Andragogy in practice

Various authors present andragogy in different ways. Accordingly, it has often been difficult to precisely determine core assumptions of andragogy, and specifically their exact number. This difficulty stems from the fact that the number of andragogical principles has grown from four to six over the years as Knowles refined his thinking. Some of the sharpest criticism of andragogy has come from theorists operating from a critical philosophical perspective. Grace, for example, criticizes andragogy for focusing solely on the individual, and not operating from a critical social agenda or debating the relationship of adult education to society. Andragogy’s critics are correct in saying that andragogy does not explicitly and exclusively embrace outcomes such as social change and critical theory, but they are incorrect in thinking that it should. That andragogy does not speak to all possible goals and purposes of learning is not a weakness, but a strength, because andragogy can then transcend arenas of application.