Pedagogy?
by Clodia Naomi Porteous - Tuesday, 16 February 2016, 1:14 PM
Pedagogy would seem to me to be the complex, personal, unique and evolving art, science, theory and practice of teaching.
For me personally this is strongly impacted upon by my current (chosen) educational context. Working within a Waldorf (Steiner) School, there is a strong pedagogical focus on the learning environment, understanding of the developing/unfolding human being, social learning, movement and play, rhythm and repetition and the development of the Will of the individual through physical, intellectual and artistic endeavour.
I have just been reading Chapter 1 of Churchill et al's Teaching: Making a difference (2011) and these are my notes on Pedagogy from pp.16-18:
Pedagogy
- Art / science / method / theory / practice / philosophy;
- Complex, unique to the individual, constantly evolving;
- Assumptions about learning, development, appropriateness of content and teaching styles;
- More than a skill set;
- Effectiveness measured by "student acquisition of knowledge, skills, attitudes and dispositions (Vaughn, Bos & Schumm 2006)
- Effective pedagogy and high quality teaching are closely intertwined.
- Lee Schulman (1986, 1987) categorises professional knowledge into:
- "content knowledge;
- general pedagogical knowledge, with special reference to those broad principles and strategies of classroom management and organisation that appear to transcend subject matter;
- curriculum knowledge, with particular grasp of the materials and programs that serve as 'tools of the trade' for teachers;
- pedagogical content knowledge, that special amalgam of content and pedagogy that is uniquely the province of teachers, their own special form of understanding;
- knowledge of learners and their characteristics;
- knowledge of educational contexts, ranging from the workings of the group or classroom, the governance and financing of school districts, to the character and communities and cultures;
- knowledge of the educational ends, purposes and values, and their philosophical and historical backgrounds.
- Learning outcomes are improved when teachers are actively engaged in ongoing pedagogical learning themselves.
- Understanding current and emerging learning theories.
- Learning enhanced when students pre-existing knowledge engaged.
- "Students develop deep understanding of important concepts when their learning is built on previous conce3pts and experiences, and ideas are connected to one another."
- Developmental understanding of the child (cognitive, social, physical, emotional) by the teacher is of great benefit in shaping productive experiences for students.
- teacher flexibility => effective teaching practices.
[Churchill, R., Ferguson, P., Godinho, S., Johnson, N.F., Keddie, A., Letts, W., Mackay, J., McGill, M., Moss, J., Nagel, M.C., Nicholson, P., Vick, M. (2011) Teaching: Making a difference (1st ed.) milton, Queensland: John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 1, pp.5-29.]
