Prior to discussing andragogy, it would be worthwhile to define it. According to Merriam-Webster, andragogy is “the art or science of teaching adults” (n.d.). This is, of course, linked to the more commonly used word “pedagogy,” which is a more general term and often used in reference to teaching children. In Greek, these terms could be translated as man-leading, versus child-leading.

There has been much discussion in the field about how andragogy, or adult education, differentiates itself from pedagogy.  Interestingly, this was the central point of debate all the way back in 1957 during a gathering of Adult Education professors from the United States and Canada.  Abbott Kaplan started the debate off with a key question.  He asked his fellow professors, “What is the content, the essential ingredient of adult education, that marks it off from other fields or disciplines?” (Commission of Professors of Adult Education meeting, 1957, p. 16). An interesting discussion followed and yielded valuable consensus regarding how to define adult education.

Adult Education has had many names as, indeed, it has existed as long as humans have been learning. Originating from the word “Andragogik,” Alexander Kapp, a German high school teacher, seems to have first used this word in 1833.  He used it to explain adult education and that “learning not only happens through teachers, but also through self-reflection and life experience” (Reischmann, 2005, p. 59).  These ideas about andragogy have resurfaced again and again in the history of adult education.  Malcolm Knowles, a name well-known in the field of adult education, also used the word andragogy.  In fact, he wrote an early article on the subject named, “Andragogy, Not Pedagogy” (1968). In it, he showed his strong views that Adult Education must be considered as separate and different than education for children and youths” (Reischmann, 2005, p. 60). 

This leads us to the obvious question, what are the differences between education for adults and education for children?  Four main points are outlined by Eduard Lindeman, which were more recently expanded upon by Stewart (1987).  These four points of difference are common ones that Adult Educators have discussed and debated for many years.  Lindeman outlined these points in 1926 and many of the same points were brought up in the Commission of Professors of Adult Education meeting which was held on April 26, 1957.

Point 1: Adult Education Continues Through the Life Span

The first point that Lindeman made, in differentiating adult education, was that “Education is life – not a mere preparation for an unknown kind of future living” (Stewart, 1987, p. 103).  For Lindeman, it was important to understand that education is not simply something that one does in order to prepare for life.  Education is something that continues throughout the life span. It seems that the attendees at the 1957 meeting mainly agreed with him as various definitions of Adult Education that were listed in the commission’s report include references to Adult Education as a life-long pursuit.  One of those definitions says, “Adulthood involves a large part of life; therefore, adult education includes the larger portion of life-long learning” (Commission of Professors of Adult Education meeting, 1957, p. 61).  In short, education is for life, and not simply something that one does in preparation for life. 

Point 2: Adult Learning Goes Beyond Vocational and Academic

The second point of Lindeman, as described by Stewart (1987), was that “adult education revolves around nonvocational ideals” (p. 103). Lindeman felt that there was a lot of pressure for young adults to learn a vocation to fit into a certain job that needed to be filled.  He believed that Adult Education was not education that was centered on vocations but education that went beyond that; it was education that gave meaning to the person’s life (Stewart, 1987, p. 106).  He believed that it was a real threat that “the unbalanced application of vocational education [would] produce generations of empty people” (Stewart, 1987, p. 106). Stewart built on this statement by adding that “adult education revolves around nonvocational and nonacademic ideals” (p. 111).  Adult Education can happen in places beyond institutions, both beyond academic and vocational institutions. 

Other professors of Adult Education agreed with Lindeman and Stewart on this point.  A definition from the report by the Commission of Professors of Adult Education meeting stated that adult education is “not usually a part of a predetermined sequence of requirements,” and that it is, “focused upon the learner’s changing interests and problems” (1957, p. 62).  Another definition from that meeting points out that adult education can be in the community and include, “all those organized and/or directed educational activities in which adults engage” (p. 61). 

Point 3: Adult Educational is Rooted in Real-Life Situations

The third point made by Lindeman was that “the approach to adult education will be via the route of situations, not subjects” (Stewart, 1987, p. 103).  As children in the formal schooling system are taught by subjects, Adult Education would not necessarily fit into this type of model.  Adult education would be based upon real-life situations and real-life needs for learning.  A strict curriculum would do nothing to aid an adult learner.  The curriculum should be life, and adult education, “derives its contents from individual and group needs” (Stewart,1987, p. 107).

