What this means

There are various frameworks for effective pedagogy and, as yet, no broad agreement as to which adds the most value. As well, the term ‘pedagogy' can mean “teaching without the bigger picture”, as Professor Robin Alexander puts it.

Pedagogy is importantly about developing the very best teaching practice. But teaching as a practical act and pedagogy are not the same. To build upon Alexander's important argument, pedagogy includes the practice of teaching as well as the:

• Values (including conflicts between ideals and actual practice)
• Visions of what education is for and how society may be (including an environmentally sustainable future)
• Educational philosophies and theories
• Use of research and evidence - local, national and international
• Governance and policies
• Professional autonomy versus micro-management of educators
• Models of education (e.g., P-12 schooling)
• Curriculum content and frameworks
• Information and communication technologies
• Building designs and facilities
• Cultural, linguistic, social, community and family contexts
• That inform, shape and explain the practice of teaching and, through this, significantly affect the nature of students' learning experiences and the outcomes achieved.

With emphasis on professional conversations about teaching, the Department has released the e5 instructional model to further inform conversations about classroom practice. Models such as e5 can create opportunities for increased attention to both effective classroom practice and the bigger picture of pedagogy.

It is this 'both-and' that means that teaching is not simply a technical skill but has a broader, deeper intellectual foundation. Treating teaching mainly as a technical skill replaces critical ‘why’ questions with technical ‘how to’ questions and, likewise, may marginalise teachers' professional autonomy in favour of ‘standards’.

As many schools and educators have promoted, a school council (or cluster of schools) may develop its own policy framework for effective pedagogy. This can serve to shape broad agreement within a school community as to which practices are most likely to improve learning outcomes for all students.

There is a trend toward more comprehensive frameworks. This is consistent with the fact that the most effective student learning is built on ever-stronger links between three things:

1. Teaching practice and pedagogical knowledge
2. New information and communication technologies
3. The depth and coherence of curriculum content.

The challenge is thus how best to integrate pedagogy, technology and content in powerful, synergistic ways.

Punya Mishra and Matthew Koehler and others are researching the mix of pedagogy, technology and content. They use the term ‘TPACK’ or Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge to describe it. TPACK goes beyond seeing these three sets of knowledge and skills in isolation and emphasises the new kinds of knowledge and skills that lie at the intersections between them.

Case study

To be developed.

Action checklist

To be developed.