Adult Education - Andragogy

姝 Academy of Management Learning & Education, 2006, Vol. 5, No. 1, 113–122.

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It’s Called Andragogy STEPHEN PAUL FORREST III Hertford College, University of Oxford TIM O. PETERSON Texas A&M University Despite radical changes in teaching assumptions, management educators have continued to use the archaic term pedagogy to describe their work. The word pedagogy refers specifically to children and assumptions for teaching children. Thus, pedagogy does not encompass the needs of adults common in management classrooms today. To ensure congruence with the emerging management teaching methods, we advocate adoption of the term andragogy. Such a word focuses on the adult learner and creation of an independent, adaptable individual. Underpinning andragogy are four assumptions regarding learning: a self-directing self-concept; use of experience; a readiness to learn; and a performance-centered orientation to learning. Management educators already use techniques that take advantage of these andragogical assumptions. Adoption of the term andragogy would align the philosophy of management educators with the current dynamic instructional strategies already in use.

........................................................................................................................................................................ does not seem to fit within the context of an article examining management learning choices. The authors of the inaugural article advocated incorporating student feelings and interests in the learning process (Clair, MacLean, & Greenberg, 2002). However, such goals totally contradict pedagogy’s thrust. Pedagogy is not learner-centered (Knowles, 1977). It focuses on the subject matter to be learned and what the instructor knows (Nottingham Andragogy Group, 1983). Pedagogy’s philosophy ignores what students bring to the learning experience in favor of predetermined course content (Knowles, 1980). The neglect for the needs and desires of the learner does not mesh with the new approaches surfacing in management education. However, fault for such word choice does not lie with the authors, nor is it limited to them. The article displays the symptoms of a greater problem within the field of management education. Management education may have started a shift to a more learner-centered approach, but using “pedagogy” shows that the field’s mind-set still views students as dependent children rather than independent adults. In fact, all issues of the Journal of Management Education have used the term “pedagogy” or “pedagogical.” While the subjectcentered, child-oriented term is used, most management education articles do not look at children. Instead the field of management education currently examines how teachers can incorporate stu-

Change is afoot in management education. Old models of a management professor lecturing from the front of a classroom no longer meet the needs of the ever-shifting world. As business structures become flatter, individuals within groups must become more self-sufficient and better able to solve their own problems. The field of management education has responded to such changes with increasingly dynamic instructional strategies and methods that seek to better prepare individuals for the business world. Even with these dynamic changes, it is ironic that an article in the inaugural issue of the Academy of Management Learning & Education prominently featured the concepts of “pedagogy” and “pedagogical choices” (Clair, MacLean, & Greenberg, 2002). Pedagogy is an archaic term that the ancient Greeks utilized to describe the education of children. Lackluster linguistics has required stretching pedagogy so that the term encompasses all education. Despite this modern mutilation of meaning, the term pedagogy still retains its ancient core assumptions about teaching children. Yet, management education does not seek to work with children; it attempts to educate adults and pre-adults. Thus, the child-oriented term pedagogy

We would like to thank Claudette M. Peterson for her thoughtful and insightful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. 113

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dent contributions and actions into the learning experience. Management educators have moved beyond the philosophy of pedagogy to a more learner-centered outlook, but they still use the child-oriented term to describe their work. Although management education has made significant changes in its philosophical approach and instructional strategies, few educators understand why the new methods are more effective than the old. In this situation, the management educator understands that the educational technique works but does not understand why it works. Much like a business that doesn’t understand why its business model is effective, lack of comprehension stifles ingenuity and innovation.

