Ranjit Podder :
Pedagogy and Andragogy are terms used in education used to differentiate the dealings with different age groups of learners. Pedagogy generally means the methods and techniques of dealing with younger group of people and Andragogy is the mode of dealing with the adult learners. How can we differentiate younger and older or adult learners? Usually people having legal right to vote and responsible for own actions are considered to be adult but in the field of education, adult learners are a very diverse group of people usually 25 and older with a wide range of abilities, educational and cultural backgrounds, responsibilities and job experiences. Adult learners are those who come to learn as part of their professional development or to increase employability.
A research report published in a first world country revealed that 92% of the adult learners had knowledge and skills in their field of work but they wanted to improve their skills. Although most undergraduate and postgraduate level students have right to vote, pedagogical concepts are used in dealing with them. On the contrary, if a professionalcome for further study or training, andragogy apply for them; it does not matter what age group they belong to.
Malcolm Knowels, an American practitioner and theorist of adult education defines Andragogy as ‘the art and science of helping adults learn’. However, these two terms are much talked about in the field of teacher education and teacher training all over the world. It is said that adult learners’ learning styles are different from those of the younger learners.
Pedagogy is the science and art of teaching and dealing with younger learners. When we deal with different age group people in teaching and training sessions, obviously we do not behave in the same or similar way. So far as teaching-learning and training is concerned, learning styles differ from age group to age group. Usually, the younger learners want their teachers to feed (clarifying the topics to students) them with information or knowledge and the younger students are more submissive and dependent to their teachers. They always hold teachers responsible for what to learn and how to learn it.
They are usually more obedient and behave as they are asked by their teachers. Teachers are treated as the knowledge givers to the students and usually teachers make ‘meaning’ and students receive the meaning from their teachers.
However, things have started to change; nowadays, teachers are considered to be co-learners, students and teachers make ‘meaning’ together through discussions and debate; teachers are the senior learners only. Nowadays, teachers act as facilitators, not preachers or knowledge givers to students. Even in Bangladesh, teachers and students have started to solve problems together through pair and group work and debate.
Teachers dealing with younger learners will have to remember that students do not have vast experiences and as a result, teachers have to share their experiences to guide what to learn and how to learn.
For the younger learners, learning is a process of acquiring knowledge from prescribed subject maters under the guidance and control of teachers.Younger learners want their teachers to help them in solving an educational problem. Contents are sequenced logically and knowledge is reconstructed on the basis of the information contained in the text or textbooks. Younger learners respect and obey their teachers very much; sometimes they respect their teachers much more than they honour their parents.
Teachers can exploit this obedience to add to the intellectual and humanistic growth of the students.Teachers dealing with younger learners should keep the fact in mind that the pre-adult students are much influenced by external stimuli.
On the other hand, adult learning is a vast and complicated area and trainers have to be careful in dealing with the participants as well as the contents to be taught. Adult learning specialists claim that there are some principles that need to keep in in mind in teaching and training adult learners: i) adults are internally motivated and self-directed; ii) adults connect lived experiences and knowledge while learning; iii) adults are goal oriented and they are interested in matters that will help them to perform in their professional life; iv) they always search for relevancy of the contents and contexts rather than subject matter; v) adult learners having huge volume and quality experiences are more inclined to realistic and practical matters, not to theoretical things; vi) adults are more aware of self-esteem and love to be respected; vii) senior learners are organized and motivated and want to work in their own way and pace; and viii) adult learners are not usually interested in the use of technology and sometimes it is difficult for them to accept new ideas and changes.
Teachers teaching younger and older learners must consider the stated factors in order to run the sessions smoothly and effectively. Unless the teachers and the trainers keep these in mind, there may lurk a danger to create an unhappy environment hampering the total environment of the training. As the adult learners gather together with a variety of rich and poor experiences, trainers should never try to present themselves as someone superior to the participants because of their experience and higher qualifications and training at home and abroad.
Unless the trainer is asked by the participants to tell their qualifications, it is wise to hide them because there might be some participants much more qualified and experienced than the trainers or the trainees may feel mean with less qualification. The best way to deal with these kinds of participants is to recognize their expertise and use their knowledge and skills to enrich the training sessions.
The trainers will have to be more submissive to the adult trainees as like as the fruit-laden branches lower down towards the ground. Possessing these kinds of attitudes towards the trainees increases the trainers’ honour among the participants;I have learnt it from my 18 years of teacher education and teacher training experiences.
Knudson (1980) proposed that instead of using pedagogy and andragogy, the term ‘humanagogy’should be used as this term encompasses the both.
It does not matter whether the term is pedagogy or andragogy or humanagogy, we the teachers and the trainers will have to be careful in dealing with both the younger and the adult learners. We will have to remember that we, the trainers and the participants, are learning together from each other. Although there are some scopes for feedingyounger students, we will have to throw questions to the adult learners; as trainers we need to elicit answers, check it with other participants, and then can give our opinions; it is not always like that, others will accept my opinions; some or all may differ.
The adult learners learn in their own styles and time; they do not, in most cases, accept trainers’ opinions or prescribed way of learning. That is why in adult teaching, the participants’ experiences are valued than the theories. Hopefully, if the stated factors are followed by teachers, teacher educators, and trainers, it will be easier for them to handle both the younger and the adult learners.
