Discussion on what pedagogy is goes back a long way. In ancient Greece, Plato suggested pedagogues were “...men who by age and experience are qualified to serve as both leaders (hëgemonas) and custodians (paidagögous)” of young learners (Longenecker, 1982).
In On Pedagogy, published in 1803, the philosopher Immanuel Kant stated that pedagogy “...includes the nurture of the child and, as it grows, its culture” (1900). And, in a similar vein, the American philosopher John Dewey argued that “the question of the relation of subject-matter to experience is the central problem of pedagogy” (1938).
Within this milieu of definitions and views, perhaps pedagogy – or teaching and learning – is best seen as a tradition of specialist practice built upon theoretical knowledge, autonomy, and collective responsibility (Danaher et al, 2000).
Subsequently, pedagogy is often regarded as the art or craft of teaching in the classroom – an occupation that requires particular skills, knowledge, and wisdom.
Pedagogical enlightenment
Over the last two decades, emergent notions of “evidence-based practice”, often used interchangeably with “evidence-informed practice”, have gained prominence.
Although both terms are similar, evidence-informed practice acknowledges that students, teacher expertise and school context have a significant impact on the application of research in the classroom (Neelen & Kirschner, 2020).
These concepts, rooted in the “medical model” of best practice (Hargreaves, 1996; Roediger, 2013), have prompted a reassessment of teachers' professional practices and pedagogy, especially in the UK, with a focus on using evidence from cognitive science to inform teaching decisions (Weinstein et al, 2018).
Indeed, recent collections of academic papers and reports on evidence-informed practice, from important and influential organisations, have defined it as a “scientific” enterprise (Coldwell et al, 2017; De Bruyckere & Kirschner, 2022), which suggests the preferred pedagogical paradigm is based on positivism – a philosophical system recognising only that which can be scientifically verified, or which is capable of logical or mathematical proof.
This positivistic model has now been explicitly enshrined in key government reforms, such as the Initial Teacher Training Core Curriculum Framework and the Early Career Framework (ECF). It has also been embedded within the school inspection criteria, which suggests its impact goes beyond influencing trainee and early career teachers (Muijs, 2019).
Dialectics of pedagogical enlightenment
However, we could ask ourselves whether the medical model of evidence-based (or informed) practice, and in particular the application of cognitive science, blindly bypasses other teacher development models, such as inquiry-oriented and collaborative conservations, as well as critical pedagogies.
Moreover, and perhaps more daring to suggest, could evidence-informed practice become a pedagogical paradigm that threatens teachers’ professional autonomy?
As Stephen Ball (2021) suggests, are we becoming mere “technicians”, uncritically following diktats of best practice from those based – largely – outside the classroom?
Furthermore, is this trend part of a wider ontological shift in the nature of teaching towards a “transactional model” based on “organisational professionalism from above” (Gewirtz & Cribb, 2020; Evetts, 2011).
These views echo the ideas found in Horkheimer and Adorno’s Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947). In this somewhat impenetrable book, the Frankfurt School philosophers argue that the celebration of reason by thinkers of the 18th century Enlightenment had led to the development of technologically sophisticated but oppressive and inhumane modes of governance.
Could this be true of our current pedagogical thinking? Or are these ideas far-fetched and somewhat melodramatic?
The truth is…
…more complicated. I use research from evidence-informed practice all the time. In fact, most of my SecEd articles focus on ideas from cognitive science. I have published a book full of it and have presented at a number of London ResearchEd conferences.
However, I am fully aware that there is more to my practice in the classroom than rational calculations based on effect sizes from meta-analyses, the results of laboratory-style experiments with adults, and #edutwitter groupthink.
Thinking deeply about pedagogy transcends any focus on empirically validated teaching strategies and should encompass more than the in-vogue notions of best practice.
As Smith (2012) argues, pedagogy “...is concerned not just with knowing about things, but also with changing ourselves and the world we live in”.
In this sense, pedagogy is not just about the practicalities of teaching, but also the philosophy of education; thinking about pedagogy should challenge us to question why we are teaching and what we hope to achieve by teaching it.
Smith suggests that as well as being concerned with a process of “inviting truth” about what is being studied and the possibility of advancing our students’ knowledge and development of a given subject, pedagogy should also centre around certain values and commitments inherent in that subject, such as fostering respect for others and for one’s self.
In fact: “Education is born, it could be argued, of the hope and desire that all may share in life and be more.”