Management education may have started a shift to a more learner-centered approach, but using “pedagogy” shows that the field’s mind-set still views students as dependent children rather than independent adults. Thus, the field exists as a paradox. On one hand, teachers yearn to find methods that incorporate students’ interests. This inclusion has occurred because management educators have responded to the calls to produce students who can apply what they know. Modern management requires the practical implementation of skills learned, not regurgitation of principles. Without implementation knowledge, students cannot adapt to the everchanging workplace. On the other hand, management education still uses the subject-centered, child-oriented, and nondynamic term, pedagogy. Instead of preparing students to work on their own, a pedagogical mind-set simply looks to fill empty, passive minds with the instructor’s knowledge. Thus, a pedagogical way of viewing education directly counters the new management teaching methods which are focused on learning for application and work in the adult world. In the current situation, the term pedagogy acts like a shackle holding management education to past notions of learning. Using pedagogy unconsciously binds management educators to principles of learning developed for children. In the face of such imprisonment, employers require, students yearn for, and instructors attempt to construct new ways of helping future workers learn both the theory and practicality of management. Liberation from the old notions might lie in a single word: andragogy. Differing from pedagogy, the term andragogy assumes that students are the principle

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players in the teaching–learning transaction. Management educators must focus on implementing andragogy and an andragogical mind-set in order to be congruent with the field’s new educational direction.

In the current situation, the term pedagogy acts like a shackle holding management education to past notions of learning. WHAT IS ANDRAGOGY? At first blush, the word andragogy may seem simply like a modified version of pedagogy. Indeed, they share the same root—gogy—a Greek word for leading. In modern times, this has been modified to mean teaching, or instruction. However, similarities between the two terms end with a common linguistic root. “Peda” translates as child, making pedagogy the art and science of teaching children (Simpson & Weiner, 1989). However, “andra” is a form of the word adult. Thus, andragogy literally means the art and science of teaching adults. In the andragogical sense, adults are those individuals who have taken on adult roles in society, whether they are the 16-year-old mother or the 87-year-old retiree. Darkenwald and Merriam (1982) posit that an adult is someone who has assumed the primary social role of worker, spouse, or parent and has left the principal social role of full-time student that children and adolescents hold. In simple terms, pedagogy is oriented to teaching children and their characteristics. By comparison, andragogy is dedicated to teaching humans who perform socially productive roles and have assumed primary responsibility for their own lives. Thus, while pedagogy focuses on issues of children, the andragogical mind-set puts primacy on the issues of application of knowledge to real life. The term andragogy dates back to 19th century Europe. In Germany, Alexander Kapp developed the term to denote a changed view that adults learned differently (Nottingham Andragogy Group, 1983). The term fell into disuse until Eugen Rosenback revived it in 1921 at a Frankfurt conference. By the 1960s educators and trainers widely used the term in France, Yugoslavia, and Holland. Contemporary use of the term developed from the works of Malcolm Knowles. Though first introduced in 1968, it came into widespread use in 1970 with Knowles’ publishing of The Modern Practice of Adult Education: Andragogy Versus Pedagogy.

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Knowles’ use of andragogy unified the adult education field of study by providing a rallying point and separating the adult education principles from those of children. While accepted by many teachers, andragogy was refined based on criticism from other adult educators. Knowles had stated that a teacher was either pedagogical or andragogical (Knowles, 1977). However, educators described situations where Knowles’ andragogy was used in pre-adult populations with effectiveness. For this reason, Knowles (1980) revised the relationship between the two terms in the 1980 edition of his book. In the new edition of The Modern Practice of Adult Education, he defined the relationship as a spectrum ranging from the subject-centered pedagogy to the learner-centered andragogy. Table 1 shows the underlying assumptions for these two different philosophies. Neither andragogy nor pedagogy is a teaching technique. Instead they are the philosophy that a teacher looks to for guidance. Both philosophies examine the foundational goals of teaching. By comparison, the term instructional strategy denotes the methods whereby specific knowledge is conveyed within the philosophical framework. Thus, instructional strategies are neither pedagogical nor andragogical; both philosophies can and do use all strategies. However, the way pedagogy uses such strategies differs greatly from an andragogical implementation. Thus, management educators who move to andragogical teaching may find that they use many of their old instructional strategies in new and different ways. Changing from a pedagogical lecture to an andragogical lecture does not require writing new speaking notes, but rather a new approach to when and how an instructor should use the lecture method. Figure 1