Pedagogy and Andragogy are terms used in education used to differentiate the dealings with different age groups of learners. Pedagogy generally means the methods and techniques of dealing with younger group of people and Andragogy is the mode of dealing with the adult learners. How can we differentiate younger and older or adult learners? Usually people having legal right to vote and responsible for own actions are considered to be adult but in the field of education, adult learners are a very diverse group of people usually 25 and older with a wide range of abilities, educational and cultural backgrounds, responsibilities and job experiences. Adult learners are those who come to learn as part of their professional development or to increase employability.
A research report published in a first world country revealed that 92% of the adult learners had knowledge and skills in their field of work but they wanted to improve their skills. Although most undergraduate and postgraduate level students have right to vote, pedagogical concepts are used in dealing with them. On the contrary, if a professionalcome for further study or training, andragogy apply for them; it does not matter what age group they belong to.
Malcolm Knowels, an American practitioner and theorist of adult education defines Andragogy as ‘the art and science of helping adults learn’. However, these two terms are much talked about in the field of teacher education and teacher training all over the world. It is said that adult learners’ learning styles are different from those of the younger learners.
Pedagogy is the science and art of teaching and dealing with younger learners. When we deal with different age group people in teaching and training sessions, obviously we do not behave in the same or similar way. So far as teaching-learning and training is concerned, learning styles differ from age group to age group. Usually, the younger learners want their teachers to feed (clarifying the topics to students) them with information or knowledge and the younger students are more submissive and dependent to their teachers. They always hold teachers responsible for what to learn and how to learn it.
They are usually more obedient and behave as they are asked by their teachers. Teachers are treated as the knowledge givers to the students and usually teachers make ‘meaning’ and students receive the meaning from their teachers.
However, things have started to change; nowadays, teachers are considered to be co-learners, students and teachers make ‘meaning’ together through discussions and debate; teachers are the senior learners only. Nowadays, teachers act as facilitators, not preachers or knowledge givers to students. Even in Bangladesh, teachers and students have started to solve problems together through pair and group work and debate.
Teachers dealing with younger learners will have to remember that students do not have vast experiences and as a result, teachers have to share their experiences to guide what to learn and how to learn.
For the younger learners, learning is a process of acquiring knowledge from prescribed subject maters under the guidance and control of teachers.Younger learners want their teachers to help them in solving an educational problem. Contents are sequenced logically and knowledge is reconstructed on the basis of the information contained in the text or textbooks. Younger learners respect and obey their teachers very much; sometimes they respect their teachers much more than they honour their parents.
Teachers can exploit this obedience to add to the intellectual and humanistic growth of the students.Teachers dealing with younger learners should keep the fact in mind that the pre-adult students are much influenced by external stimuli.
On the other hand, adult learning is a vast and complicated area and trainers have to be careful in dealing with the participants as well as the contents to be taught. Adult learning specialists claim that there are some principles that need to keep in in mind in teaching and training adult learners: i) adults are internally motivated and self-directed; ii) adults connect lived experiences and knowledge while learning; iii) adults are goal oriented and they are interested in matters that will help them to perform in their professional life; iv) they always search for relevancy of the contents and contexts rather than subject matter; v) adult learners having huge volume and quality experiences are more inclined to realistic and practical matters, not to theoretical things; vi) adults are more aware of self-esteem and love to be respected; vii) senior learners are organized and motivated and want to work in their own way and pace; and viii) adult learners are not usually interested in the use of technology and sometimes it is difficult for them to accept new ideas and changes.
Teachers teaching younger and older learners must consider the stated factors in order to run the sessions smoothly and effectively. Unless the teachers and the trainers keep these in mind, there may lurk a danger to create an unhappy environment hampering the total environment of the training. As the adult learners gather together with a variety of rich and poor experiences, trainers should never try to present themselves as someone superior to the participants because of their experience and higher qualifications and training at home and abroad.
Unless the trainer is asked by the participants to tell their qualifications, it is wise to hide them because there might be some participants much more qualified and experienced than the trainers or the trainees may feel mean with less qualification. The best way to deal with these kinds of participants is to recognize their expertise and use their knowledge and skills to enrich the training sessions.
The trainers will have to be more submissive to the adult trainees as like as the fruit-laden branches lower down towards the ground. Possessing these kinds of attitudes towards the trainees increases the trainers’ honour among the participants;I have learnt it from my 18 years of teacher education and teacher training experiences.
Knudson (1980) proposed that instead of using pedagogy and andragogy, the term ‘humanagogy’should be used as this term encompasses the both.
It does not matter whether the term is pedagogy or andragogy or humanagogy, we the teachers and the trainers will have to be careful in dealing with both the younger and the adult learners. We will have to remember that we, the trainers and the participants, are learning together from each other. Although there are some scopes for feedingyounger students, we will have to throw questions to the adult learners; as trainers we need to elicit answers, check it with other participants, and then can give our opinions; it is not always like that, others will accept my opinions; some or all may differ.
The adult learners learn in their own styles and time; they do not, in most cases, accept trainers’ opinions or prescribed way of learning. That is why in adult teaching, the participants’ experiences are valued than the theories. Hopefully, if the stated factors are followed by teachers, teacher educators, and trainers, it will be easier for them to handle both the younger and the adult learners.
(The writer is an Associate Professor currently posted at Teachers’ Training College, Dhaka currently participating in ACEM course at NAEM, Dhaka. He can be reached at email: [email protected])