Art, craft, science – or all and more…
Before its demise, the General Teaching Council for England (cited in Smith, 2012) suggested that pedagogy, “...is the stuff of teachers’ daily lives” and that the council takes, “...a broad view of teaching as a complex activity, which encompasses more than just ‘delivering’ education”.
Consequently, they suggested it consisted of these three components:
- The art of teaching: The responsive, creative, intuitive part.
- The craft of teaching: Skills and practice.
- The science of teaching: Research-informed decision making and the theoretical underpinning.
They add: “It is also important to remember that all these are grounded in ethical principles and moral commitment – teaching is never simply an instrumental activity, a question just of technique.”
On a personal level, I like this breakdown. In fact, in my own practice I aim to:
- Be responsive to my students' needs and while this often involves evidence-informed practice, my pedagogical decisions are often reflective and – dare I say – sometimes intuitive: based on wisdom more than empirical evidence (see, for example, Schön, 1983). I also adapt ideas beyond the confines of the findings of cognitive science, creatively moulding my teaching style, strategies, and persona to the characteristics of the classes I am teaching.
- Use the skills I have accumulated over 20 years of teaching. Some of these are evidence-informed, some are not. I might use retrieval practice alongside games, anecdotes, and pop music.
But, as already stated, I am not anti-science in any way. I am happy to learn from the likes Elizabeth and Robert Bjork or Paul Kirschner and Carl Hendriks. I advocate spaced and interleaved practice alongside the generation effect and elaborative-interrogation. However, I am not beholden to these strategies.
Final thoughts
With a nod to the sociologist C Wright Mills (1959), I believe that teaching is an “intellectual craftsmanship” that requires us to use our life experience, engage with research (in all its forms), and reflect on our practice.
In this sense, it can be considered an art, a craft, and a science. Of course, in reality it is a combination of all three.
It is also worth noting that the dominate view of evidence-informed practice, which – as said – is based largely on a positivistic medical model, is not the only view. Others have, on occasion, made the term more inclusive of non-scientific methodologies, including more qualitative methods, as well as philosophical thought (see, for example, Davies, 1999). Perhaps we need to widen what is meant by “evidence-informed practice” in order to be more holistic pedagogues.
- Andrew Jones is assistant headteacher at The Reach Free School in Hertfordshire. Follow him on X (Twitter) @abowdenj and find his previous articles for SecEd via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/andrew-jones
Further information & resources
- Ball: Education Debates (4th ed.), Policy Press, 2021.
- Coldwell et al: Evidence-informed teaching: An evaluation of progress in England, Department for Education, 2017.
- Danaher, Gale & Erben: The teacher educator as (re)negotiated professional: Critical incidents in steering between state and market in Australia, Journal of Education for Teaching (26,1), 2000.
- De Bruyckere & Kirschner: From the editor, Impact: Cognitive science and beyond (issue 16), Chartered College of Teaching, Autumn 2022.
- Dewey: Experience and Education, Macmillan, 1938.
- Evetts: A new professionalism? Challenges and opportunities, Current Sociology (59,4), 2011.
- Gewirtz & Cribb: Can teachers still be teachers? The near impossibility of humanity in the transactional workplace. In Knowledge, Policy and Practice in Education and the Struggle for Social Justice: Essays inspired by the work of Geoff Whitty, Brown & Wisby (eds), UCL Press, 2020: uclpress.co.uk/products/127616
- Hargreaves: Teaching as a Research-Based Profession: Possibilities and prospects, Cambridge, Teacher Training Agency Annual Lecture, 1996.
- Kant: On pedagogy, DC Heath & Co, 1900: http://files.libertyfund.org/files/356/0235_Bk.pdf
- Longenecker: The pedagogical nature of the law in Galatians 3:19-4:7, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (25), 1982.
- Mills: The Sociological Imagination, OUP, 1959.
- Muijs: Developing the education inspection framework: How we used cognitive load theory, Ofsted blog, 2019: https://tinyurl.com/477r2mah
- Neelen & Kirschner: Evidence-Informed, Learning Design: Creating training to improve performance, Kogan Page, 2020.
- Roediger: Applying cognitive psychology to education translational educational science, Psychological Science in the Public Interest (14), 2013.
- Schön: The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action, Temple Smith, 1983.
- Smith: “What is pedagogy?”, Infed (The Encyclopaedia of Informal Education), 2012: https://infed.org/what-is-pedagogy/
- Weinstein, Madan & Sumeracki: Teaching the science of learning, Cognition Research: Principles and implications (3, 2), 2018.