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shows the link between philosophy and instructional strategies. When the term was introduced in the field of adult education, andragogy solved the problem of conflicted terms and methods. Similar to management education, adult education faced a conflict of learner-centered methods and the subject-centered assumptions defined by the term pedagogy. Methods may change but if the paradigm that the teacher works in does not shift, effective instruction is difficult. For example, use of a noncollaborative, multiple-choice test to assess interpersonal skills is counterproductive as well as highly ironic. Implementation of instructional methods and the teaching assumptions need to match. If management educators wish to use methods in a learnercentered way, they need to have more than good intentions; they need a learner-centered philosophical outlook. The practice of an andragogical teaching approach recognizes and solves this problem by assembling a learner-centered paradigm congruent with learner-centered methods. A pedagogical teaching paradigm is predicated upon the concept of dependency. Students are assumed to know little. Thus, the instructors provide pupils with the necessary information. Students do not know what they need to learn until the instructor provides them with the necessary information. Pedagogy results in a pupil who is reliant on the instructor. Such a philosophy is consistent with Palmer’s (1998) objectivist myth of finding the truth. By comparison, the andragogical teaching paradigm assumes the relationship between the teacher and the student is similar to that of traveler and guide (Knowles, 1977). The student knows the destination and has prior experiences in traveling. The teacher provides direction and allows students to make use of their experiences and seek

TABLE 1 Pedagogical Andragogical Learning Assumption Pedagogy Self-Concept

Learner’s Experience

Readiness to Learn

Learning Orientation

Learners are dependent on external sources such as an instructor to assess and provide their needs. Learners bring little experience to the educational activity and thus experience is not used in the learning process. The need to know develops from external forces; often an instructor mandating the learning process that should take place. Subject or Teacher Centered

Andragogy Learners are aware of themselves and their needs and bring this knowledge to the educational activity. Learners bring a wealth of usable experience and knowledge to the educational activity, thus experience is used in the learning process. The need to know develops from an internal need to better address roles and responsibilities the learner faces.

Problem or Performance Centered

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FIGURE 1 Philosophy and Instructional Strategies

new information. However, in andragogy, the instructor would not be considered simply a conveyer of information. They are mentors and guides who help the students develop. For this reason, andragogy is considered a learner-centered educational paradigm. The final goal of andragogy develops humans capable of adaptation, free inquiry, and self-sufficiency. The instructor becomes less important to the personal learning of the student as the educational process continues. This outlook is constant with Palmer’s (1998) community of truth. Andragogy’s underpinnings exist in a set of assumptions regarding the teaching–learning transaction. Knowles (1977) originally defined four such assumptions: 1. Adults have a self-concept of a self-directing personality; 2. Adults bring a wealth of experience to the learning process; 3. Adults come to the learning process ready to learn; and 4. Adults are oriented toward immediate application of learned knowledge.

Knowles (1984, 1989) later added two addition assumptions: 5. Adults need to know the reason for learning something;

6. Adults are driven by intrinsic motivation to learn.

However, these last two assumptions have been accepted to varying degrees by educators and are often not included with the original core four. The teaching techniques used in management education already display an understanding of andragogical assumptions, but the field as a whole has yet to incorporate a true andragogical mind-set. The omission of andragogy in favor of pedagogy hobbles the emerging learner-centered focus in management education.

ANDRAGOGICAL ASSUMPTIONS Self-Directed Learners Unlike children, adult learners are not defined by their roles as students but rather by the various identities they must use to live their lives. For example, one of the first questions often asked of a child is “What grade are you in?” The inquiry specifically focuses on the year as a student. The foundation for the question is the assumption in Western society that children must be students. Adults live with a different set of standards. Instead of assuming that they are students, society sees an adult as a worker, a provider, or a member of the