Malcolm Knowles posited, during the meeting of 1957: “Isn’t this basic difference [between andragogy and pedagogy] the setting in which adults learn and this setting for adult learning is not typically the classroom but some life process they are going through – and this requires a different methodology” (Commission of Professors of Adult Education meeting, 1957, p. 21).  This point was a strong point in the debate and it supported the idea that a unique theory was, indeed, necessary for Adult Education.  Adults learn in many types of broader situations, other than the traditional classroom situation in which confined subjects are taught.

Point 4: Adult Education is Experience-Based

The fourth and final point about Adult Education by Lindeman is that “the resource of highest value in Adult Education is the learner’s experience” (Stewart, 1987, p. 103).  This is a very important aspect of Adult Education and, according to some, sets Adult Education apart from education for children.  All adults have their own unique life experiences from which they have learned and which can also inform their future learning.  Lindeman states that experience is, in fact, “the adult learner’s living textbook” (as cited in Stewart, 1987, p. 108).  The adult learner’s past experiences need to be taken into consideration when new situations present themselves and it is through new experiences that many adults learn the most.  I know that this has often been the case for me!

In a debate during the 1957 Commission of Professors of Adult Education meeting, this point came up as another way to differentiate andragogy from pedagogy.  In speaking about Adult Education, Hendrickson told his colleagues to consider, “the ways in which you can capitalize on adult experience.  This is something you can’t do with children; they just haven’t lived enough” (Commission of Professors of Adult Education meeting, 1957, p. 19).  Kreitlow, however, disagreed and replied that, “the use of experience is something you start in kindergarten” (p. 20).  They did, however, agree that the degree of experiences that one could draw on was very different and so, therefore, this is a significant difference between adult education and child education.  Lindeman also made the point that the adult learner and the instructor/facilitator are both learning from the experience of Adult Education.  He reminds us that teachers are those, “who are also searchers after wisdom and not oracles” (as cited in Stewart, 1987, p. 108). Indeed, that is a great line for instructors to reflect upon.

Knowles’ Six Assumptions about Adult Learning

Malcolm Knowles, who worked under Lindeman in his earlier days and whose name is now often associated with Andragogy, continued on this important work in the years following the decisive meeting in 1957. Knowles worked to develop a theory of adult learning and further refined the particularities of Adult Education into six main assumptions, as quoted from Chan (2010), p. 27-28:

1. Self-Concept: Adult learners are self-directed, autonomous, and independent.
2. Role of Experience: Repository of an adult’s experience is a rich resource for learning. Adults tend to learn by drawing from their previous experiences.
3. Readiness to Learn: Adults tend to be ready to learn what they believe they need to know.
4. Orientation to Learning: Adults learn for immediate applications rather than for future uses. Their learning orientation is problem-centered, task-oriented, and life-focused.
5. Internal Motivation: Adults are more internally motivated than externally.
6. Need to Know: Adults need to know the value of learning and why they need to learn.

Reflection

Based on the definitions of Adult Education described at the 1957 Commission of Professors of Adult Education meeting, and then further refined by Malcolm Knowles, do these particularities of Andragogy ring true to you in relation to your experiences as an adult learner? If you are an instructor, are you, indeed, engaging in andragogy with your adult learners? As an educator or designer/developer, are you taking into consideration and incorporating Malcolm Knowles’ six main assumptions of andragogy in your efforts to facilitate effective adult learning?

References

Andragogy. n.d. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved September 10, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/andragogy

Chan, S. (2010). Applications of andragogy in multi-disciplined teaching and learning. Journal of adult education, 39(2), 25-35.

Commission of Professors of Adult Education meeting, April 26, 1957, in Malcolm Knowles Papers, CPAE, box 18, October 1957, Syracuse University Archives.

Reischmann, J. (2005). Andragogy. In L. English (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Adult Education (pp.58-63). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Stewart, D. (1987). What adult education means: Discovering and rediscovering the concept of andragogy. In D. Stewart, Adult learning in America: Eduard Lindeman and his agenda for lifelong education (pp. 103-112). Malabar, Florida: Robert Krieger Publishing.

Self-directed learning is not a new learning strategy as people have been engaging in self-directed learning throughout history. Learning does not necessarily need to take place inside the rigid walls of an institution.  There exists a whole continuum of worthwhile structures that can enable learning, ranging from an instructor-led classroom setting to autonomous independent studies where individuals take control of their own learning.  Formal classroom learning, for most adult learners, is merely the tip of the iceberg. Informal learning, which is usually self-directed as an individual or within groups, is the larger & often undetected mass of the iceberg that is underneath the water. As the British historian, writer and Member of Parliament, Edward Gibbon (1796), pointed out, “every man [person] who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second, more personal and important, from himself [themselves]” (as cited in Candy, 1991, p.14). Indeed, this has been the case for me.

