“Pedagogy Vs Andragogy”

            Pedagogy is the teaching of children, or dependent personalities.

            Andragogy is the facilitation learning for adults, who are self-directed learners.

Adult Learning is a vast area of educational research and probably one of the most complicated. Adults learn differently and have different strategies in learning. Adult Learning Theory and Principle explain in details these strategies and sheds more light on how adult cultivate knowledge.

Talking about Adult Learning brings us to the concept of Andragogy. According to the article Malcolm Knowles an American practitioner and the theorist of adult education, defined andragogy as “the art and science of helping adults learn.” Knowles identified the six principles of Adult Learning as:

1.       Adults are internally motivated and self-directed.

2.       Adults bring life experiences and knowledge to learning experiences.

3.       Adults are goal oriented.

4.       Adults are practical.

5.       Adults are relevancy oriented.

6.       Adults learners like to be respected.

Difference between Andragogy and Pedagogy Learning

	Pedagogy	Andragogy
The Learners	• The learning is dependent upon the instructor for all learning • The teacher assumes full responsibility for what is taught and how it is learned • The teacher evaluates learning	• The learner is self-directed • The learner is responsible for his/her own learning • Self-evaluation is characteristics of this approach
Role of the Learner’s Experiences	• The learner comes to the activity with little experiences that could be tapped as a resource for learning • The experience of the instructor is most influential	• The learner brings a greater volume and quality of the experience  • Adults are a rich resource for one another • Different experiences assure diversity in groups of adults  • Experience becomes the source of self-identity
Readiness to learn	• Students are told what they have to learn in order to advance to the next level of mastery	• Any changes are likely to trigger a readiness to learn • The need to know in order to perform more effectively in some aspects of one’s life is important  • Ability to access gaps between where one is now and where one wants and needs to be
Orientation to Learning	• Learning is a process of acquiring prescribed subject matter • Content units are sequenced according to the logic of the subject matter	• Learner want to perform a task, solve a problem, live in a more satisfying way • Learning must have relevance to real-life tasks • Learning is organized around life/work situations rather than subject matter units.
Motivation for learning	• Primary motivated by external pressures, competition for grades and the consequences of failure	• Learner want to perform a task, solve a problem, live in a more satisfying way • Learning must have relevance to real-life tasks • Learning is organized around life/work situations rather than subject matter units.