Pedagogical Principles

 

What are the Pedagogical Principles?

Pedagogy is the method and principle of teaching and is defined by principles that shape our teaching. They are listed below and elaborated on. 

1. Facilitating deep knowledge through higher order thinking This explains how we as educators need to show a deep understanding of the content we teach and how our learners engage with the content to facilitate higher order thinking in our students. It also means we need to demonstrate high order thinking in order the engage our students.  

2. Facilitating collaborative learning in which conversations are important. Collaborative learning means we are giving the students opportunities to be in charge of their own learning. Productive pedagogy involves showing deep learning which relates to the content being student directed.  

3. Supporting students in knowing how they learn best Understanding how our students learn is one of the biggest components of student success. It is outlined in our professional teacher standards to understand our students learning styles and what environment they learn best in.  

4. Planning learning that is problem-based, and situated in real life contexts We are essentially preparing students for the real world where they have to make difficult and sensible students. We are not only educating students on Maths, English etc, we are trying to instil resilience and accountability. We plan problem-based activities related to real life contexts to make our students investigate and solve issues to prepare them for real situations. 

5. Is relevant to students, and connects to their background knowledge This again relates to knowing your students and investigating their background knowledge so students aren’t repeating information and are constantly exploring new content to stimulate their brains. This can mean shaping a set activity to your students style and making it relevant to their interests so they engage in it.  

6. Supports learning that is owned, controlled and managed by students themselves. Student directed learning is a major tool in student success as students feel they have some control over their education. This is though teaching students accountability, where they are responsible for their progress. This could be as simple as having the students individually working on a booklet where it is their responsibility to finish it at their own pace.  

7. Is socially supportive, engaging, and values cultural knowledges In high schools especially, selectively pairing students so all students are involved is a key factor in supporting students socially as some students struggle to make friends. We also can utilise students cultural knowledge and cultural backgrounds to tailor activities to them that help them better understand their cultural backgrounds. When learning is Personalised students are more engaged.  

8. Is supportive of the development of active citizenship, and strong group identity. We are teaching our students to be positive members of their community and actively helping. This is as simple as taking a fitness class to an elderly home to do physical exercise and helping the students engage in community activities. 

What do the Pedagogical Principles mean to you in common language?

The pedagogical principles simply mean to actively engage and develop our students knowledge and shape their values, beliefs and attitudes by challenging their learning environments. We are shaping our students to be active community members and problem solvers by supporting their learning and creating safe environments for them to learn in. We are giving students the opportunities to be in charge of their learning by knowing how our students learn.   

Consider whether the Pedagogical Principles make sense to you in terms of your own experience in learning that has a) been pedagogically sound, and b) been pedagogically woeful?

The pedagogical principles make sense to me in terms of the majority of my learning experiences and have been pedagogically sound. Most of my teachers challenged my learning and taught to be an active member of my community whilst being able to solve problems when they arise. The other educators I had were not engaging nor did they challenge my learning and didn’t meet half of the pedagogical principles, but I took this as a learning experience for me as a future educator.

Can you recognise these pedagogies in the experiences you have identified in the sound category? Elaborate.

My Physical Education teacher and English teacher were the two educators I had who were high order thinkers and met the pedagogical principles. In Physical Education I was taught to be an active community member and where my learning experiences were student directed and shaped to my interests and learning styles. For example, I am heavily involved in my local Surf Lifesaving Club and my teacher used this in a learning activity for the whole class for them to learn about the importance about life saving skills. My English teacher recognised I was a student who processed information better when I wrote it down so to meet that learning style she would highlight the information that was important on the power point so I only wrote down what was necessary.

Beyond this, can you identify the links between Judy Willis' knowledge of the brain and learning, Sir Ken Robinson's perspective on creativity, the needs of your contemporary learners and these pedagogical principles?

Sir Ken Robinson believes our education system is not supporting or encouraging our students to be creative, he also argues that we need to rethink our view on intelligence. The link between this and Judy Willis knowledge of learning is she beliefs we need to maintain student attention by applying curiosity. We need to encourage students to question what is happening, develop predications and create meaning and understanding and this will in result make them want to learn. Sir Ken Robinson describes students as imaginative innovators however, our system is not supporting that. Art is seen as an unimportant subject in some schools and is undervalued but it gives our students a chance to explore their creativity and their expression of their personality. Judy also further explains how when students make a mistake their brain goes into a reactive mode and this is why students shut down after making a mistake. The creation of a safe environment is the key to ceasing this feeling in students and acknowledging mistakes happen. Students need to feel comfortable in raising their hands and giving everything a go. This relates to the pedagogical principles that states students are in control, manage and own their own learning.

Why is it important to engage social interaction and prior knowledge, and plan for individualised and socially supportive, valued learning?

Student success is driven by safe learning environments for students where they feel their education is valued. It is important to engage students socially, so they develop crucial social skills in preparation for their future and understand the importance of acceptance. I think that is the major thing most students struggle with, acceptance. Students are very reluctant to change and incorporating students who are different, in my experiences. We need to be teaching students that everyone is different. We also need to incorporate students’ prior knowledge so we are constantly stimulating their brains with new information but also challenging their prior knowledge by doing reflection questions from the previous lesson. We also need to give students the chance to learn individually as some students prefer to learn in their own environment where they can explore their own opinions.

Reflect on your experiences of pedagogy as a learner. How many of these pedagogies are you familiar with?

As a learner, I am familiar and can recognise most of these principles. I can recognise all eight principles as I had some great educators in my high school experience who were constantly developing their pedagogy. I am experiencing this still in university where the lecturers make the content very student directed where students are expected to engage with the content in their own time.