difficult for an adult to make room for learning, while it’s absolutely crucial to prioritize. If his life is already demanding, then the learning outcome will be compromised. Taking that under consideration, an instructional designer needs to create a flexible program, accommodate busy schedules, and accept the fact that personal obligations might obstruct the learning process.
8. High expectations:-Adult learners have high expectations. They want to be taught about things that will be useful to their work, expect to have immediate results, seek for a course that will worth their while and not be a waste of their time or money. This is why it’s important to create a course that will maximise their advantages, meet their individual needs and address all the learning challenges.

Principles of andragogy

In 1980, Knowles made 4 assumptions about the characteristics of adult learners (andragogy) that are different from the assumptions about child learners (pedagogy). In 1984, Knowles added the 5th assumption.

Principle 1: A MATURING SELF-CONCEPT

As a person matures from a child to an adult, their self-concept also matures. They move from being dependent on others to being self-driven and independent.In other words, maturity leads to growing independence and autonomy. Whereas children are fully dependent on others for learning and understanding, adults learn and understand independently.

Knowles described the maturation this way:...in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes.

principle 2: INCREASING EXPERIENCE

In addition to a maturing self-confidence, adults build an increasing reservoir of experience. This increasing experience becomes a deepening resource for their learning. Children, on the other hand, have very little experience and must rely on the experience of others to learn.In other words, as children mature into adults and gain more experience, certain things become intuitive. Their experience allows them to intuit things that they never would have understood previously.

Principle 3: AN INCREASING READINESS TO LEARN
As an adult moves into various social roles (employee, parent, spouse, citizen, etc.), their readiness to learn becomes oriented toward those roles.Consider how this plays out in life. As an adult moves into the workforce, they must orient their learning toward the skills necessary for their job. As they become a parent, they suddenly must learn all that's involved in taking care of children. New roles require new knowledge.

Principle 4: A SHIFTING APPLICATION AND ORIENTATION

When a person is young, their application of a subject is postponed and their orientation is subject-centered. For example, when someone takes algebra in 9th grade, they don't normally apply it immediately to real life problems. They must wait until they're older and encounter a need for algebra.
As a person matures, their application of learning becomes immediate and more problem-centered. Adults encounter problems, learn how to solve those problems, and then immediately apply their knowledge to those problems.

principle 5: AN INTERNAL MOTIVATION TO LEARN

A child's motivation to learn is typically external. They are required to go to school and will encounter externally enforced consequences if they don't. This changes as they mature into adults.

Adults are motivated to learn internally. They want to grow in self-development. They desire to move up the career ladder and need to acquire new skills. They find themselves facing an unfamiliar problem and need to find a solution. Instead of having education forced on them, adults actually pursue education.

These five pillars provide the foundation for how Knowles understood adult learning and andragogy. Knowles believed that all adult learning must take these five pillars into account and shape the teaching and curriculum accordingly.

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