Learning Again – Andragogy or Pedagogy? – Unit 2 Reflections

I like making a difference.  Not any difference, a positive one.  I often wonder if I am doing just that.  While I would like to think I am, I think I might have more to offer, and I am trying to discover what that is and how to develop it.  This course, this journey, is part of that road of discovery and sometimes roads like this take you back to review things you have previously considered, and you learn anew.

A familiar, and welcome, part of this weeks’ learning was a video discussing Malcolm Knowles assumptions around adult learning – also called “andragogy”.  This, of course is different than the ideas surrounding “pedagogy” – the assumptions around the learning of children.

Allow me to digress and provide context for my thoughts…  Recently I was at a meeting where I was asked about how we (at work) monitor the assessment outcomes from the assessment we use.  While we have specific benchmarks that have meaning for us, which we always consider, the final answer was “it depends”.  I was a little uncomfortable sharing this because not everyone understands that answering this way is not wishy-washy, it is more about keeping people at the center of the conversation, rather than focusing on just a number.  The numbers help us, but there are several things that I have learned to see within the numbers that lead me to a place where I can make better recommendations around what a learning plan could, or should, look like.  If l lose the “it depends” answer, I lose sight of the fact that the recommendations and expectations I have are placed on real people.  I want to hold on to that.  Those are real people, with real lives, pressures, time concerns and I have to consider that.

Now, go back to adult learning.  I agree that there is a lot of value in Knowles’ assumptions – in fact many of them make sense to me.  And, I believe I understand and subscribe to the concepts around teaching children, but in every case, the real (or maybe full) answer is “it depends”.  How you approach learning for anyone is not only dependent on whether they are a child or an adult, but on how they learn best, what are you trying to teach them, and what is your goal?  If your goal is simply a dissemination of information, then a teacher centered approach makes sense, but that is usually reserved for teaching children (according to pedagogy), so is it appropriate for adults?  Of course, in certain circumstances, when appropriate.  If your goal is a practical skill, then just telling someone what to do and not allowing them do it would not work well, regardless of whether they are a child or an adult.

So, what did I learn this week?  Well, it depends on how you look at it (did you catch that?).  I learned again what I thought I already knew.  Adults are individuals.  We want our learning to be practical and useful; I use my experiences to learn and provide context for greater learning (scaffolding), and I like things to be solved or fixed.  I desire meaning in my learning, which means that while I use the learning assumptions or concepts of both andragogy and pedagogy, I am determined to ensure that I am open to both systems for consideration when I connect with learners.  I believe that openness to both sets of assumptions will benefit learners, more than if I have a set of ideas I must adhere to.  While these concepts all speak well into how we plan and prepare for teaching ESL to those who need the support, a reminder is that they are good places to start and where we go from there, well… it depends… on the learner, the instructor, the circumstance, the need… you get the idea.

References

Brown, D. & Lee, H. (2015)  Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy.  Upper Saddle River: Pearson

Janet Finlay (2010). Andragogy (Adult Learning) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLoPiHUZbEw&feature=youtu.be