Andragogy Learning Theory
The information in this section is intended to give you a brief but informational look into Androgogy.
Malcolm Knowles is an American educator who is well known for the use of the term Andragogy. He stated that Andragogy refers to any form of Adult Learning. His theory contains five assumptions about the characteristics of adult learners that differ from the characteristics of child learners. Four principles of andragogy are applied to adult learning.
The five assumptions of adult learners are:
- Self-concept: As a person matures, their self-concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed human being
- Experience: As a person matures, they accumulate a growing reservoir of experience that becomes an increasing resource for learning.
- Readiness to learn: As a person matures, his readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks of his social roles.
- Orientation to learning: As a person matures, their time perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and accordingly, their orientation toward learning shifts from one of subject-centeredness to one of problem-centredness.
- Motivation to learn: As a person matures, the motivation to learn is internal.
The four principles that are applied are:
- Adults need to be involved in the planning and evaluation of their instruction.
- Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for the learning activities.
- Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance and impact on their job or personal life.
- Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented. (Kearsley, 2010)
OPTIONAL DEEPER DIVE: Are you interested in learning more about Andragogy?
If so, check out the links and readings below!
The Adult Learning Theory – Andragogy – of Malcolm Knowles web article
“Malcolm Knowles, Informal Adult Education, Self-Direction And Andragogy.” infed.org. N. p., 2013. Web. 10 July 2019.
Pratt, D. D. (1993). Andragogy after twenty-five years. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 1993(57), 15–23.