Making a sense of pedagogy

Pedagogy, derived from the Greek terms ‘paidos’ meaning child and ‘agogos’ meaning leader, refers to the guidance provided to children to facilitate their innate learning potential and enable them to become constructors of knowledge. It involves creating an educational process that fosters knowledge creation in and acquisition by learners.

With a lot of research in learning and development of learning theories, pedagogy has emerged as a distinct knowledge area. When seen from this angle, pedagogy encompasses both the science and art of education and provides insights into learning theories. It can be understood as the study of teaching methods and the ways in which content is presented and delivered to students. Furthermore, pedagogy as a reform signifies a paradigm shift towards teaching that is pedagogically sound, aiming to make education inclusive, equitable, and of high quality.

To cultivate teachers as effective pedagogues, it is essential to introduce pedagogy as an academic discipline for educators across various knowledge areas, including disciplinary education, multi-disciplinary education, skill education, and vocational education.

Learner-centered pedagogy empowers students to take a more active role in their learning journey, which is particularly beneficial for integrating and building upon previously acquired knowledge. By tapping into prior knowledge and introducing new experiences, a higher level of learning is achieved. Competent pedagogues support learners' development by addressing the needs of all types of learners, including Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, Logical, Team-oriented, and Independent learners.