Pedagogy, Andragogy and Heutagogy Explained | Three Words Every Teacher Should Know

Duration: 6:46 1077 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

The video introduces three fundamental concepts essential for educators: pedagogy, andragogy, and heutagogy. Pedagogy originates from the ancient Greek term *paidagogos*, which literally means "leader of children." Historically referring to a guide who escorted students to school, the concept has evolved to encompass the entire theory and practice of teaching young learners. This includes everything from questioning techniques and providing feedback to modeling behaviors and managing classroom routines; essentially, it defines how we facilitate learning for children within structured educational environments. Andragogy represents a shift in focus toward adult learning principles derived from the Greek word meaning "leading men." It emphasizes that adults are typically more self-directed than children, bringing their own expertise, life experiences, and specific motivations to the learning process. Unlike pedagogy, which often involves acquiring knowledge for its own sake, andragogy suggests that adults learn best when education is relevant to their work or lives and focused on solving real-world problems. Consequently, professional development strategies must be translated by teachers into contexts that align with their personal circumstances rather than being applied rigidly from the top down. Heutagogy describes a third level of learning where individuals become fully self-determined learners driven primarily by curiosity rather than external mandates or hierarchical authority. In this mode, educators take responsibility for deciding what to learn, how to learn it, and why it matters, often exploring topics like neuroscience research or specific hobbies without being assigned the task. This form of learning is closely linked to metacognition and deep professional interest, where teachers become experts in niche areas such as behavior management, curriculum design, or artificial intelligence because they are genuinely fascinated by them. The speaker concludes that while organizational power structures involving budgets and administrative decisions exist, true influence comes from becoming the person who knows the most about a specialist topic through self-driven inquiry. When educators engage in heutagogy, their expertise naturally attracts others seeking wisdom, effectively bypassing bureaucratic limitations because they possess unique knowledge no one else has. The ultimate goal for schools is to foster this kind of curiosity-led learning among staff, encouraging them to pursue professional interests that nobody asked about but which ultimately enrich the entire educational community and improve student outcomes through authentic engagement.

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Now, here is something for your professional learning, even the wisest teachers watching this might learn something new. Now, I suspect we've all heard of the word pedagogy. And this phrase we use to describe our pedagogical approaches, pedagogical research, and pedagogy in the classroom, but very few people know of its origins. It actually comes from an ancient Greek word paidagogos, literally meaning leader of children. And originally paidagogos wasn't actually the teacher, it was the person responsible for guiding a child to school and looking after their education. How about that? Now, today pedagogy has evolved to mean the theory and practice of teaching children. It covers absolutely everything we do from questioning to feedback to modeling and all our classroom routines that we're all familiar with. In other words, it's how we help children learn. Now, about 8 years ago as I started to work with teachers and adults all across the country, I discovered this fabulous word from a good friend Hal Roberts, a keynote in a school in Germany. And it derives having dug into the etymological meaning of the word andragogy. Um it derives from the Greek origins to mean leading of men, so leading adults literally. And historically today although that might now mean adult learning more broadly Malcolm Knowles who cited this in his research in the 70s suggested that adults are typically more self-directed. And this is an important message for people who lead professional CPD in our schools and colleges that there is a degree of understanding that the adults in front of you have their own expertise. They bring previous experiences to the process, that they want learning to be relevant to the work that they do in their lives, and they are often motivated by solving real problems rather than just acquiring knowledge. And I'm always advocating this in my teacher training that here are some pedagogical techniques, but you have some expertise. You need to translate them to your own motivations and your own circumstances and apply them the next day. And this is a really important message about how we want all teachers to translate the CPD they receive in their schools and colleges to make it purposeful the very next day. And I can share research, classroom ideas, and practical strategies, but every teacher has to interpret these for their own students. And this is the really most important message of all, their own curriculum and their own school or college context. So, that's what andragogy means in action. Now, I discovered a new word only a couple of weeks ago. Let me introduce it to you. Go. So, here it is here, heutagogy. Now, look at the word here. Think of beautiful and how that's pronounced. Heu- heutagogy. Now, I suspect very few teachers have heard of this word. There is a bit of kind of uh footprint on on on Google and social media somewhere people have interrogated this word. It's new for me after 35 years of teaching. Now, this word here, let me move myself out the way here. The word comes from the Greek meaning leading oneself. So, rather than someone else directing your learning, Ross McGill turning up to your school or the CPD leader in your college, it's you the teacher who becomes responsible for deciding what you want to learn and how you'll learn it and why it matters. And I think of this as learning that's kind of driven entirely by curiosity. So, for me in my professional world, this might be reading about functional MRI brain scans, exploring neuroscience research, or maybe disappearing down a rabbit hole because I love old-fashioned Land Rovers. Nobody's asked me to do that. Nobody's assigned it to me. It's simply because I'm fascinated by the topics. And professionally, many teachers have their own version of this. Some become deeply interested in behavior, SEND, curriculum design, AI, assessment, or their subject knowledge, and they become an expert in this area, not because anyone tells them to do it, but because they're genuinely curious. And this is what heutagogy is. So, I think of these three ideas sitting alongside one another. Pedagogy is how we teach children, andragogy is about how adults learn, and heutagogy is about becoming a self-determined learner. Someone who's curiosity drives their own learning. And we might describe this also as metacognition. So, problem-solving, but being deeply interested in a topic, that's where our hobbies or professional expertise comes in. So, perhaps the most interesting question isn't whether you've heard of these three words before. It's this. What are you learning when nobody's asking you to do it? And for me, I think that's the kind of gold star that we want in our schools. When I am a CPD leader, and I want my teaching staff to engage in content pedagogically, translate it into their classroom, andragogically, I don't know if that's a word, but then get deeply interested in it. And I guess as a kind of side note to this video, there are three levels of power that can influence, and you have the kind of positionary power. So, I'm the head teacher, I'm the CPD leader, and I the buck stops with me, I make the decisions. Or I'm the budget holder. Rosie, you can't go on that course, we don't have any money left. So, there's another influence on power. But I always say when teachers say to me, "I'm just a teacher, Ross. What do you want me to do? I can't bypass the head teacher's decisions." I always say, "Be the person that knows the most stuff about your specialist topic." And this is, I guess, heutagogy. I never knew the word before, but it all makes sense that if you know the most stuff, then you people will come to you for your expertise and your wisdom. They'll bypass the budgets. They'll bypass the person sitting at the top of the kind of professional chain because you are the expert. You have that power and influence. So, um my question to you is, what are you learning when nobody is asking you to do it? That's heutagogy, and that might be your personal hobbies or your professional interests. I hope that helps and gives people who are leading professional development for teachers in our schools and colleges something new for you to think about in 2026-2027.