Being clear about pedagogy 

Dr Fiona Aubrey-Smith discusses the importance of understanding and considering pedagogy when making decisions in schools

The term ‘pedagogy’ refers to how we think about supporting learning (Aubrey-Smith and Twining, 2023) therefore, it is healthy for us all to remember that all decisions made in school – which are designed to be places of learning – are, ultimately, pedagogical decisions because every decision will, directly or indirectly, influence the choices that can be made about supporting learning. 

Some of these are obvious – a feedback and marking policy, an approach to behaviour, lesson planning or how we organise boards and tables in our classrooms; these all directly influence relationships and interactions between teachers and students (Aubrey-Smith, 2020).

However, many decisions contain implicit pedagogy which will affect learning – for example, the way our admin systems organise data will influence how we analyse and act upon it, how laptops are distributed or timetabled defines how we incorporate technology into classroom practice, the purchasing of exercise books influences when, where and how learning is recorded (Twining et al, 2017). 

Whatever role we have, we all implicitly act as pedagogical gatekeepers and so, at every point of decision-making, we should all be asking ourselves, ‘What aspects of pedagogy (supporting learning) is this decision encouraging, influencing or preventing?’

Furthermore, we ought to be ensuring that every single person in our schools who make decisions has an awareness of what influences effective pedagogy. Importantly, this includes the wide range of professional support roles in schools and trusts – spanning administration, finance, IT, catering and estates. For example, decisions about grounds maintenance, lunchtime nutrition and wireless locations are just three of the ‘non-teaching’ decisions made that will absolutely impact learning. 

Importantly, new research from the Technology, Pedagogy and Education Association (TPEA) has found there to be significant variances within individual schools when defining effective pedagogy (Aubrey-Smith, 2022); this means that you can expect different colleagues within your school to have different views about what learning ‘should’ look like. For example, the TPEA study found that roughly 25% of staff aligned with a traditionalist view, roughly 60% aligned with a constructivist view, and roughly 15% aligned with a socio-cultural view. 

Common views of pedagogy

• Traditional views on pedagogy focus on the acquisition of information with learning evidenced by the ability to recall it. 
• Individual constructivist views on pedagogy focus on learners creating age or stage-specific mental models. 
• Social constructivist views on pedagogy focus on the interaction between a learner and a ‘more knowledgeable other’, with learning emerging through dialogue. 
• Socio-cultural views on pedagogy focus on learning to understand, and then become a member of, a particular community with shared purposes and values. 

Furthermore, 

“Classroom teachers were more likely to align with behaviourist views on pedagogy when talking about knowledge (with leaders more likely to align with socio-cultural views on knowledge) and leaders more likely to align with behaviourism when talking about the purpose of schooling (with teachers more likely to align with constructivism)”. (Aubrey-Smith, 2022)

There is plenty of further research which highlights how teacher and leader views on pedagogy change depending on subject specialism, age of students, and a myriad of other influences (for example, Aubrey-Smith, 2021; Webster et al, 2012; Moore Johnson, 2003). The point is that, as we now know that staff will have inconsistent views on pedagogy, we need to recognise that it is highly likely that decisions across different functions and departments may contradict each other. 

For example, a digital strategy made by one group of leaders encouraging learners to use technology to support flexible learning, may have little impact in practice because the equipment is restricted by another group of leaders who have timetabled devices rather than enabling ‘on-demand’ access. The solution is a simple, three-step, approach: 

• Encourage staff to be more aware of their own pedagogical beliefs (see activity below) so that they understand the implications of their daily decisions and actions. 
• Encourage staff to talk to each other about their views on pedagogy. Make ‘talking about pedagogy’ a normal, every-day, feature of professional dialogue; this brings it to the surface and helps encourage cohesion. 
• Create a new habit every time a decision is made in school – of asking about the pedagogical implications, for example, ‘How will this decision open up, influence, or close off, learning for these children?’

When we create a culture where pedagogy is part of every professional conversation, then we become the right kind of pedagogical gatekeepers – opening up opportunities for better, more impactful, learning for all. 

Activity: Over the coming week consider the last time that staff in your school had a detailed conversation about what we really mean by ‘pedagogy’ – and the four domains within it.

• What it means to be a learner, and what it means ‘to learn’.
• What it means to be a teacher, and what it means ‘to teach’.
• How knowledge comes to exist.
• How we define what education is and how schooling relates to this.

Furthermore, consider where the bulk of attention about ‘pedagogy’ goes – and compare this to where you would like attention to be. Consider:

• Pedagogical approaches or methods (teaching and learning strategies).
• Pedagogical practices (classroom actions).
• Pedagogical beliefs (individual values and philosophical beliefs).
• Pedagogical intentions (what we want learners to internalise and experience).
• Politicised pedagogy (strategies that we are implementing due to politics or accountability systems).

How, when and where could you increase opportunities for these discussions? 

For more individual or team-based activities to support conversation about pedagogy, see Aubrey-Smith, F., and Twining, P., (2023) From EdTech to PedTech: Changing the way we think about digital technology. Routledge. London. www.pedtech.org