Andragogy
CAE 213
Introduction to Adult Education
Discussion 1
• From your experience…think of a situation
• that clearly illustrates pedagogy
• and one that illustrates andragogy
Andragogy
•
Two streams of inquiry
1. Scientific stream – rigorous and experimental
investigation
Edward L. Thorndike 1928
Adult Learning
2. Intuitive stream – analysis of experience
Eduard C. Lindeman 1926
The Meaning of Adult Education
Andragogy
•
Lindeman’s insights
1. Curriculum is built around student need
2. Learner experiences is a highly valued resource.
3. Adult education is a cooperative venture in nonauthoritarian, informal learning.
Andragogy
Lindeman’s Assumptions about Adult Learning:
1. Adults are motivated to learn as they experience needs
and interests that learning will satisfy.
2. Adult orientation to learning is life centered.
3. Experience is the richest resource of adult learning.
4. Adults have a deep need to be self-directing. The role of
the teacher is to engage in the process of mental inquiry.
5. Individual differences among people increase with age.
Discussion 2
• What are you thoughts after reflecting on
Lindeman’s five key assumptions about
adult learners…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Adults - motivated to learn as they experience needs.
Adult orientation - is life centered.
Experience - the richest resource of adult learning.
Adults - deep need to be self-directing.
Individual differences - increase with age.
Andragogy
• The Journal of Adult Education and other
publications of the American Association
for Adult Education produced growing
insights from practitioners concerning
adult education.
• The concepts of lifelong learning,
democratic participatory education, and
critical thought all became key values in
the practice of adult education.
Discussion 3
• Based on your reading in this course and
others, how has clinical psychology
contributed to andragogy (education)?
• Freud
• Erickson
Andragogy
• Key psychological concepts guided adult
educators in understanding learners
• Freud – learners are complex and may not
be aware that their subconscious
influences their interests and behavior
• Jung – learning is holistic involving all
parts of the conscious mind including
sensation, thought, emotion, & intuition
Andragogy
•
Erickson developmental framework
identified key issues such as
trust/distrust, autonomy/shame,
initiative/guilt, industry/inferiority,
identity/role confusion, intimacy/isolation,
generativity/stagnation, integrity/dispair.
Andragogy
•
Carl Rogers conceptualized a studentcentered approach to education:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
We cannot teach directly, we facilitate learning
Significant learning is related to self development
Experience which reorganizes self is resisted
Perceived threat to self increases resistance
Effective education reduces perceived threat to
self to a minimum
Andragogy
Rogers and Maslow emphasized
• the importance of safety in learning
• that learning was a process not a product
Andragogy
In the 1950s, practitioners felt a central goal
was needed to unify the discipline
• The Ford Foundation funded meetings to
identify a central unifying goal
• Practitioners were divided between two
goals: the improvement of individuals and
the improvement of society.
Finding a common core
work force training
agricultural
extension
A
ESL
high school
equivalency
YMCA
business night school
Andragogy
Adult Education did not unify around a
central goal in the 1950s
• Divergent themes from key practitioners
continue to influence Adult Education
• A unifying goal has not emerged
• A unifying central theory of adult learning
has emerged even if there is not full
agreement in calling it “Andragogy”
Andragogy
Key concepts in adult learning (p. 4):
1. The need to know
2. The learner’s self-concept
3. The role of experience
4. Readiness to learn
5. Orientation to learning
6. Motivation
Discussion 4
• How has adult education contributed to
“andragogy”?
• How does the andragogical model fit with
your own learning style?