Sources:

See bibliography. It seems to be quite small and a reprint of his 1988 article. He relies heavily on Podeschi and Carlson (attached).

Case:

The purpose of this paper (p. 15) is "to ask one central question: What contribution has andragogy made to our understanding of adult learning?" Pratt contends that the literature relating to andragogy has not been "coherent in thematic focus or clear in defining the central concept of learning".

In order to assess the above mentioned question, Dr. Pratt says that four subordinate questions must be asked:

1. What is learning? He believes (p. 16) that from Knowles five assumptions that first, the world may exist, but it is the individual’s experience of that world that is most important to learning and second, learning is more subjective than objective with an emphasis on individual interpretation. He sums this up by saying that "therefore, andragogy appears to rest on two implicit principles of learning: first, knowledge is assumed to be actively constructed by the learner and second, learning is an interactive process of interpretation, integration, and transformation of one’s experiential world.
2. What are the antecedents of adult learning? In this section, Dr. Pratt deals with social structures defined as "those institutions and systems in society that produce and reproduce rules and resources that influence the communication of meaning, the exercise of power, and the legitimization and judgment of conduct….. (p. 17). Pratt strongly believes that andragogy does not acknowledge the vast influence of these structures on the formation of the person’s identity and ways of interpreting the world. Is this important?
3. How can we facilitate adult learning? A major statement here (p. 19) is "the needs and experience of the learner take precedence over the expertise of the instructor". The argument in this section deals with evaluation of the learner. Should the student have so much control? As Pratt states " it also begs the question of whether such a relationship can or should take precedence over situational factors in the exercise of individual freedom and control over instructional processes, particularly the evaluation of learning" (p. 20).
4. What are the purposes and aims of adult learning? Pratt relies on Podeschi and Carlson for this discussion. Carlson has stated that Knowles problem was that his preaching did not live up to his practice. Pratt states that andragogy appears to be based on five fundamental values or beliefs (p. 21) and that "collectively these beliefs constitute a particular worldview that legitimates certain forms of learning, approaches to instruction, and is saturated with the ideals of individualism and entrepreneurial democracy.