Andragogy, which is the art of teaching adults, is the opposite of pedagogy — the traditional approach

to teaching children. The core principle of andragogy is that adults are more motivated and self-aware
than children, so they need to learn in ways that center their lives, instead of their academic potential.
As a result, andragogical teaching methods focus on hands-on learning experiences, which encourage
learners to be fully present and participate.

Teachers have successfully used andragogy in education for decades, but it wasn’t until recently that we
began to understand why this theory is so effective.

Read on to find out:

What Andragogy is

The History and Development of Andragogy

The Assumptions and Principles of Andragogy

The criticisms and limitations of Andragogy

How to apply Andragogy in teaching

The tools and techniques for Andragogical instruction

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What is Andragogy?

Andragogy, also known as Adult Learning Theory, is a theory that states that adults must be actively
involved in the formation, delivery, and assessment of their own learning programs. In other words,
training materials for adults must support the notion that adults are self-directed and can make good
decisions on their own.
Andragogical approaches to learning center the learning needs of adults, which leads to higher
knowledge retention rates. With andragogical teaching methods, adults are made to engage with their
surroundings, instead of passively sitting behind a desk and listening to a teacher explain things.

When teachers give adult learners free rein to explore their surroundings while learning, the learners
are more likely to remember and apply what they’ve learned to their specific role. That’s precisely why
this teaching concept has been successful in helping adults learn in different fields, including business,
nursing, military training, transportation, and engineering.

The History and Development of Andragogy

The term “andragogy” was first used by Alexander Kapp, a German teacher, in 1833 to describe
elements of Plato’s theory of education. The term disappeared from mainstream educational
terminology and didn’t reappear until 1921 when American educators, Eduard Lindeman and Eugen
Rosenstock-Hussey used it in a report. Lindeman and Rosenstock-Hussey argued that “adult education
requires special teachers, methods, and philosophy” and they categorized these special requirements
under the umbrella term — andragogy.

It was, however, Malcolm S. Knowles, an American educator that popularized the idea and built the
foundation for modern andragogy. In the 1950s, Knowles was the Executive Director of the Adult
Education Association of the United States of America. He later served as a Professor of Education at
Boston University (BU) from 1960 to 1974. It was during his time at BU that Knowles began to notice the
insufficiencies of formal learning settings and seek a more comprehensive approach to adult learning.

He positioned andragogy as the answer to the limitations of pedagogy. Knowles felt that the ideals of
pedagogy, the art of teaching children, do not carry over effectively to adult education. Thus, traditional
pedagogical teaching methods like content-driven lectures, drills, quizzes, examinations, and rote
memorization won’t work for adults.

So instead of the “passive transmittal or knowledge and skills” that was the main characteristic of
pedagogy, Knowles proposed that adult learning should focus on getting learners to actively participate
in their own learning process and apply what they learn to real-life situations. And he thought informal
settings like community centers and workplaces are the best for the development of new interests and
the application of practical skills.
Knowles developed his andragogical system based on five foundational assumptions or principles (more
on this in the next section):

Adults flourish in independent learning environments.

Adults learn best through prior experience, which includes making mistakes.

For adults to develop a readiness to learn, they need to know the impact the subject/topic they’re
learning will have on their personal lives, careers, or sociability.

Adults will learn better when the topic is problem-oriented, instead of content-oriented.

Adults are motivated by internal elements — not external pressures.

Malcolm Knowles wrote popular works on informal adult education and self-direction with his wife,
Hulda. His work was the defining factor that shifted the focus of adult educators from merely teaching
people to helping them learn better.

Principles of Andragogy

In his argument for andragogy, Malcolm Knowles proposed six principles to guide educators who
wanted to adopt andragogical teaching methods. These principles are Self-concept, Adult learner
experience, Readiness to learn, Orientation to learning, Motivation to learn, and Active learning.

Principle 1: Self-Concept

In his 1975 book, Self-Directed Learning: A Guide for Learners and Teachers, Malcolm Knowles described
maturation as a phenomenon “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.”

Put simply, as people get older, they want to be able to choose what they want to learn, how they want
to learn it, and when they want to learn it. This is what self-concept is — an adult becoming more
independent and self-directed as they mature.

It’s easy for teachers to make assumptions about what learners need, but this approach is pedagogical
— not andragogical. In andragogy, teachers give learners the freedom to make their own learning
choices, whether that’s by letting them choose how they’ll receive new information, allowing them to
design their own tests, and/or providing a collaborative learning environment for them to thrive in.

For example, a pedagogical middle school agriculture teacher may stand in front of the class and explain,
with a diagram, how seeds in the soil germinate, grow, and become trees. The andragogical approach to
this would be encouraging learners to get seeds of any fruit or crop of their choice, plant it in whatever
container they like, tend to it daily, and record their observations over the next couple of
weeks/months.

Learners are more likely to be invested in their learning process when they’re given the freedom to
choose the elements of the lesson.

Principle 2: Adult Learner Experience

Adult learners have an ever-increasing reservoir of life experiences that play a huge role in their
learning. These unique experiences encompass formal education, job experience, and life events.

