Teachers' Pedagogy through Andragogy: Facilitating Learning in Secondary Education Students by Incorporating Self-Directed Learning

Abstract

In a qualitative analysis, based upon three cases of mid-career1 secondary education teachers, their strategies, philosophies, modalities, and student expectations were analyzed in an effort to understand the extent to which self-directed learning (SDL) can impact the success of students’ learning. These practical implications of the study by experienced teachers supported and also challenged theoretical concepts of primarily Piaget, Knowles, and Vygotsky, but also examined those of Bloom and Wlodkowski. Specifically, results demonstrated that the incorporation of some adult learning methodologies into secondary education environments has contributed significantly to the effectiveness of these teachers. Perhaps this knowledge can guide future research into how to best identify and further develop secondary education teachers’ pedagogies to utilize SDL techniques in the 21st century classroom.