PEDAGOGY vs ANDRAGOGY: A Comparison of two Gogy’s

Jasper R. Catanduanes

In a classroom where uniquely different learners are present, one pedagogical practice isn’t enough. A teacher will forcedly innovate various teaching and disciplining styles to monitor and encourage learners and become part of the teachinglearning process.

Common dictionary would define Pedagogy as the art of teaching. Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (2009a, p.42) defines Pedagogy, cited in Child Australia (2017) as the function or work of teaching: the art or science of teaching, education instructional methods.

Another definition from Child Australia includes:

Pedagogy is about learning, teaching and development influenced by the cultural, social and political values we have for children…in Scotland, and underpinned by a strong theoretical and practical base (Education Scotland, 2005, p.9)

Quality teaching is defined as pedagogical practices that facilitate for diverse children their access to knowledge, activities and opportunities to advance their skills in ways that build on previous learning, assist in learning how to learn and provide a strong foundation for further learning in relation to the goals of the early childhood curriculum …‘Te Whariki’ and cultural, community and family values (Farquhar, 2003, 5).

In Pedagogy, the center of the instructional practices is the teacher himself. It impacted the teachers’ discretion on what lessons/concepts are to be learned. Acceptance of content should be reliable. Pedagogy is intended for long-term use and less experience with less ability to serve as a resource. The focus is contentcentered because it has to be book-based. Learning is standardized learning resulting to standardized kind of tests. Little active participation is evident among learners. The physical and social climate is authoritative in nature because the teacher himself will decide of everything. The teacher is the sole responsible of the planning and evaluation stage. External pressures including fear, competition for grades, and the consequences of failure are the motivators because learners are dependent upon the instruction to learning.

On the other hand, Knowles (n.d) cited in The Modern Practice of Adult Education: From Pedagogy to Andragogy, Cambridge Book Company pointed out that Andragogy is premised on 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. These assumptions are that, as a person matures, (1) his self-concept moves from one of being a dependent personality toward one of being a self-directing human being; (2) he accumulates a growing reservoir of experience that becomes an increasing resource for learning; (3) his readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to the developmental tasks of his social roles; and (4) his time perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and accordingly his orientation toward learning shifts from one of subject centeredness to one of problemcenteredness.

In this approach, students are given the opportunities to make choices and/or avail choices available in the instructional room. Surrounded by instructional strategies, behavior, classroom supervision, and contextualization, the students and the teacher will meet halfway in determining better inputs and outputs in the classroom.

Offering choices to students involves them to indicate their preference at specific points in time and throughout their day and then giving them access to the items or activities they choose (Dunlap, 2004).

Student motivation is an important precursor to learning, and therefore, is a meaningful aspect of any successful classroom experience (Pintrich & Schunk,2002).

With Choice-Making Opportunities available, students will feel they are part of the teaching-learning process. Choice Making, as described, is a resource-efficient approach for educators and one that educators will want to implement with fidelity, consistency, and accuracy prior to moving to other strategies or intervention options (Jolivette, et al., 2017).

P.J. Caposey once quoted, "Great teachers focus not on compliance, but on connections and relationships." Indeed, in the classroom, the teacher’s ability to make the learning environment a room for options and choice-making will enable students to actively participate and be proactive in the process of acquiring learning and relearning things. #

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The author is English Teacher at Camachiles National High School, Division

of Mabalacat City, Pampanga.