Self-directed learning, both integrated into formal and non-formal settings, has an important part to play in learning. I will share here the definitions of self-directed learning, both in method and in goal, in order to dismiss any confusion over its meanings. I will also present six main reasons why self-directed learning has become a predominant type of learning today around the world. 

Defining Self-Directed Learning

Within my work present context, within the Canadian Armed Forces, self-directed learning aligns well as an aspect within the Self-Development Pillar of the Canadian Armed Forces Professional Development Framework (as illustrated above). This pillar is defined as, “self-initiated training and/or education that refines or further develops an individual’s body of knowledge, intellectual and/or professional skill sets, and attitudes that leads to improving the level of a desired competency or competencies. Self-development is normally done outside of formal professional development activities” (Government of Canada, 2018).

The term “self-directed learning” has been used to describe different things.  Some use the term to describe a method of learning while others use it to mean a goal of someone who is able to learn autonomously without direction.  Under the heading of method, two sub-meanings come into play.  Many see the method of self-directed learning to be a type of formal education where the learner has more control over the learning, such as in university individual study courses, while others see it as a type of learning outside the formal educational setting where a learner can learn on their own in any kind of social setting. 

Self-directed learning, as a goal, is also broken down into two sub-meanings.  The first meaning says that the person has a quality that allows them to learn autonomously.  The second sub-meaning says that the goal achieved is the management of oneself along with the ability and willingness to conduct one’s own education (Candy, 1991).  Although these definitions of self-directed learning are different, they are also connected.  These ideas have all been a very popular topic in recent history for research and discussion amongst Adult Educators. 

Reasons Why Self-Directed Learning Has Become a Predominant Learning Strategy

There are six main reasons, as identified by P. Candy (1991) in his book Self-Direction for Lifelong Learning: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice, to explain why the idea of self-directed learning has come to the forefront.  These six reasons show us why adults and adult educators alike are supporting and encouraging more and more learner-centered and controlled education. 

The first reason, as identified by Candy (1991), for the growing interest in self-directed learning is that it fits well within the democratic ideal that our society holds dear.  Within self-directed learning, the learner has more control over what he/she learns and how he/she learns it.  Self-directed learning is not authoritarian in that the learner must follow the orders of a teacher in a rigid structure.  In self-directed learning, the student participates in all aspects of the course structure and learning process.  Naisbitt (1984) points out that the Western society believes more and more that, “people whose lives are affected by a decision must be a part of the process of arriving at that decision” (as cited in Candy, p. 33).  Teachers often consider themselves more as facilitators than instructors and are more likely to give up some degree of control over course material and learning methods to create more of a democratic learning environment. You may have heard the reference that it is preferable for facilitators to be more of the “guide on the side than the sage on the stage.”

Another reason, according to Candy, for the growing interest in self-directed learning is the growing ideology within society of individualism.  Some cultures see this as a positive thing and some as a negative thing (Leach, 1995, p. 568).  Individualism, where one is more focused on the self and autonomy, can easily be seen in Western cultures.  Although some cultures and ethnic groups continue to focus more on community and group achievements than others, in many cultures today, Keddie (1980) points out, “high status is obtained by competitive individual achievements” (as cited in Candy, p. 35). The fact that achievement is seen as an individual accomplishment rather than a family or community accomplishment and the fact that the benefits tend to stay at the individual level, leads us towards this ever-increasing ideology of individualism.  This can easily be seen in the way that people are learning.  Less sharing in the learning experience is seen and more self-directed learning, often alone, and at home away from the classroom setting, is becoming more and more common.

The third reason that Candy states that self-directed learning is becoming more popular is the concept of egalitarianism.  Within this idea, teacher and students are considered equals.  The teacher may have some extra information regarding a certain subject but both parties can equally contribute to the learning experience.  Lawson (1979, p. 19) points out that teachers and school organizers with egalitarianism in mind, “ought not to impose their own educational and curricular values if they can avoid doing so” (as cited in Candy, p. 37).  From an egalitarianism point of view, all learners should be considered equal; all should have the same learning possibilities and possible benefits.  Self-directed learning fits nicely into this concept since, theoretically, all learners can participate and benefit from self-directed learning. While this is true in theory, in the modern age, however, unequal access to Internet can cause inequalities in accessing the Information Highway that is often used as a conduit to gaining new and up-to-date knowledge.

