Week 2.1 : Pedagogy - Setting the Scene

The simplest ( and also most complex if you think about it too much!) definition of pedagogy is that is that it is the “how” of teaching (DETE,2013c). 

Education Queensland acknowledges the importance of pedagogy that is guided by research and enacted consistently across a school in improving teacher effectiveness and hence student outcomes. The department also acknowledges that the complexity of teaching and learning requires that to be effective schools need to develop their own, locally specific, set of practices (DETE, 2012).

Because effective pedagogy must be informed by the context in which teaching and learning occurs and because the teaching and learning environment is a conglomeration of interdependent factors at individual, class, school organisation and socio cultural level, my personal pedagogy will change over time and with my teaching context.

A background paper produced by DETE ( 2013c) provides a comprehension overview of pedagogy within Education Queensland including  a history of pedagogy research, an outline of a variety of pedagogical frameworks ( including Productive Pedagogies) and a set of 10 core principles that are present across the different frameworks; High expectations, Student centred planning, Aligned curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, Evidence based decision making,  Targeted and scaffolded instruction and Safe, supportive, connected and inclusive classroom environment. I found this document extremely useful in providing perspective and an understanding of the commonalities between approaches to pedagogy.

An alignment matrix provided by DETE on its Pedagogical Framework website ( DETE, 2013b) shows how each framework addresses the core principles listed above and provides a useful scaffold for evaluating the strenghs of each.

My school currently works with the Dimensions of teaching and learning (DoTL) ( DETE, 2013a) which is based on a series of questions that guide teacher practice throughout the teaching and learning cycle.

·       What do my students already know?

·       What do they need to learn?

·       How do I teach it?

·       How will they demonstrate their learning?

·       How will I know how well my students have learned it?

·       Where to next?

This framework provides support to align curriculum, teaching, assessment and reporting. It is student centred and has a focus on using assessment to inform teaching. 

The teaching and learning aspect of this framework describes a variety of teaching strategies that can be selected to meet the needs of students and the curriculum; direct teaching, interactive teaching, indirect teaching and experiential teaching. 

This aspect of DoTL matches my personal understanding of teaching and learning, which stemmed from my previous exploration of learning theories, that different strategies and approaches are chosen by teachers to meet the needs of learners and the requirements of the curriculum. We need to know our learners, the curriculum and a wide range of teaching strategies in order to make informed decisions that effectively support learning.

How does DoTL address the use of technology in the teaching and learning cycle? This approach does not provide any specific advice about the use of digital technology. 

Pedagogical frameworks such as IMPACT, Symphony of Teaching and Learning  forefront student learning outcomes and provide guides for making decisions around how technology can be used to support this. 

NOTE  I have recently completed professional development in the IMPACT model and would like to explore it's application to teaching with technology in a later post.

References

Education Queensland.(2012). United in our pursuit of excellence: Agenda for improvement 2012-2016. (2012). Retrieved December 21, 2013, from http://education.qld.gov.au/corporate/about/strategic/index.html

Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment.(2013a). Dimensions of teaching and learning. Retrieved December 21, 2013, from  https://learningplace.eq.edu.au/cx/resources/file/f093f249-05ce-0bde-465a-dbc537683e7a/1/index.html

Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment.(2013b). Pedagogical Framework (website). Retrieved December 21, 2013, from https://learningplace.eq.edu.au/cx/resources/file/f66ebbde-9978-4bfd-e445-b0f06cf4849f/1/index.html

 

Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment.(2013c). Pedagogy and pedagogical frameworks in Education Queensland-A background paper. Retrieved December 21,2013, from https://learningplace.eq.edu.au/cx/resources/file/f66ebbde-9978-4bfd-e445-b0f06cf4849f/1/section-03/s03-01.html