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Pedagogy derives from the Greek paidagogia: the word "paid," means child, and
"agogos," means leader. Thus, pedagogy originally meant education, attendance on
children (etymonline.com).
From this origin the teacher-centered model has been part of the pedagogical model.
The teacher, according to this model has full responsibility for making decisions
about what will be learned, how it will be learned, when it will be learned, and
determining if the material has been learned. Pedagogy, therefore, places the
student in a submissive role.
Pedagogy, or what some people refer to as didactic, has had competition from a
different approach to teaching and learning, a new theory called andragogy.
Andragogy Pedagogy
Learners are called “participants”
Learners are called “students.”
or “learners.”
Independent learning style. Dependent learning style.
Objectives are predetermined and
Objectives are flexible.
inflexible
It is assumed that the learners have It is assumed that the learners are
experience to contribute. inexperienced and/or uninformed.
Passive training methods, such as
Active training methods are used.
lecture, are used.
Learners influence timing and pace. Trainer controls timing and pace.
Participants contribute little to the
Participant involvement is vital.
experience.
Learning is real-life problem-centered. Learning is content-centered.
Participants are seen as primary Trainer is seen as the primary resource
resources for ideas and examples. who provides ideas and examples.
For Knowles, andragogy is premised on at least four crucial assumptions about the
characteristics of adult learners that are different from the assumptions about child
learners on which traditional pedagogy is premised
(http://www.infed.org/lifelonglearning/b-andra.htm). A fifth was added later.
1. Self-concept: As a person matures his self concept moves from one of being a
dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed human being.
By 1984 Knowles had altered his position on the distinction between pedagogy and
andragogy. The child-adult dichotomy became less marked. He claimed, as above,
that pedagogy was a content model and andragogy a process model but the same
criticisms apply concerning his introduction of behaviourist elements. He even
added the fifth assumption: As a person matures the motivation to learn is internal
(1984: 12). Yet while there have been these shifts, the tenor of his work, as Jarvis
(1987b) argues, still seems to suggest that andragogy is related to adult learning and
pedagogy to child learning.
References
Knowles, M. S. (1990) The Adult Learner. A neglected species (4e), Houston: Gulf
Publishing. First appeared in 1973. 292 + viii pages. Surveys learning theory,
andragogy and human resource development (HRD).
http://adultlearnandtech.com/historyal.htm