User:Pikelake6/Andragogy

Adult student benefits from a course taught in Kwa Zulu, Natal

Article Draft

RESOURCES:

theoretical framework.

International Organizations[edit]

• International Council for Adult Education
• UNESO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL)
• Proliteracy Worldwide

Academic Journals[edit]

• Adult Education Quarterly
• Studies in the Education of Adults
• Journal of Adult and Continuing Education
• International Journal of Transformative Education
• New Direction for Adult and Continuing Education
• American Education Research Journal
• Critical Studies in Education  

U.S. Adult Education Organizations and Governmental Agencies[edit]

• American Association for Adult and Continuing Education
• American Society for Training and Development
• The Adult Higher Education Alliance
• Adult Education Research Conference (AERC)
• Coalition on Adult Basic Education
• National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL)
• U.S. Department of Education Adult Education and Literacy
• U.S. Department of Education Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education

Definitions

Andragogy commonly is defined as the art or science of teaching adults or helping adults learn Merriam-Webster. In contrast to pedagogy, or the teaching of children, andragogy is based on a humanistic conception of self-directed and autonomous learners where teachers are defined as facilitators of learning.

Adult Education English class at Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota

Although Malcolm Knowles proposed andragogy as a theory, others posit that there is no single theory of adult learning or andragogy. In the literature where adult learning theory is often identified as a principle or an assumption, there are a variety of different approaches and theories that are also evolving in view of new approaches to higher education instruction, workplace training, new technology and online learning (Omoregie, 2021).

However, Malcolm Knowles, an adult educator who first introduced the concept of andragogy in 1973, identified these adult learner characteristics related to the motivation of adult learning;

1.         Need to know: Adults need to know the reason for learning something.

2.         Foundation: Experience (including error) provides the basis for learning activities.

3.         Self-concept: Adults need to be responsible for their decisions on education; involvement in the planning and evaluation of their instruction.

4.         Readiness: Adults are most interested in learning subjects having immediate relevance to their work and/or personal lives.

5.         Orientation: Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented.

6.         Motivation: Adults respond better to internal versus external motivators.

Blaschke (2012) described Malcolm Knowles' theory 1973 as “self-directed” learning. The goals include helping learners develop the capacity for self-direction, supporting transformational learning and promoting “emancipatory learning and social action” (Baschke, 2019, p.76).

Although Knowles' andragogy is a well-known theory in the English-speaking world, his theory has an ancillary role internationally. This is especially true in European countries where andragogy is a term used to refer to a field of systematic reflection. The acceptance of andragogy in European countries, according to St. Clair and Käpplinger (2021) is to accept andragogy as the "scientific study of learning in adults and the concomitant teaching approaches" (p. 485). Further, the definition of andragogy and its application to adult learning is more variable currently due to both the impact of globalization and the rapid expansion of adult online learning.

Internationally,

History

The term was originally coined by German educator Alexander Kapp in 1833. Andragogy was developed into a theory of adult education by Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy. It later became very popular in the US by the American educator Malcolm Knowles. Knowles asserted that andragogy (Greek: "man-leading") should be distinguished from the more commonly used term pedagogy (Greek: "child-leading"). Knowles collected ideas about a theory of adult education from the end of World War II until he was introduced to the term "andragogy". In 1966, Knowles met Dusan Savicevic in Boston. Savicevic was the one who shared the term andragogy with Knowles and explained how it was used in the European context. In 1967, Knowles made use of the term "androgogy" to explain his theory of adult education. Then after consulting with Merriam-Webster, he corrected the spelling of the term to "andragogy" and continued to make use of the term to explain his multiple ideas about adult learning.

In most European countries, the Knowles discussion played at best, a marginal role. (Reischmann & Knowles, 2011) "Andragogy" was, from 1970 on, connected with emerging academic and professional institutions, publications, or programs, triggered by a similar growth of adult education in practice and theory as in the United States. "Andragogy" functioned here as a header for (places of) systematic reflections, parallel to other academic headers like "biology", "medicine", and "physics". According to Loeng (2018) there is a difference between the andragogy in Europe and North America. He points out that European andragogy appeared well before Knowle’s theory of andragogy. Although much of the literature of the field from the 1970s is centered on Knowles approach, Loeng points out the ambiguity of the concept continues to exist internationally. For example, the differences between European andragogy and North American andragogy are highlighted through different perspectives. In European andragogy, a social perspective to learning is more prominent. In comparison, the individual perspective is more prominent in North American andragogy as defined by Malcolm Knowles (Loeng, 2018).