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community. Thus, the first question for an adult often addresses the employment of the person or familial makeup. Adults incorporate such an assumption into their self-concepts. The student or learner parts of their identities are not primary. Instead, they are parents, spouses, or workers before they are students. Each identity requires at least a modicum of responsibility. Thus, the myriad of diverse roles requires adults to become responsible, self-directing individuals. An adult learner may work as an employee, may shoulder parental responsibility, and may accept the duties of a citizen. As adults voluntarily choose to enter the educational world, they do not leave these other identities behind. Rather, they bring all of their personalities and the accompanying selfdirecting, self-concept with them into the classroom. Thus, as responsible individuals, adults naturally seek to direct their own educational experience. Teachers who accept the andragogical assumptions see such learner self-direction as valid and natural. Andragogical educators respect the adult learners they teach as individuals with a desire to personally direct learning. For example, allowing adult learners in a management class to pick their own readings based on the competence they want to develop during the semester would be a good example of self-directed learning. However, students are often wary of such an open teaching philosophy. Adult learners have often faced years of pedagogical schooling that has placed them in dependant roles that would threaten an adult selfdirecting self-concept. These past experiences can make adult learners wary of new educational experiences (Kidd, 1959). Andragogically oriented teachers must overcome this challenge and show students that a self-directing persona is valid, acceptable, and often needed in the learning process. The andragogical assumption regarding the self-directing self-concept has deep roots in management education. The belief that students should be considered partners in the educational process is one of the most prominent concepts in the field (Bilimoria, 2000). Indeed, many management teaching methods develop from this basic assumption that students should have an active role in the classroom. Management educators already claim that the nurturing of the learner’s self-direction through student partnerships in the education process should take as many forms as possible. Teachers can work with students in order to design a course, implement instructional strategies, and decide on assessment methods. In such a system, communi-

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cation between the instructor and the learner should flow freely. One idea to facilitate such a process implements a student ombudsperson. This student conveys suggestions of fellow students directly to the teacher at an informal level (Herring & Mendleson, 1999). Such a relation rests on a fundamental respect between the students and the teacher. Communication regarding instructional content and methods allows students to become partners in the management education process rather than passive receptors. The concept of increased communication between the learner and the instructor readies the students for work in the flatter organizational structures that are emerging in the world of business. In the andragogical model, such active students allow the teacher to help students develop as total humans. Such a total human concept transcends only conveying information. Traits such as leadership require more than knowledge of skills; they require characteristics such as conviction and will (Gallos, 1997). Teachers cannot teach conviction. However, they can empower students to develop such characteristics. Such empowerment possibilities develop from trust among partners in the educational endeavor (Eylon & Herman, 1999). Andragogy fosters such trust and empowerment by respecting the students’ abilities to direct their own lives and educational endeavors. Thus, the andragogical classroom mirrors the world outside of the school where students must make basic ethical and moral choices that will impact themselves and the organizations in which they work. In addition to trust, an andragogical management teacher, like a good manager, attempts to cultivate self-awareness in students. People who understand themselves may more effectively help others. Similarly, good mangers need to understand themselves in order to effectively help others (Caproni & Arias, 1997). However, development of such self-awareness can only occur when the teacher sees the students as having the ability to internalize the information, reflect on it, and make changes within themselves. When management educators believe students can actively assess themselves, they may facilitate students’ awareness of their own strengths and shortcomings (Rivera, 1999). The emphasis on diverse roles that breed the self-awareness and self-assessment in students has not always been a high priority. Traditionally, educators often think of such roles as distinct and separate from the learning process. Without a doubt, the organizational context and positions of a class and a workplace are different even if a management class may mimic a management sit-