Unlike children who have little experience and must rely on other people’s experiences to learn, adult
learners are able to use their unique experiences to contribute to group discussions and understand a
topic better. So even if the concepts a teacher introduces are new, adult learners can reference their
lived experiences and connect the dots between past knowledge and new information.

Therefore, as a teacher, it’s your responsibility to understand the experiences your adult learners bring
to class. This way, you can incorporate them into debriefs, explanations, and class discussions to help
learners feel acknowledged. Doing this can also help learners absorb new information selectively, as
they’ll be able to identify knowledge gaps that their past experience doesn’t fill and solutions to
mistakes they’ve made in the past.

Say you’re hosting a leadership training program for adults who are in the workforce. Instead of simply
explaining how they can improve their leadership skills, ask learners who work (or have worked) in a
managerial position to reflect on and discuss their performance in their workplace. This session can help
them figure out things they did right at work (and how to improve on them), and things they did wrong
(and how to fix them).
Principle 3: Readiness to Learn

“What’s in this for me?”

That’s the question many adult learners ask when trying to decide what they should be receptive to and
what they should ignore. Unlike children who, like sponges, absorb as much information as they can as
they grow, adults are much more selective about what they direct their energies toward.

Adults will generally be more interested in learning from you if you can prove that the subject/skill
you’re teaching will have a positive impact on their personal, work, or social lives. So to prepare them
for the learning process, you’ll need to explain to them why they need to learn what you want to teach
them.

As an adult takes up various social roles — employee, spouse, parent, caregiver — they must adjust their
learning towards the skills necessary to excel in that role. Therefore, an adult who just entered the
workforce will be inclined to learn the skills necessary to succeed in their job. But an adult who recently
became a parent will be more interested in learning how to take care of infants.

To increase your learners’ readiness to learn, determine that what you’re teaching has immediate
relevance to their personal and/or professional lives. Then develop activities in your lessons that
replicate real-world scenarios and include interactive elements. This ensures that learners are able to
apply their new knowledge to everyday situations.

Principle 4: Orientation to Learning

As children grow into adults, they move away from subject-based learning to problem-based learning,
which focuses on new knowledge that can be applied in practical situations. Their orientation shifts
from a postponed application of knowledge and prioritizes the immediacy of application.

For example, when middle school students take algebra in the 8th grade, they don’t expect to
immediately apply their knowledge to real-life problems. In fact, they might end up not applying it at all
if they eventually work in a field where there’s no need for it.
On the flip side, adults will rather devote their time to learning a concept or skill if they’re sure they’ll
need the knowledge right away. Because of this, adults don’t focus much on the concept itself, but on
how they’ll apply it in their personal and/or professional lives.

Principle 5: Motivation to Learn

Think back to the time when you were a kid and you dragged your feet when the bus came to pick you
up from school. But your parents convinced you to go anyway. And when you got to class, you had to
pay attention to your studies because your parents and/or teachers expected good grades from you.
You also took your school work seriously because you understood that, without it, you may not get a
good job.

This scenario clearly demonstrates how a child’s motivation for learning is external — whether from
parents, teachers, or the general society. They’re required to go to school, and if they don’t, they’ll likely
face external consequences.

However, as children become adults, their motivation for learning becomes internal. They worry less
about who expects them to learn and more about their own personal reasons for learning something. So
even if the grading system exists in andragogy, it doesn’t possess the same motivating factor for adults
as it does for children. These internal motivators, which are unique to each learner, include self-
actualization, better quality of life, and self-esteem, amongst others.

When an adult is faced with a problem, they find a solution to it. When they want to move up the career
ladder, they improve on their existing skills (or learn new ones). Instead of learning to satisfy others,
adults pursue education for themselves. That’s why educators should try to understand the motivations
of their adult learners so that they can implement skills training that helps learners solve their problems
effectively and efficiently.

Principle 6: Active Learning

For centuries, educators have successfully used traditional lectures to deliver knowledge to students.
And for good reason, too — they’re fairly inexpensive, can be used to teach many students at the same
time, and can be adapted to any topic and audience.
Malcolm Knowles, however, proposed that lectures aren’t the best way to teach adults because of their
passive nature, their disconnection from the learners’ real-life practice, and the effort learners have to
put in to maintain attention. Sometimes, lectures also lack clear learning objectives, which hinders
students’ ability to connect new and previous knowledge. Instead, Knowles posited that educators
include some strategies in their lectures to make them more effective — from encouraging students’
active participation to presenting variations of their lectures.

This teaching model implies that:

Learners do much more than passively sit and listen to an instructor for an hour

There is less emphasis on passing information and more on developing a learner’s skills

Learners engage in dynamic and interactive sessions, which involve reading, writing, class discussions,
and experiments

Learners are encouraged to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate concepts

Learners are encouraged to explore their own attitudes and values

Strategies that promote active learning include reflective activities, group discussions, case studies,
debates, and role-playing. These techniques are especially effective in fields like medicine, engineering,
and psychology