Tuesday, 24 November 2015

EDU 105.11: LEARNING TO FUNCTION AS AN ENGLISH TEACHER


PEDAGOGY
Pedagogy is the discipline that deals with the theory and practice of education; it thus concerns the study and practice of how best to teach. Its aims range from the general (full development of the human being via liberal education) to the narrower specifics of vocational education. Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator and philosopher, referred to his method of teaching people as ‘critical pedagogy’. In correlation with those instructive strategies, the instructor’s own philosophical beliefs of instruction are harbored and governed by the pupil’s background knowledge and experience, situation, and environment, as well as learning goals set by the student and teacher. The word pedagogue was originally used in reference to the slave who escorted Roman children to school. In Denmark, a pedagogue is a practitioner of pedagogy. The term is primarily used for individuals who occupy jobs in pre-school education (such as kindergartens and nurseries) in Scandinavia. The pedagogue’s job is usually distinguished from a teacher’s by primarily focusing on teaching children life-preparing knowledge such as social skills and cultural norms. There is also a very big focus on care and well-being of the child. Many pedagogical institutions also practice social inclusion. The pedagogue’s work also consists of supporting the child in their mental and social development. In Denmark all pedagogues are trained at a series of national institutes for social educators located in all major cities. In Hungary, the word pedagogue is synonymous with teacher, therefore, teachers of both primary and secondary schools may be referred to as pedagogues, a word that appears also in the name of their lobbyist organizations and labor unions. However, undergraduate education in Pedagogy does not qualify students to become teachers in primary or secondary schools but makes them able to apply to be educational assistants.
Pedagogy is defined as many different types and variations of teaching. There are many instructional design models but many are based on the ADDIE model with the five phases: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. A person named Robert Gagne is seen as the driving force behind the development of instructional design models and ideas. Pedagogy is the science and art of education, specifically instructional theory. An instructor develops conceptual knowledge and manages the content of learning activities in pedagogical settings. Modern pedagogy has been strongly influenced by the theories of three major heavy -weights in the science of human development: Jean Piaget’s cognitive theory of development and Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner’s social interaction and cultural theory. Piaget argued that children construct an understanding of the world around them, and then experience discrepancies between what they already know and what they discover in their environment. These theorists have laid the foundation for pedagogy where sequential development of individual mental process such as recognizing, recalling, analyzing, reflecting, applying, creating, understand and evaluating are scaffolded. Students learn as they internalize the procedures, organization, and structures encountered in social contexts as their own schemata. The learner requires assistance to integrate prior knowledge with new knowledge. Children must also develop metacognition, or the ability to learn how to learn. Learning how to integrate prior knowledge and learning how to learn should be a part of the classroom experience and should be facilitated by the teacher. Thus pedagogy is defined as many different types and variations of teaching. As such, there are many different ways in which students learn and teachers teach. Some of these ways are inclusive of discovery learning, group learning, hands on learning, distance learning, and independent study.

PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE
Pedagogical Knowledge is deep knowledge about the processes and practices or methods of teaching and learning and how it encompasses (among other things) overall educational purposes, values and aims. This is a generic form of knowledge that is involved in all issues of student learning, classroom management, lesson plan development and implementation, and student evaluation. It includes knowledge about techniques or methods to be used in the classroom; the nature of the target audience; and strategies for evaluating student understanding. A teacher with deep pedagogical knowledge understands how students construct knowledge and acquire skills; develop habits of mind and positive dispositions towards learning. As such, pedagogical knowledge requires an understanding of cognitive, social and developmental theories of learning and how they apply to students in their classroom. Lee S. Shulman  is an educational psychologist who has made notable contributions to the study of teaching, assessment of teaching, and the fields of medicine, science and mathematics. He is a professor emeritus at Stanford Graduate School of Education, past president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, past president of the American Educational Research Association, and the recipient of several awards recognizing his educational research. Among his many achievements, Shulman is credited with popularizing the phrase ‘pedagogical content knowledge’ (PCK). Shulman is the 2006 recipient of the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education. He received the Grawemeyer Award for his 2004 book, The Wisdom of Practice: Essays on Teaching, Learning and Learning to Teach.
Shulman claimed that the emphases on teachers’ subject knowledge and pedagogy were being treated as mutually exclusive. He believed that teacher education programs should combine the two knowledge fields. To address this dichotomy, he introduced the notion of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) that includes pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge, among other categories. His initial description of teacher knowledge included curriculum knowledge, and knowledge of educational contexts.
Pedagogical knowledge means the ‘how’ of teaching, generally acquired through education coursework and personal experiences. Content knowledge, on the other hand, is the ‘what’ of teaching. It is different from the knowledge of a disciplinary expert and from general pedagogical knowledge. In Shulman’s view, pedagogical knowledge is a form of practical knowledge that is used by teachers to guide their actions in highly contextualized classroom settings. This form of practical knowledge entails, among other things:
(a) knowledge of how to structure and represent academic content for direct teaching to students.
(b) knowledge of the common conceptions, misconceptions, and difficulties that students encounter when learning particular content.
(c) knowledge of the specific teaching strategies that can be used to address students’ learning needs in particular classroom circumstances.
 In the view of Shulman and others, pedagogical knowledge builds on other forms of professional knowledge, and is therefore a critical and perhaps even the paramount constitutive element in the knowledge base of teaching.

