Andragogy

Andragogy is a system of adult education as against pedagogy, in the pattern of which this word is formed. The philosophy is to focus on the methods and practices of teaching adult learners rather than children. The scheme of instructions are seen as a different methodology than pedagogy, which focuses on ways to best instruct children. It was developed in the early-part of the 19th century, as a response to the failure of traditional pedagogy to best instruct adults later in life.

The term originated with a German educator, Alexander Kapp, but it was the American Malcolm Knowles who truly elaborately the idea and developed the foundation for modern andragogy. Knowles developed his system based on four foundation ideas: firstly, that adults want to be fully involved in the development of their own education, that they have a strong sense of self-concept, and their motivation grows from this; secondly, that experiential education is the strongest form of adult education, which includes allowing learners to make their own mistakes; thirdly, that for adults to have a true readiness to learn, they need to feel what they are learning is directly relevant to their own lives; and lastly, that adults learn things from the relationship of solving problems, rather than passively acquiring new content.