The key difference between pedagogy andragogy and heutagogy is that pedagogy refers to teaching children or dependent learners, whereas andragogy refers to the principle of teaching adults who are considered as self-directed learners, and heutagogy refers to the principle of managing self-managed learners.
All three approaches, pedagogy, andragogy, and heutagogy, are used in the teaching-learning process. However, there are some distinct differences between these approaches.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Pedagogy
3. What is Andragogy
4. What is Heutagogy
5. Pedagogy vs Andragogy vs Heutagogy in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Pedagogy vs Andragogy vs Heutagogy
What is Pedagogy?
Pedagogy is a teacher-led learning process. It is the theory and practice of learning an academic subject or a theoretical concept. From this method of learning, students are able to gain knowledge and skills in such a way that they can understand. Pedagogical skills are basically divided into classroom management skills and content-related skills. In the pedagogical learning approach, the learner is a dependent personality, and the teacher is the one who decides how, what, and when things are taught.
Learning in a pedagogical context is subject-oriented and focuses on a prescribed syllabus. The teacher plays an active role in the pedagogical context by planning and designing learning materials.
What is Andragogy?
The term andragogy refers to the learning approach for adult learners who are considered self-directed learners. Autonomous and self-direction learning takes place in andragogy. In this approach, adult learners use their own experience and others’ experience in the learning process.
The learning that takes place in andragogy is task or problem-centered. The role of the teacher is passive, and the teacher acts more as a facilitator than a teacher. The motivation of the learners comes through self-esteem and confidence. Self-concept, experience, readiness to learn, orientation to learning, and motivation are some characteristics of andragogy.
What is Heutagogy?
The theory of managing self-learning is known as heutagogy. This theory mainly emphasizes knowing key learning skills of the 21st century. Learners are independent, and they learn through new experiences in the theory of heutagogy. Learners of the heutagogy theory are able to manage their own learning. Although the teacher provides resources for the learning, the learner himself selects the path. Learners use their own experiences as well as others’ experiences in the learning process. Through this adaption, they are able to develop their skills like problem-solving behaviors.
What is the Difference Between Pedagogy Andragogy and Heutagogy?
Although pedagogy, andragogy, and heutagogy are used as learning principles and approaches, there are slight differences between these approaches. Pedagogy focuses on child learning, whereas andragogy involves self-directed adult learning. On the other hand, heutagogy involves self-directed learners. Thus, this is the key difference between pedagogy andragogy and heutagogy. In other words, the learners in pedagogy are dependent learners, but the learners in both andragogy and heutagogy learning approaches are independent learners.
Moreover, both andragogy and heutagogy focus on self-directed learning whereas, in a pedagogical context, the teacher decides what and how to learn. Besides, the learning is subject-centered in the pedagogical context, but in andragogy, adult learning is task or problem-oriented. Meanwhile, in heutagogy approach, the learners use their experiences in problem-solving. Furthermore, another difference between pedagogy andragogy and heutagogy is that the role of the teacher is very active in pedagogy, whereas the teacher plays a passive role as a facilitator in andragogy. However, in heutagogy, teachers develop the capabilities of the learners.
Below is a summary of the difference between pedagogy andragogy and heutagogy in tabular form for side by side comparison.
Summary – Pedagogy vs Andragogy vs Heutagogy
The key difference between pedagogy andragogy and heutagogy is that pedagogy involves child learning, whereas andragogy involves self-directed adult learning, and heutagogy involves managing self-managed learners. All three approaches are used in the teaching-learning process, and they have distinct variations to one another.
Reference:
1. “Pedagogy, Andragogy, and Heutagogy.” University of Illinois, Center for Online Learning, Research and Service.
2. “What Is Andragogy?” Roundtable Learning.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Types of dialogic pedagogy” By Ematusov – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Adult-education-group-classroom” (CC0) via Pixabay