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uation (Pitt & Simms, 1998). Being a student is not the same as being an employee. Customarily, educators have overcome such differences by banishing the nonstudent identities from the classroom. Rather than seeing such differences as an obstacle, the andragogical management educator will seek to incorporate such identities into class. One way of accomplishing the integration places management students in the elementary schools in order to teach business concepts to grade school children (Falkenberg, Russell, & Ricker, 2000). By teaching children, management students need to distill basic ideas and make them understandable to the very young. Thus, by assuming the role of both teacher and elder, management students must review their own knowledge and find what information must be understood. Such a situation utilizes the status and roles of adult students in the educational process rather than avoiding them. The technique also readies students for a world where, increasingly, the best leaders are found to be teachers (Tichy, 1997). Experience Andragogy is predicated on the belief that during the span of living, humans accumulate experience. The collective experiences become an individual’s identity and from that foundation, humans create their self-image. Thus, in a very real way, adults are what they have done. From an andragogical perspective, education builds on, examines, and expands the base of experience. Students bring applicable knowledge and skills to the learning process. They seek to fill the gaps of knowledge in their experience base. By comparison, pedagogy is predicated on students having a very limited amount of experience. This concept developed from children’s quantitative lack of experience due to their age. Thus, pedagogy concentrates not on learning from experience, but instead on instituting an experience base. Because andragogical teachers assume learners have experiences, use of such experiential knowledge is necessary for the education process to be effective. Experience becomes a textbook. Teachers strive to relate the content of the class to the experiences of the learner, and thereby, make the teaching relevant to the student. To not use such a reservoir of experience would waste the learners’ potential expertise. Involving experience makes learners active participants in the education process. They no longer assume a passive role. Such an active student allows a teacher to further break out of the role as conveyer of knowledge and be-

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come a guide and mentor. Indeed, management educators who begin to utilize an andragogical outlook may find students demanding less recitation of raw information and more knowledge placed in the context of experience. Congruent with the andragogical philosophy, management educators recognize that students can use their experiences to further the educational process. Indeed, various exercises have been developed to utilize and extend what the student already knows by way of experience (Neal, Schor, & Sabiers, 1998; Mello, 2000; Waddock, 1999). The attractiveness of using experience lies in the ease with which students can tackle new information. Instead of attempting to build something completely new, teachers make connections between the new information and what students already know (Sankowsky, 1998). In a time organizations demand quick adaptation, cultivating experiential techniques gives students another method to cope with a dynamic world. Additionally, teaching using experience can be extremely effective in a classroom with a range of ages. Shaw and Fisher (1999) remarked that 18- and 19-year-olds did not have the sufficient experiential knowledge to make practical application of knowledge learned in a traditional lecture. However, teachers can facilitate learning in the preadult students by having more experienced students tie together the theoretical and practical (Brumagim, 1999). This technique also introduces future managers to the realities of dealing with diverse groups, a commonality in the business world. Use of experience also facilitates the student’s role as an active participant. Researchers have widely acknowledged that learning is enhanced when student experience is used in the classroom (Mallinger, 1998). Indeed, students who are active and feel their experience being utilized have a reason to be engaged in the learning process. They may stop being passive students and start to become partners or clients in the management educational experience (Bailey, 2000; Ferris, 2002). Management educators can enhance the use of experience in the learning process by providing situations that allow the students to reflect on occurrences. One method that integrates reflection on experience and the learning process in a formal educational setting occurs through role-play (Cupit & Isles, 1999). In this teaching method, students assume a role in a fictional setting in order to use their knowledge and skills (Cousins, 1999). The classroom becomes a laboratory where prior experiences and learned knowledge come together. Students can act, see the results of what they do,

