Summary Of Andragogy

Unfair Results of Andragogy Andragogy has been defined as “any intentional and professionally guided activity that aims at a change in adult persons” (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2005, p. 60). In the mid-twentieth century, researchers like Bruner, Gibb, Miller, Overstreet, Savicevic—and most notably Knowles—began to use the concept to explore “the art and science of how adults learn” (Knowles et al., 2005, p. 61).

The primary assumptions of Knowles’ andragogical model are:

1. “Adults need to know why they need to learn something before they learn it.”

2. Adults “need to be seen…and treated by others as being capable of self-direction.”

3. Adults bring a great deal of experience to their learning and “the richest resources for learning reside in the adult learners themselves.”

4. Adult’s readiness to learn is triggered by their “moving from one developmental stage to another.”

5a. “Adults are motivated to learn to the extent that they perceive the learning will help them perform tasks or deal with problems that they confront in

Previously, pedagogy was for children and andragogy was for adults.

Now his perspective was that where new, unfamiliar content was involved with children and adults, pedagogy was appropriate; and, where adults or children had some background in the content, andragogy was appropriate. Andragogy was the underlying philosophy, and self-directed learning was the way andragogy was to be implemented.

Andragogy is essentially a “model of assumptions” (Knowles, 1980, p. 43) about the characteristics of adult learners that are different from the traditional pedagogical assumptions about child learners rather than an actual theory of adult learning. Based on humanistic psychology, Knowles’ concept of andragogy presents the individual learner as one who is autonomous, free, and growth-oriented. How one actually works through a self-directed learning experience has generated several process