Adult didactics – component of andragogy: peculiarities and basic categories

At the stage of rapid development of science and market of educational services for adults, a relatively new direction in education was formed - andragogy (pedagogy of adults).In the present time, andragogy occupies a place in the structure of education sciences as an independent category, possessing at the same time its own scientific apparatus, research methods, scientific approaches and principles. In this article, an attempt was made to substantiate the definition of basic concepts and categories of adult teaching: subject, tasks, functions. Special attention is paid to the principles of adult learning: priority of independent education, reliance on personal experience, individualization of learning, contextuality of learning, reliance on individual needs, considering them as motives and sources of designing the outcomes of education. At the same time, adult learning is considered within the framework of the following characteristics: andragogic self-reflexivity, decentralization of andragogic approach, deconstruction/reconstruction of andragogic theory, contextualization of adult learning and education.