Exploring Andragogy for Corporate Training

Pedagogy and andragogy are vital terms in the broad educational field that impact the learning experience and require unique approaches. While pedagogy is the process of teaching children, andragogy explores the process of teaching adult learners. A pedagogical approach requires a heavy focus on the teacher or instructor to lead dependent learners. In contrast, andragogy takes a learner-centric approach where the adult directs their learning and education. Andragogy also takes the experience and knowledge adults already possess into account when helping them learn a new skill or closing a knowledge gap. 

Andragogical approaches suit adult learners returning to school to gain new skills for their workplace, management training, and corporate training environments. Its paradigm comes from the research of Malcolm Knowles, a figure heavily involved in adult education during the latter part of the 20th century. 

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As you continue reading, you can explore andragogy as a concept, including its corporate context for adult learners, its fundamental principles, and how technology affects contemporary andragogical approaches. 

Understanding andragogy

It helps to understand andragogical approaches as contrasted to pedagogical approaches. Andragogy and pedagogy fork in how they approach the learner, their experience, and how they learn. Let’s compare how andragogy and pedagogy differ:

Pedagogical approaches

• A teacher plans the curriculum while the learner depends on the teacher, learning what they present.

• The flow of knowledge comes from the teacher to the learner, where the learner allows the instructor more direction over the methods used for understanding knowledge.

• Society structures the curriculum based on the age of learners so that they can progress as they age.

• Instructors base learners’ education on understanding subject content through logically organized courses that build on their understanding.

Andragogical approaches

• Adults can take a more self-directed, independent approach to learning where a teacher fosters this process but does not dictate what they learn.

• Adults develop their own experiences and perspectives of the world that help them learn new things by applying various learning experiences from their lives.

• Adult learners want more experience for direct problem-solving or knowledge experiences, looking for teachers to create an environment to foster that growth.

• Adult learning centers on satisfying a particular skill or problem and seeks experience to solve that problem better immediately.

Historical perspective of andragogy

Although you can trace andragogy back to its sporadic use in the 1830s, much of its theoretical underpinnings come from education theorist Malcolm Knowles, who popularized the concept in the early 1970s with his books The Modern Practice of Adult Education (1970) and The Adult Learner (1973). Knowles’s research and experience in adult education led to his landing on andragogy as a critical principle in creating effective adult education. 

Key principles of andragogy

The underpinnings of andragogy come from how adults learn, focusing on why they need to know it, how it helps solve problems, learning through experience, and that they learn best when the knowledge is immediately applied. The following offers a summary of the fundamental principles associated with Knowles’ andragogic learning process:

1. Adults mature from dependent children into independent thinkers, desiring education they help to plan and coordinate. 

2. Adults use their experience to help themselves gain new knowledge, leading to a more natural intuition of new topics. 

3. With the multiplying social roles adults find themselves in, their readiness to learn increases as they have a more pressing need to develop new skills for their jobs, as parents, or as citizens. 

4. Adult learners pursue knowledge for skills they need immediately as problems arise that require a solution to solve them. 

5. Intrinsic motivation to learn develops as adults age, with motivation coming from within instead of from external forces. [1]

Defining andragogy in the corporate context

In a corporate context, andragogy helps structure how learning and development (L&D) teams approach employees when training or providing professional development programs. If they take an andragogical approach, they can re-center the learner and have them take control of how they learn in the workplace. 

While pedagogical approaches commonly center around teaching children, they are popular approaches for teaching learners of all ages with information flowing out of a teacher or lecturer. An andragogical approach centers the learner on taking charge of their learning in corporate training. 

Applying andragogical principles in corporate training

Andragogy has many functional principles as a theoretical approach to adult learning, but how can its methods apply to corporate training? It starts by applying Knowles’ andragogical principles to a corporate training environment. While each principle applies to adult learners, two aspects to focus on in corporate training include:

• Tailoring the experience to adult learners in their work environment. 

• Encouraging self-directed learning. 

Let’s look at how these two aspects apply to Knowles’ andragogical principles in the context of corporate training.

Tailoring learning experiences for adult learners

Tailoring learning experiences for adult learners in the corporate environment means using andragogical principles that center the learner instead of the teacher and utilizing their previous experiences to learn new knowledge. Adult learners need to know that the knowledge applies directly to their lives or, in the case of corporate training, directly to their roles. Center the adult learner by explaining, from the beginning of training, how the knowledge within it directly applies to their job, focusing on solving immediate problems in their workplace. 

Encouraging self-directed learning

Many adult learners want independence in learning, while others still have dependent learning tendencies. However, an andragogical approach strives for self-directed learning, where learners choose the learning path that works best for them. In corporate training, this means creating an environment that fosters self-directed learning by allowing the learner to exercise independent control and having them create and monitor their own goals. 

Self-directed learning also works with the andragogy point of intrinsic motivation, where adult learners have an internal drive to learn to complete their goals or solve immediate problems. In corporate learning, leverage what motivates employees, like taking on new responsibilities, getting promotions, or increasing their earning potential. Creating an environment like this requires independence, socialization of the learning experience, and direct application to the job. 

The role of technology in andragogical training

Technology promotes andragogical training through e-learning methods that center adult learning, giving them an independent learning experience where they can control the time and information they study as needed. Using technology in an andragogical approach includes having self-directed courses, having peer-to-peer feedback, and ensuring multiple methods for learning the same topic, like audio, video, and text. 

Another example is the implementation of microlearning, which uses five to ten minutes of time to learn one skill per lesson. This approach allows adult learners to use time effectively, control their knowledge, and see how each module provides applicable skills. 

Challenges and solutions in andragogical training

Andragogical training points to a theory of learning with a receptive adult learner as the subject. Still, some skepticism toward andragogy might exist in some adult learners in the corporate environment. This skepticism creates some challenges inherent in andragogical training. Let’s examine two challenges and some solutions:

• Overcoming resistance to andragogical methods

• Ensuring accessibility and inclusivity

Overcoming resistance to andragogical methods

Some resistance to andragogical methods comes from past methodologies that adult learners used earlier. It breaks down into two challenges:

• The learner expects teaching to be in a dependent, pedagogical manner. 

• It assumes that adult learners want to self-direct their learning. 

Solutions to these challenges require a practical design that gives learners choices in what format their learning takes and how deep they want to go into each topic. This means creating interactive content in various formats like audio, video, and text with courses they complete at their own pace.  Another solution is to show learners why the skills in a particular training apply to their job immediately to create an immediate desire for them to learn a new skill. 

Ensuring accessibility and inclusivity

When developing andragogical methods for corporate training, it's essential to understand and evaluate adult learners' needs continuously. From the onset of your andragogical learning initiative, ensure accessibility and inclusivity in your strategies. Some examples include:

• Ensure all learners have the same necessary background information through pre-learning assessments. 

• Provide multiple formats, such as audio, video, and text, to provide diverse learning experiences for each learning point. 

• Create online courses where learners learn at their own pace. 

• Offer online and in-person courses and discussions to interact with knowledge and peers in different forms. 

• Create opportunities for learners to evaluate their learning goals and experience with the andragogical approach. 

• Develop a flexible curriculum that works with many learner approaches, taking feedback from the learner’s desire for self-direction and diversity in learning styles. 

Approaching andragogy from the perspective of accessibility and diversity creates an environment that works for all kinds of learners. 

Getting started with Coursera

Each andragogical principle works to create an overall approach for adult learners. The five principles outlined and explored through a corporate training lens create opportunities for L&D departments to create a flexible learning approach. Explore Coursera for Business to find andragogy-focused courses to develop an andragogical methodology for your employees.