Andragogy is simply the art and science of teaching adults.
Malcolm Knowles (1913–1997), an educational theorist, introduced this term to show that adults learn differently from children.
As an example, picture this: you’ve just taught a child to bake a cake. You offered encouragement, let them make a mess, and maybe even bribed them with a treat to mix the flour and sugar. Would you take the same approach with an adult? Probably not.
Adults come with years of experience, their own motivation to learn and a knack for questioning everything – ‘Why are we doing this?’. They want to learn things that matter to them. If what they’re learning doesn’t directly apply to their job, life, or latest DIY project, they’ll tune out faster than you can say ‘PowerPoint’.
Principles of andragogy
Andragogy has its own set of principles tailored to adult learners, and these are different from pedagogy principles, which focus on how children learn.
1. Self-concept
Unlike children, who rely heavily on educators for guidance, adults are more motivated when they can set their own goals and have input into how they learn. In designing learning experiences, the self-concept principle involves empowering adult learners to define their learning objectives, choose the problems they want to tackle, select their learning paths, and manage their own learning pace.
2. Experience
Adults bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table, which is a valuable resource for their learning.
They often have well-formed opinions and ideas that influence their learning preferences and needs. With developed problem-solving, reasoning and reflection skills, adults are equipped to learn effectively by tackling real-world problems. Incorporating real-world scenarios and problem-solving activities into a learning experience allows learning designers to leverage adults’ backgrounds, making the content more relevant and engaging.
3. Readiness to learn
Adults are ready to learn when they recognise that new knowledge will help them meet a specific need. This readiness is often tied to real-life tasks or challenges they face, whether at work or in their personal lives.
For instance, you might decide to learn how to bake a cake after committing to making one for a friend’s party, only to realise your current skills are closer to burnt toast those of a baking champion. As a learning designer, it’s crucial to align learning experiences with adults’ immediate needs and goals to boost engagement, motivation and the overall effectiveness of the learning process.
4. Orientation to learning
Adult learning is problem-centred. Adults are motivated to learn when they see the immediate relevance of the knowledge or skills being taught.
If you enrol in an online course to learn how to bake a birthday cake, you’ll likely skim through the content, looking for practical, hands-on tips to get the job done. You don’t need any fluff; you want concise, relevant information that is carefully selected and sequenced to ensure you can successfully bake your cake by the end of the course.
5. Motivation
While children are often motivated by external factors such as grades or praise from authority figures, adults are usually driven by internal motivations such as personal satisfaction, self-esteem and improving their quality of life. As a learning designer, it’s crucial to ensure the learning experience is relevant and meaningful and fosters a sense of achievement and fulfilment.
Andragogy – top of mind
Keep Knowles’ five principles of adult learning: self-concept, experience, readiness to learn, orientation to learning and motivation—at the top of your mind when designing learning experiences that hit the sweet spot at the intersection of effectiveness, efficiency and engagement.
Where andragogy is applied
Face-to-face, blended or eLearning—no matter the delivery mode, the principles of andragogy are essential.
Learning designers integrate andragogy into every piece of educational content, ensuring that adult learners receive the knowledge and skills they need for professional development, compliance training and more.
Experience andragogy in action by exploring our online eLearning product demo videos, or request a personalised one-to-one educational content or LMS demonstration.