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reflect, revise their assumptions, and attempt further implementation. As an additional bonus, the reflection process helps the more experienced students to see what they already know and where they need further information. Readiness to Learn As previously mentioned, adults have a variety of identities apart from being a student. Society has thrust the roles of citizen, parent, friend, worker, and leader on to them. Each role has certain requirements and responsibilities for the adult. From the adult’s perspective, responding to the needs of these identities requires learning to become better prepared to fulfill the obligations. Thus, adults will learn about concepts that have applicability to them. Conversely they will find little interest in ideas that are not relevant to them. Life roles determine an adult’s readiness to learn. For example, a single, childless adult may have little reason to learn about care for infants. No obvious reason exists for them to exert effort in learning something that may or may not be applicable. However, if they are expecting to become a parent or caregiver for an infant, such knowledge becomes relevant. The readiness to learn has changed, and the adult may want to find out about the area of knowledge. Similarly a newly promoted manager may have had little interest in learning about giving performance feedback when holding a nonmanagement position. However, such an individual can be eager to learn such information because the knowledge has relevance once the individual is promoted to a management position. Thus, teachers of adults must be able to contextualize issues that need to be learned. When no immediate reason to learn a subject exists, teachers must demonstrate the importance of such information. In addition, teachers using andragogical approaches must be willing to modify class schedules to incorporate issues the students find important. For example not to talk of crisis management in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 would neglect heightened student interests. Such a discussion could demand a reordering of the scheduled teaching exercises. However, from an andragogical perspective, the effort involved is the natural response to a teachable moment and promotes an unparalleled opportunity for learning. Management educators using the andragogical approach see the unexpected not as an interfering problem but as an invaluable possibility. Management education has addressed the concept of readiness to learn in different ways. For example, management educators have long seen

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the need to make things relevant to their students. Without relevance, students feel little reason to engage in the learning process. With relevance, students become active, willing participants in their own education (Bilimoria, 1998a; Kolb, 1999; Ryland, 1998). Teachers who attempt to find what is important to their students will find learners who willingly participate (Barclay & York, 1996). In crafting programs relevant to students, management educators often seek issues analogous to business situations. Because most students learn in order to more effectively work, they are ready to learn about concepts that they can immediately apply in the workplace. It can be a challenge for an instructor to develop ways of showing how theoretical ideas can be actively applied (Barbuto, 2000). However, even activities that approximate real-life situations will help students; learners can still use the precepts of an activity, even if they do not directly apply to their situation (Egri, 1999). In order to utilize the students’ readiness to learn, teachers need to create environments where student interests are free to surface. To accomplish such atmospheres, the teacher may construct a matrix of inquiry, where students’ concerns regarding what knowledge they need can be expressed with ease (French, 1997). One effective way of doing this is the role-play, where students can see in a nonthreatening situation how concepts apply to them (Kern, 2000; Silver, Howard, & Clouse, 1999). Another method, mentoring, links students and professionals. This relationship enables students to see how classroom learning applies in the business world (Schlee, 2000). Through such a process, students can expand their topics of interest and thus the areas of intellectual exploration. Orientation to Learning Closely related to readiness to learn is the orientation to learning. From the andragogical point of view, adults learn because they need to address issues in their lives. Thus, they enter the learning process from a performance-centered or problemcentered mind-set. They seek information immediately applicable to their life tasks. Such a perspective differs greatly from the pedagogical assumptions. For children, learning is assumed to prepare pupils for something in the future. The application of information is delayed. Thus, the teaching is not to specific application but rather only to impart raw knowledge. Conversely, teachers using andragogical methods must demonstrate the implementation of classroom precepts in a real-life situation. Teaching an economic principle is meaningless until students

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understand how they can implement the concept on the job. Showing how to use what is being learned is as important as the actual process of learning. Most students in management want to use their knowledge in the workplace. Thus, the orientation to learning of most students tends toward concepts and activities that enhance understanding of the workplace, its problems, and potential solutions. Learning about the workplace mandates the teacher use nonclassroom occurrences to further the educational process (Bilimoria, 1998a). Only by incorporating the world outside the classroom can students gain a realistic look at the business world. Andragogical management educators see the issues confronting businesses outside of academia as integral to the learning inside their classroom. Many organizational and business problems have no single solution or correct answer. Some issues exist that will never be resolved (Lewis & Dehler, 2000). Traditional pedagogy has sought to avoid such nonresolution situations, because in these the instructor, as a font of knowledge, no longer has control over the classroom. However, like andragogy, management education tackles such issues with problemitization. In problemitization, a real issue is identified, the context that surrounds it is investigated, and possible outcomes are examined (Jabri, 1997). While welcome, solutions are not necessary. Instead, the process of examination is emphasized. Thus, the unresolvable issue becomes the foundation for learning rather than an obstacle. The process may develop managers who can resist the debilitating effect of groupthink, which causes individuals within organizations to look at the same problem the same way. One of the most effective ways of showing management students the challenges of the real world is just-in-time teaching. In such a method, students solve actual problems for businesses (Watson & Temkin, 2000). The businesses define the issues and the students must deliver for the business much as they would for a client. Thus, just-in-time teaching brings the actual issues and problems organizations face into the classroom and allows students to address them. Another real-world issue that many management students focus on is employability and getting a job in the field. Traditionally, such career planning has been avoided by education and instead left to a carrier services department. However, because it is of central concern to management students, educators must address such potentially mundane issues. Indeed, teachers

