Pedagogy

2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Education

Pedagogy, the art or science of being a teacher, generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction. The word comes from the Ancient Greek παιδαγωγέω (paidagōgeō; from παῖς (child) and ἄγω (lead)): literally, "to lead the child”. In Ancient Greece, παιδαγωγός was (usually) a slave who supervised the education of his master’s son (girls were not publicly educated). This involved taking him to school (διδασκαλεῖον) or a gym (γυμνάσιον), looking after him and carrying his equipment (e.g. musical instruments).

The Latin-derived word for pedagogy, education, is nowadays used in the English-speaking world to refer to the whole context of instruction, learning, and the actual operations involved with that, although both words have roughly the same original meaning. In the English-speaking world the term pedagogy refers to the science or theory of educating.

Pedagogy is also sometimes referred to as the correct use of teaching strategies (see instructional theory). For example, Brazilian Paulo Freire, one of the most influential educators of the 20th century, referred to his method of teaching adults as " critical pedagogy". In correlation with those teaching strategies the instructor's own philosophical beliefs of teaching are harbored and governed by the pupil's background knowledge and experiences, personal situations and environment as well as learning goals set by the student as well as the teacher. For example, the Socratic schools of thought

An academic degree, Ped.D., Doctor of Pedagogy, is awarded honorarily by some American universities to distinguished educators (in the US and UK earned degrees within the education field are classified as an Ed.D., Doctor of Education or a Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy). The term is also used to denote an emphasis in education as a specialty in a field (for instance, a Doctor of Music degree "in piano pedagogy").