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Andragogy focuses on conditions of learning, not evidence that learning occurred.

A learner can be self-directed and still fail to demonstrate measurable growth.

Andragogy provides teaching guidelines but does not explain how learning occurs.

Adult learning theory is a manual for classroom diplomacy, not a map of the mind.

Walk into any corporate leadership retreat or faculty development workshop, and you will encounter a familiar set of rituals. The chairs are arranged in a circle. The instructor has rebranded as a facilitator. Participants are told that, as adults, they are self-directed and ready to tackle real-world problems. It is a flattering premise that affirms the learner and sets the tone for what follows.

This is the social contract of andragogy. Popularized by Malcolm Knowles in the 1970s, it remains the dominant framework in adult education. It is humanistic, respectful, and intuitively right. But while it succeeds as a philosophy of instruction, it falls short as a scientific explanation of how learning occurs.

As a field, we have spent decades refining how to treat the adult learner while largely ignoring the nature of learning itself. If andragogy is a theory of learning, then a central and disruptive question must be asked: Where is learning actually defined?

We talk extensively about motivation, autonomy, and readiness, often treated as the gold standards of the andragogical model. Yet there is a conspicuous absence in the literature: a clear account of what a person can actually do once instruction concludes, which remains the most concrete evidence that learning has occurred.

The issue is not that these humanistic principles are incorrect. The issue is that they do not constitute a theory of learning. Instead, they function as a framework for organizational diplomacy designed to navigate the adult ego. They offer a set of protocols that ensure the learner feels acknowledged, which is important for maintaining a frictionless and customer-satisfied environment in professional development. However, a learner can be highly motivated and feel respected while failing to acquire a single new skill. By prioritizing the learner’s experience over evidence of change, andragogy confuses a comfortable environment with a successful learning outcome.

The Hidden Power Structure

Andragogy sells itself as a "learner-centered" liberation from the "sage on the stage." But look closer at the power dynamics. In a traditional classroom, the hierarchy is honest: The teacher knows the material, and the student does not.

But what is different in the andragogical model? The facilitator still defines what counts as relevant. The facilitator still curates the problems to be solved. The facilitator still determines when the session is complete. By softening the authority of the teacher into the guide on the side, authority has not been redistributed; it has been obscured. Transparent instruction is replaced with curated conformity. The learner is free to explore, provided they remain within boundaries they did not design.

The Equity Problem: Acknowledgment as Status

What, then, does andragogy offer adults that other theories do not? It offers a monopoly on agency. By insisting that adults uniquely require acknowledgment and self-direction, we treat these not as fundamental human needs for learning but as "seniority benefits" of reaching the age of majority.

This creates a structural inequity. We justify rigid, compliance-based systems for younger learners by claiming that autonomy is a developmental milestone rather than a cognitive necessity. When we gatekeep "learner-centeredness" for those with adult status, we aren't making a scientific statement about how the brain matures; We are making a social statement about who deserves to be heard. We have essentially turned adult education into a space where the primary "learning" is the reinforcement of one’s own status as a non-child, rather than the mastery of new capabilities.

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The Myth of the Ideal Adult

Andragogy relies on an idealized image of the adult learner. It describes the learner we wish we had: someone eager for growth and comfortable with ambiguity.

In reality, adults learn under a wide range of conditions. Some are highly motivated and pursuing personal goals. Others are balancing work, family responsibilities, and limited time. Many need clear structure and direct instruction to make progress. When a struggling learner is told to self-direct, it does not empower them. It abandons them. The theory describes the learner we want, not the one in front of us.

Bridging to the Evidence: Learning as Observable Change

If we set aside the sociological focus on readiness and self-concept, we are forced to return to a fundamental psychological question: How do we know learning has occurred?

Concepts like readiness and motivation may shape the conditions for learning, but they do not demonstrate that learning has occurred. Learning is a persistent change in what a person can do. It is a persistent change in an individual’s behavioral repertoire or mental representation. It is the demonstrable ability to perform a task today that was not possible yesterday. Whether it involves writing with greater clarity, solving a new class of mathematical problems, or applying a concept in a novel context, learning must be measurable, verifiable, and observable. Without these anchors, instruction risks becoming a social exercise, where participants share experiences without a mechanism for measurable growth.

This gap is not theoretical. If learning is not defined in terms of what a person can actually do, then it becomes indistinguishable from access to information. In that case, completing a task is no longer evidence of learning, but evidence of access.

We do not need better guidelines for managing workshops or facilitating discussion. We need to return to a core question of psychology: What should count as evidence that learning has occurred? Until that question is answered, andragogy will remain a polite fiction, a way to describe classrooms without explaining the transformation that is supposed to happen inside them.

Knowles, M. S. (1980). The Modern Practice of Adult Education: From Pedagogy to Andragogy. New York, NY: Cambridge Books.

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