A fourth reason that self-directed learning has been becoming more popular, according to Candy, is subjective or relativistic epistemology.  In this concept, knowledge is relative.  Knowledge can be different to different people and so, therefore, one instructor can not be said to have the correct or true facts in which they will impart to the students.  What is correct or true for one is not always exactly correct or true to another.  In this view, “the ideal teacher-student relationship bears no resemblance to that of master and apprentice” (Candy, p. 39).  A teacher should act more as a facilitator or a resource person, according to Candy, since knowledge is relative and dependent on the individual and the circumstances and society that surround it.  Within this view, knowledge, in relation to the facilitator/participant relationship, should more be co-constructed. This concept of knowledge being subjective and relative fits well into the idea of self-directed learning.  One who sets out down a path of self-directed learning finds and molds their own truths and their own forms of knowledge. 

The fifth reason, as Candy states, for the increasing attention and support that self-directed learning is receiving is humanism.  Humanism is a word that has become very popular in psychology as well as in education.  Many equate humanism with Maslow’s self-actualization theory.  Education often acts as a means towards a person reaching the highest levels of needs fulfillment, that level called self-actualization.  When Maslow looked at those individuals who had achieved self-actualization, a quality that he found was autonomy and independence.  Autonomy and independence, in terms of education, can inspire self-directed learning.  As a means to help an individual realize their highest potential, self-directed learning is humanistic in its basic levels.  Adult development through self-directed learning is just one of the measures that adults can use to achieve self-actualization.  According to Maslow, all persons are “striving towards health, individual identity and integrity, and autonomy” (as cited in Candy, p. 40).  These humanistic ideas are very prevalent in the goals of self-directed learning.

The final reason that Candy mentions that leads to the popularity of self-directed learning in research and practice in recent history is the construct of adulthood.  In his book, he discusses at what point someone is considered an adult.  Is one an adult when they reach a certain age?  Is the psychological level or level of ability to be autonomous how we decide when one can be considered an adult?  The discussion of whether or not a child can take part in self-directed learning has also been brought forward.  Joblin (1988) points out that, “the myth persists that children must be taught, whereas adults can learn for themselves” (as cited in Candy, p.44).  Whether this would be true or false, these discussions and research around these topics within the field of Adult Education has brought the subject of self-directed learning to the forefront of topics within the field. 

These six reasons, as presented by Candy, have caused the topic of self-directed learning to be on the tongues of adult educators and learners alike.  Teachers, or facilitators as many call themselves, are encouraging and creating more and more opportunities for self-directed learning.  Learners have been stirred by these six reasons to seek out a kind of learning where they can have more control over the curriculum and structure of learning. Today, the opportunities for this, both in formal and in informal settings, abound. 

Concluding Thoughts

Malcolm Knowles, in his assumptions regarding andragogy (aka. adult education) and self-directed learning, said that adults have an, “innate psychological need to be self-directed” (as cited in Leach, 2005, p. 565) and this is one reason for the certain future of self-directed learning. As Combs (1972) states so well, “The world we live in demands self-starting, self-directing citizens capable of independent action.  The world is changing so fast we cannot hope to teach each person what he/she will need to know in twenty years.  Our only hope to meet the demands of the future is the production of intelligent, independent people” (as cited in Candy, p. 47).  Although this quote is now 50 years old, it still rings true and perhaps even more so today. We all must practice our intellectual muscles to know where and how to find and use the information we need to keep pace with the ever-growing complexity of our world and of our workplace. These requirements of our modern world can assure us that self-directed learning, and the skills required to successfully learn on our own, will forever hold an important place in life-long learning methods. 

Self-directed learning can, and should, be a good compliment to traditional education, towards the goal of achieving a society of life-long learners. What journal article, news article from a “link-of-a-link,” blog article, doctrine publication, book chapter, or YouTube video are you exploring today in support of your current learning needs or life-long learning goals?

References

Candy, P. (1991). Self-Direction for Lifelong Learning: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Leach, L. (2005). “Self-Directed Learning”. In L. English, (Ed.) International Encyclopaedia of Adult Education (pp. 565-569). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Government of Canada. (2018). Canadian Armed Forces professional development framework.