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should show how the concepts learned would help their students gain and retain employment (Lyon & Kirby, 2000). Such a concern by the teacher logically flows from an andragogical focus on student concerns. IMPLEMENTATION Current thought in management education meshes well with the four principles of andragogy. The ease of relations between the two areas speaks to their similarities. Many management educators unconsciously work from an andragogical perspective already. Such teachers recognize that students are able to control their own learning, bring a reservoir of experience to the class, learn because of their life situation, and want to immediately apply the material. In spite of such similarities, the leading edge of the management education field has continued to grope for a way to express this different approach to learning. Pedagogy has been the default choice even with its child-centered baggage. Much of what management education does on an everyday basis could be properly typed andragogy. Management educators devote themselves to the teaching of adults and pre-adults, not children. The instructional strategies used work well because the students are adults. The reasons to use andragogy transcend the simple choice of the proper word. Instead, an understanding of andragogy explains why the learner-centered instructional strategies in a management classroom work. The reason why role-play is so effective in a management classroom stems from its use of experience and its ability to give relevance to knowledge. Problem-based learning works because it allows adults to be self-directed in defining the issue to be examined and to apply past experience to a specific problem. In a similar fashion, service learning works because it allows adults to express their self-concept as citizens and providers to a real problem felt by the community. With a sound philosophical base, effective teaching methods can be analyzed for why they work, not just if they work. Without such a theoretical base, effectiveness of techniques can only be attributed to chance. In addition, andragogy allows for management educators to institute traditional methods in new ways. For example, often the mere suggestion of lecture will send students to sleep. However, if management educators approach a situation by asking what the students need to know, lecture can be the best instructional strategy to use. If no students know how to create and analyze a mission

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statement but understand its value to an organization, they will be more willing to listen to a lecture. Management teachers centered on andragogical approaches still use techniques such as lecture. However, the use of such strategies is based on students’ desire to learn the information, not the need of instructors to hear themselves talk. Additionally, all teachers need to remember that andragogy is not the only philosophy for teaching. Indeed, many circumstances exist where it might be counterproductive. Freshman management students may be babes in the academic woods, and thus, a pedagogical philosophy is the best. However, over the course of the collegiate career, the student gains knowledge and experience, and educators gradually blend pedagogy into andragogy. In the senior year, the student may indeed be ready to work in the andragogical system. Such a system gives management education another tool in its arsenal of teaching. It unifies the concepts that management educators have worked with under a singular title. Indeed, many management educators already practice andragogy without knowing. Recognition of andragogy and its assumptions regarding the adult student can provide the key to free the pedagogically imprisoned field of management education.

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Stephen Paul Forrest III (EdD, Oklahoma State University) is a researcher at Hertford College, University of Oxford. His inquiries center on the intellectual history of adult learning applications, of adult learning theory, and cultural transformation in history. HIs current work focuses on cultural change in the Island Scots of Antrim during the 1590s.

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Tim Peterson (PhD, Texas A&M University) is an associate professor at Texas A&M. His work focuses on leadership, the scholarship of teaching, and the application of IT to organizations. He has published in Performance Improvement Quarterly, Journal of Leadership Studies, Journal of Management Education, and Journal of Management Systems.