Andragogy: All about Learning? Essay -- Andragogy Knowles Education Es

Andragogy: All about Learning? Since the language of andragogy was introduced to North American adult educators by Malcolm Knowles, there have been continual debates about whether it is an adult learning theory, a teaching method, a philosophical statement, or all of the above. It is useful to take the development of andragogy into account when considering this question. When Knowles began writing about andragogy, he was already a well-respected figure in the adult education establishment. He had participated in the creation of the Black Book (Jensen, Liveright, and Hallenbeck 1964), a collection of writing setting out to define adult education as a discipline. Establishing adult education as a discrete area of academic study was an important aim for Knowles and many of his contemporaries (Damer 2000). As early as 1962, Knowles wrote that "the adult educational field is in the process of developing a distinctive curriculum and methodology" (Knowles 1962, p. 255)—a process in which he played a central role. The development of andragogy was an important component of broader efforts to position adult education as a profession and academic field. Knowles (1980) claimed that andragogy was "the art and science of teaching adults," and set out four key assumptions: 1. Teachers have a responsibility to help adults in the normal movement from dependency toward increasing self-directedness. 2. Adults have an ever-increasing reservoir of experience that is a rich resource for learning. 3. People are ready to learn something when it will help them to cope with real-life tasks or problems. 4. Learners see education as a means to develop increased competence. Two additional assumptions were later added (Knowles,... ...itique of the Present and a Proposal for the Future." Adult Education Quarterly 52, no. 3 (Spring 2002): 210-227. Robles, H. J. "Andragogy, the Adult Learner and Faculty as Learners." 1998. (ED 426 740) Tisdell, E. J. "Poststructural Feminist Pedagogies: The Possibilities and Limitations of Feminist Emancipatory Adult Learning Theory and Practice." Adult Education Quarterly 48, no. 3 (Spring 1998): 139-156. Usher, R.; Bryant, I.; and Johnston, R. "Self and Experience in Adult Learning." In Supporting Lifelong Learning, edited by R. Harrison, F. Reeve, A. Hanson, and J. Clarke, pp. 78-90. London: Routledge-Falmer/Open University, 2002. Wenger, E. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Ralf St. Clair is Director of the Texas Center for Adult Literacy and Learning, Texas A&M University.