Andragogy: all you need to know!

Although very similar to pedagogy, in practice andragogy differs greatly and has an extremely targeted teaching methodology.

Learn more about the topic in this article!

Have you ever heard of the term Andragogy?

The term, although not widespread in the education sector, is extremely relevant for those whose main target audience is adult learners.

This is because, Andragogy is a teaching methodology aimed at adult education.

Alexander Kapp, German educator and publisher, first used the term in 1833, but it was only in the 1970s, with Malcom Shepherd Knowles, that the method began to be disseminated and applied.

The American educator is a reference when we approach the subject of Andragogy.

Paulo Freire, the world-renowned Brazilian educator, was also one of those responsible for this diffusion. He carried out several practical studies and, ascertained the andragogical principles.

Adults have different motivations for learning than a child or adolescent.

Moreover, the way in which they absorb content is also totally different.

A child, for example, has little life experience and all learning is based on a first contact with the subject. In other words, everything is new and relevant to them.

However, in adulthood this learning process becomes more difficult.

Each of us has a different life experience and different goals, which means that the same teaching method does not apply to everyone.

Andragogy understands this need and therefore advocates a much more active and participatory learning process on the part of the student.

Andragogy in practice

In adult life, several external and internal factors influence the learning process.

In this phase, education is based on content that can effectively add to their personal or professional life.

Therefore, the student's background and objectives directly influence their learning, because when aiming for a course or something of the kind, the student is fully aware of what results they expect to obtain and their needs for their life in general.

This does not happen in childhood or adolescence, because all the learning will be used in a second moment and the practical need is still a distant factor.

Andragogy seeks precisely this applicability and understands that each individual has ease or difficulty in a certain aspect.

It therefore provides much more effective learning with its personalisation.

Pedagogy and Andragogy: what is the difference?

Andragogy, like pedagogy, has a common goal. Its object of study is teaching and learning. However, its practical applications have different objectives.

While pedagogy studies learning with a focus on children and adolescents, andragogy, as we saw earlier, carries out its applications based on adult learning.

In pedagogy, children and adolescents have a high dependence on teachers in their learning process.

It is the teacher who defines the contents, the frequency of classes and, in many cases, even has the role of motivator and true inspector of the performance of each of the students.

In other words, teaching here is much more passive.

The students do not actively participate in the lessons and their only function is to absorb the content.

This is extremely natural, based on the age group and developmental process that the student is in.

Everything is new and constant stimulation is essential for the student to absorb the content and understand its importance.

In andragogy, on the other hand, the student has a much more active role and the teacher has more of an intermediary role.

Teaching is centred on the student and their real needs.

Therefore, the content passed on has practical and immediate applications.

Moreover, unlike pedagogy, the student has a high interest in absorbing as much as possible of the knowledge in the classroom, because the greatest stakeholder is precisely him.

The teacher in this case is not the sole holder of knowledge.

Classes flow in a much more participatory way, as students can participate with outside knowledge, topic ideas and express their needs.

In this way, learning becomes a two-way street.

Students can and should have this attitude, as a matter of fact, this is something stimulated in the methodology so that students are not exclusively dependent on the classes but also search for new contents and dictate their own study rhythm.

Characteristics of Andragogy

Andragogy has some basic pillars that guide the methodology.

Among them, we have separated the most characteristic ones to exemplify.

• Background: as the audience is exclusively adults, the student's background and previous experiences will dictate the pace of learning and their learning needs;
• Freedom: the student has a much more participatory role in andragogy. Here, students have total autonomy to dictate the pace of classes, content and even suggest new topics;
• Objective: the student has clear objectives regarding the content learned and its applicability in practice;
• Mediation: teachers have a role of teaching mediator, showing paths and encouraging debate on themes relevant to learning.

Corporate training

The corporate world benefits directly from this teaching model, because as its employees are encouraged to learn and play an active role in the search for knowledge, the company in general tends to win.

After all, this type of attitude encourages innovation, which results in great strategic results for the company as a whole, such as process optimisation and other day-to-day activities. Besides, of course, the competitive advantage with increasingly qualified professionals.

Corporate training is already proven to be beneficial for companies, however, it is possible to make this type of incentive for employees even more effective.

Andragogy ensures that the teaching meets the real needs of the student, shaping the teaching according to their development and their applicability in everyday life.

Therefore, uniting both practices is the guarantee of a much more targeted and highly effective teaching.

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