Examples of the use of andragogy from an international environment are the Yugoslavian (scholarly) journal for adult education, named Andragogija in 1969, and the Yugoslavian Society for Andragogy; at Palacky University in Olomouc (Czech Republic) the Katedra sociologie a andragogiky (Sociology and Andragogy Department) was established in 1990. Also, Prague University has a Katedra Andragogiky (Andragogical Department); in 1993, Slovenia's Andragoski Center Republike Slovenije (Slovenian Republic Andragogy Center) was founded with the journal Andragoska Spoznanja; in 1995, Bamberg University (Germany) named a Lehrstuhl Andragogik (Androgogy Chair), (Tymchuk, et. al, 2022; Kaplan & Živčić, 2011; Aderinoye (2020)

Ahmad, et al. (2021) conducted research on a global perspective of andragogy using bibliometrics and found that 71 countries contributed to andragogy research, with the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand demonstrating a significant level of collaborations. However, Canada, Netherlands, Egypt, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Russia, Sweden and Poland were also major collaborators. It was noted that even though there was significant research, andragogy was not established in Scandinavia due to the tradition of popular education. In Sweden, for example, the idea that adult experiences and self-direction alone were sufficient for adult learning could not be attributed to all adults. Norway did not accept andragogy as a separate discipline. Finland, with a tradition of popular education moved first to establish adult learning at the university level. It is important to note that the research in these countries were usually associated with terms such as adult education and adult pedagogy, or lifelong learning.

In Germany, there was a distinction between the social perspective and individual perspective, which according to Loen (2018), described the difference between andragogy in the US and andragogy in Germany. Great Britian and the US were more closely aligned.

Differences in learning: The Pedagogy, Andragogy and Heutagogy Continuum

In the 20th century, adult educators began to challenge the application of pedagogical theory and teacher-centered approaches to the teaching of adults. Unlike children, adult learners are not transmitted knowledge. Rather, the adult learner is an active participant in their learning. Adult students also are asked to actively plan their learning process to include identifying learning objectives and how they will be achieved. Knowles (1980) summarize the key characteristics of andragogy in this model: 1) independency or self defectiveness, 2) using past experiences to construct learning, 3) association with readiness to learn and social roles, and, 4) changing education perspectives from subject-centered one to performance centered ones.

A new educational strategy has evolved in response to globalization that identifies learners as self-determined, especially in higher education and work-place settings. Simply put, heutagogy is a process where students learn on their own with some guidance from the teacher. The motivation to learn comes from the students' interest in not only performing, but being recognized for their accomplishment (Akiyildiz, 2019). In addition, in heutagogy, learning is learner-centric - where the decisions relating to the learning process are managed by the student. Further, the student determines whether or not the learning objectives are met.

Below is a table developed from multiple academic resources that explain the differences among learning strategies.

Modern Strategies in Andragogy (U.S. Examples)

In the United States, the application and research of andragogy continues to follow the framework outlined in Malcolm Knowle's Theory of Andragogy. There are more challenges to its use as workplace training, adult education and higher education courses were forced into fully online formats due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A review of articles published in 2019 to date identify several examples of the application of andragogy in higher education, adult education and work-based learning in interpreting the success of andragogy in an online environment.

Critique

There are two perspectives in critiquing andragogy. The first is to critique the various definitions and practices of andragogy as experienced in multiple instructional settings and within different countries. There is not one model of andragogy that represents adult learning. As adult and life-long learning strategies emerged out of different educational, social and political systems, it was clear that many different models drove different concepts of andragogy. The history of andragogy above provides an opportunity to review different approaches to andragogy (Loeng, 2018) .

The second is to critique Knowles's andragogy from the 1970s until now. As adult and life-long learning strategies emerged out of different educational, social and political systems, it was clear that many different models drove alternative concepts of andragogy. Academics and practitioners used the theory of andragogy to drive practice. In other cases. accepted characteristics of andragogy were used to drive instruction, treating adult pedagogy as an instructional discipline.

Other critics, including those in academia, challenged the theory of adult learning stating that is lacked a strong empirical basis on which to verify or disprove the theory (see Jarvis (1984) and Davenport (1987). Sandlin (2005) posited that Knowles did not consider the relationship of the student to society and how other factors influenced learning (e.g., gender, race, and class). Further, Merriam (2001) pointed out that there were two directions emerging out of andragogy since 1990. The first was to study the usage of andragogy worldwide for documenting andragogy as a scientific discipline. The second was to acknowledge that andragogy and self-determined learning both need to be investigated to increase the knowledge of adult learning theory.

See also

·        Geragogy – Science of education of older adults