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Years of experience have taught me that adult education and learning needs to be approached in a different way than adolescents and children. It is not just my assumption but the widely accepted theory of andragogy that encourages teachers of adults to adopt separate methods. According to the theory, adults anticipate learner-centered environments where they possess the freedom to set their own targets and organize their knowledge around the needs in their life. Moreover, I think that a varied learning method is highly efficient for adults as long as the nature of teaching remains responsive.
Research shows that the adult learners expect good instructors to possess considerable amount of knowledge, exhibit concern for the learning process of their students, present material in a clear and precise manner, motivate the students, maintain an enthusiastic demeanor and emphasize the importance of class materials. In my opinion, these expectations are perfectly normal and teachers must keep in mind that the issue is not the continuation of promotion of an either/or approach with regard to the teaching expectations of adults, but concentration on certain attributes that adults usually consider to be necessary for effective teaching.
The learning of adults is no doubt distinct from the education of children but in some cases, approaches that have been proven highly successful in case of kids might be adopted to impart knowledge to the adults. But it depends on the purpose of the teaching-learning situation, including what methods appear to be suitable along with the individual requirements of the learners. I firmly believe that adult educators should analyze the philosophical assumptions forming the basis of andragogy in order to explain the underlying beliefs and values as well as the core concept of learning in adults.
Andragogy was preceded by the education model of pedagogy. The pedagogical assumptions regarding learners and knowledge were based mostly on observations by monks in educating young children with simple skills, initially writing and reading. Therefore, when adult education started to be organized in systemic fashion from the 1920s, teachers faced numerous problems with the pedagogical model.
The andragogical and pedagogical models of adult education differed from each other on several points. In terms of the concept of the learner, the former model considered the movement of a person from dependency towards self-directedness a normal dimension of the maturation process but at different rates for different people and in separate dimensions of life. As per the andragogical model, the teachers possess a responsibility to nurture and encourage the movement while the pedagogical model maintains that the role of a learner happens to be a dependent one. In the pedagogical model, society expects the teacher to take full charge for determining the what, when, how and if of learning. Both the models present varied perspectives on the role of the experience of the learner as well as the readiness to learn. The orientation of the adult students to learning forms another point of difference between the two models. The pedagogical model of education states that learners consider education to be a process of acquiring subject-matter content, most of which they consider to be useful in the long run. In contrast, andragogy supposes that learners view education to be a process of developing increased competence in order to gain their maximum potential in life. They wish to be in a position to apply the knowledge and skill they gain today to live in a more effective manner tomorrow.
One of the most critical elements in every adult learning program happens to be the first interaction between the learners and the teachers. The way I see it, andragogy is based on some more assumptions of teaching and learning, including the capability of adults to learn, the nature of learning as an internal process and the superior conditions of the principles of teaching and education. The increasing body of knowledge has made it clear to me that there exist specific conditions of education that happen to more conducive to development and growth than others. Theses enhanced conditions for learning in adults seems to be manufactured by practices in the transaction between teaching and learning that stick to specific superior principles of teaching.
I believe that the differences between adults and children are not so much as actual differences as opposed to differences in terms of the assumptions about them that have been established in traditional pedagogy. My observation over the years as well as the occasional retrospection allows me to understand that children begin rather early to view themselves as being self-directing in wider areas of their lives. They begin gathering experience that has greater value in future for the purpose of learning; they start to prepare for social roles and this allows them to experience adult-like readiness to accumulate education. Moreover, adolescents frequently encounter life problems that they would like to deal with via immediate application. So, I can conclude that most of the principles of andragogy possess direct relevance to the education of youth and children.
I have two children and my interactions with them often yield surprising tidbits of information. I am surprised to realize that several of the recent development in the curriculum of both secondary and elementary schools has some of the aspects of andragogy. The new programs of biology, math and linguistics begin with student concerns and push them in the path of greatly self-directed discovery. The products of the schools of the present generation who will become adults after some years will, therefore, supposedly be in a better position to continue a process of learning than their adult counterparts.
The mechanism of adult learning and education is not familiar to a lot of people. But it is common knowledge that adults are motivated to learn as long as they have a planned curriculum. They know how to maximize the classroom experience in order to reach their full potential and they have an individual responsibility learn. I, as a teacher, can either hinder or promote the attempts of the person to learn. If I fail to recognize the limits of my adult learners through the construction of barriers and ignorance, I may actually negatively influence their process of learning. I will be a positive influence in the field of education if only I promote learning and assist my participants.
I have worked for almost 18 years in various settings where I have assumed the role of an educator or teacher to patients, students and fellow colleagues in an academic setting. In my line of work, formal and informal learning/teaching happens on a regular basis and as a result, I have managed to develop a comprehensive understanding of adult education and theories of learning, process and principles. There is much room for improvement as far as my critical thinking skills are concerned but from what I have learnt and understood till now, one thing has become crystal clear – the andragogical model is better than the pedagogical model. My resolute stand in favor of andragogy has led many people to frequently question me about the researches that have been carried out on the model to support the proposition of its superiority against the pedagogical model. In such circumstances, the response that comes automatically to my mind is that the question is not correct.
This sort of question generally arises from an interesting disposition that seems to be common in the realm of learning theory. I prefer to call it panacea addiction though philosophers refer to it by the term “either-or thinking”. It happens to be a compulsion for simple, near, single solutions to pressing issues in adult education.
I often get the impression that several conventional teachers as well as learning theorists possess an almost ideological connection with the pedagogical model of education. They find themselves pledging their loyalty to the model no matter what and they adopt various methods, like the enforcement of sanctions, to protect it against heresy. But, in my humble opinion, andragogy cannot be categorized as an ideology at all. It is instead a complex network of assumptions regarding learners that must definitely be tested out for individual learners in different circumstances. I would not be very wrong to state that andragogy is a system that encompasses the model of pedagogy, since it manages to legitimize the application of strategies associated with pedagogy in those situations in which the pedagogical model assumptions are realistic.
Hence, in retrospect, the proper question people need to ask me is, “What research has been done to indicate under what conditions the andragogical model is appropriate, in whole or in part?”
Works Cited
DeYoung, S. (2009). Teaching strategies for nurse educators. Prentice Hall.
Knowles, M. S. (1988). THE MODERN PRACTICE OF ADULT EDUCATION From Pedagogy to Andragogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: CAMBRIDGE Adult Education. Retrieved July 10, 2013, from http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/medicine/hospitalists/downloads/cc4_articles/Education%20Theory/Andragogy.pdf
