The Importance Of Pedagogy In Education

1110 Words3 Pages

The school that is a subject of discourse in this work is located in Essex, England. It is referred here as Alpha school (pseudonym). Alpha school is a comprehensive mixed secondary school with a population of around 600 students.
On one side, the school is surrounded by very decent, attractive and some luxurious homes while on the opposite end, where most students come from, council flats and some average homes are scattered throughout the locality. I rarely see students coming from the former side. It is fair to suggest that most of the students come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. This can be manifested by the look of their school uniforms, lack of equipment during lessons, Free School Meals and pupil premium figures.
I am a full …show more content…

Pedagogy
Pedagogy is a term widely used in education set up with different wording and sometimes varied meanings. At times it is confused with “teaching”, however, there is a remarkable difference between the two. Hall and Murphy (2008) stress that while teaching is an act, pedagogy encompasses teaching and other key aspects like the environment, learners’ thinking, resources, policies, beliefs and so on.
Let’s start by looking at some definitions of “pedagogy” as given by educationalists. According to the Oxford dictionary of education, Wallace (2009), pedagogy means, “teaching as a professional practice and as a field of academic study. It encompasses not only the practical application of teaching, or pedagogic skills, but also curriculum issues and the body of theory relating to how and why learning takes place”.
Bruner (1996), (quoted in J Leach & B Moon 2008) defines pedagogy as a science which has key dimensions namely, goals, curriculum, assessment, learning activities and the role of teachers and learners and that these dimensions are transformed by different views of mind and the learning …show more content…

Let’s continue to look into Ireson’s literature. Since pedagogy is a very generic term, it has some key strands as listed here by Ireson et al (2000): i) Clear goals ii) Inspire with high expectations and capable of providing motivation iii) Technically appropriate and appropriate to its purpose and, iv) Theoretically sophisticated.
Referring these strands, Ireson et al (2000) strongly claims that there are no clear goals in our education structure at all levels from pre-school education to the University. The best we have is what was explained in the Education Reform act (DES, 1988). In broader terms the goal is “to promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of the pupils”. She argues that the masses’ opinion is divided whether the emphasis should be on individual academic performance or the societal development. She calls for a careful thinking and informed debate in order to establish clear, common educational goals. Establishing clear goals will make it possible to measure the effectiveness of the

Open Document