PEDAGOGICAL COMPETENCE
Pedagogical competence is more than simply good verbal communication or public speaking skills which come in handy primarily for lecturing. Pedagogical competence includes awareness of “alternative instructional methods or technologies”. Pedagogical competence requires that instructors actively think about and interrogate their own practices in the classroom, being aware of the possible strategies for engagement, and actively choosing the methods that best fit their goals and topics. Pedagogical competence has been researched at the level of the individual, the team, the group, or the organization, with an inclusion of all of these three dimensions in the larger frame of the community thus considering a variety of factors such as: psychological, interactional, organizational, managerial, administrative, social, economic, cultural (ethnical, religious, of gender, class, age, etc). Pedagogical competences can be viewed at either end of the axis as, on the one hand, they help the reaching of achievement/ obtaining of success/ development of efficiency, the forming of quality, highly adaptive professional development and they influence societal change by the standards they impose in the educational process and on the labor market. Therefore, a good knowledge of pedagogical competence, their typology and principles of development will lead to a future successful application/ use in any field developing interdisciplinary thinking, creativity and managerial qualities in any field.
Generally speaking, pedagogical competences have been regarded either as an ensemble of potential behaviors or capacities allowing for efficient manifestation of an activity, or as a minimum professional standard, often specified by law, which professionals should reach. It is from these two perspectives that theorists have attempted more and more complex definitions so as to comprise multiple variables which would lead to better application of education through competences. Thus, one first definition is constructed by taking into consideration the resources used in an educational process starting from and based on developing competences. So pedagogical competence is the ability of an individual to use a coordinated, synergistic combination of tangible resources (e.g. instruction materials such as books, articles, and cases and technology such as software and hardware) and intangible resources (e.g. knowledge, skills, experience) to achieve efficiency and/ or effectiveness in pedagogy.
The concept of pedagogical competence also tends to be used with the meaning of minimum professional standard, often specified by law, which should raise a person in fulfilling a particular role of the teaching profession. The emphasis in understanding pedagogical competence should thus fall on the integrated features which outline the ability to solve pedagogical problems and typical pedagogical tasks occurring in situations of real pedagogical activities by applying knowledge, professional and life experience, values and talents in a creative manner so to obtain appropriate and effective results. Other attempts to define competence have regarded the notion from the perspective of human resource management, of vocational training and education, in the attempt to observe the importance of the interdependence between personal characteristics, proficiency level and context but there have also been attempts to regard competences/ competencies from the strict perspective of evaluation and connect them with professional standards. Regardless of the level at which pedagogical competence is analyzed a special attention is given to the results obtained in any educational process developed through the perspective of competences thus stressing on the performance to which the various methodical algorithms for achieving teaching tasks are selected, combined and put into effect depending on the changes of the situational context in which the educational activities are realized with students. In strict reference to the teacher, pedagogical competence reflects the teacher’s competence in regard to collaboration, comprehensive view and contribution to the development of pedagogy for higher education.
Pedagogical competence is based on sound, broad and current knowledge within the subject area, as well as knowledge of student learning and subject-based teaching and learning issues. It also presupposes a reflective and critical approach to teaching, learning and pedagogical development over time, as it is tied to one’s own professional role. Research based teaching and the individual’s own research are important components in terms of satisfying the scientific grounds demanded in Chalmers’ programmes. Figure 1 below illustrates the complexity of the concept of pedagogical competence and the activities of a pedagogically skilled teacher.2 Pedagogical competence is demonstrated by successful teaching and development of teaching as well as by evaluations and student learning. Both general and subject-specific knowledge of how students learn is a prerequisite as well as for continued development of pedagogical competence to be possible.
Pedagogical competence also comprises the ability and willingness to take part in discussions on pedagogy to achieve personal development and contribute to the development of others. Participation can take many forms; within one’s own subject area or on a general level, and on a national or international level. For a position as senior lecturer, associate professor or professor, a candidate must have completed courses comprising 15 higher education credits (10 old higher education credits) in teaching and learning in higher education, or in some other manner be able to demonstrate the corresponding expertise. Pedagogical qualifications must be presented in a pedagogical portfolio. Instructions for presenting pedagogical qualifications are available on Chalmers’ website. Assessment areas for pedagogical competence The following assessment areas are used to assess pedagogical competence:
v  Teaching skills - Practical experience from and the ability to contribute to student learning by leading, organizing, planning, implementing, examining, developing and evaluating different types of teaching and education levels and producing teaching materials.
v  Theoretical knowledge - Pedagogical knowledge with a focus on teaching and learning in higher education theory and student learning, while maintaining a connection to one’s own subject area. It also includes broad and current subject knowledge and scientific base within the subject, which is applied to teaching Pedagogical competence.
v   Approach characterized by willingness and the ability to develop - This includes
1.      Works under the set rules and regulations with the aim of achieving targets and improving results
2.      Has an overall view that integrates theory and practice, as well as an approach that continuously promotes teaching and student learning
3.      Has a reflective and critical approach (observes, gives feedback, evaluates and develops) to teaching, learning and pedagogical development work
4.      Contributes to and takes part in the pedagogical discourse









REFERENCE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedagogy
https://beyonddegrees.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/ethics-of-teaching-2-pedagogical-competence
http://www.iojes.net/userfiles/Article/IOJES_402.pdf
http://www.chalmers.se/en/about-chalmers/policies-and-rules/Documents/Extract%20from%20appointment%20regulations.pdf


No comments:

Post a Comment