Lifelong Learning and Adult Education

The catch word Lifelong Learning is getting more and more attention in Turkey, just like in many parts of the world. Ankara University is one of the few universities in Turkey that offers both MA and PhD studies in the field.

Please go to the following address to find out more about the courses offered by the Educational Sciences Faculty of Ankara University.

http://egitim.ankara.edu.tr/?bil=bil_icerik&icerik_id=153

ANDRAGOGY

The term Andragogy stems from the Greek word aner with the stem andra meaning “man, not boy” or adult, and agogus meaning “leader of.” Therefore, it is suggested to refer to guiding adults learn.

The term was first coined by Alexander Kapp, a German teacher to describe the educational theory of Plato
in 1833. However, it was popularized by Malcolm Knowles who defined the term as " a set of assumptions about adults as learners and a series of recommendations for the planning, management, and evaluation of
adult learning".

 

MALCOLM KNOWLES

Here are the four underlying assumptions of Andragogy according to Knowles:

… 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 role; 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 problem-centeredness. (1980; p.
39)

And here is a lecture on the comparison of Andragogy and Pedagogy  http://www.dancampbell.us/podcast/LTP_Episode-1.mp3