The Pedagogy is a science complex should be seen carefully, since pedagogy studies everything related to education and the position of the values of knowledge of the human being. Derived from the Greeks "Paidon" which means "Child" and "Gogos" which means "Drive", the word refers to his vision, evoked to the formation of methods that guarantee a high value education. When talking about Pedagogy in an institution, an analytical study of the existing teaching processes is carried out, to reinforce or develop better strategies that will help the child absorb the maximum amount of knowledge possible.
What is pedagogy
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It is a discipline in charge of the study of the methods used in teaching. The meaning of Pedagogy is today a world-known term, since the new generations and the application of new technologies have led the human being to a constant race to learn more, and the simplification or remastering of the teaching format has been a key tool in the evolution of education.
The concept of pedagogy establishes the basis for growth in education, the use of this philosophy as an application has served to restore much of the educational system. Thanks to organizations such as UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in English: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) which has been in charge of contributing to peace and security in the world Through education, science, culture and communications, important studies and strategies have been developed to carry out pedagogical studies around the world, with an emphasis on third world countries, where new cultures of immediate action and reaction hinder education.
The definition of pedagogy indicates that it is a science free to the reception of other areas of study, with the purpose of framing results and collaborating with the creation of new educational inclusion programs that help teachers to provide better teaching to children, teenager and students of all ages. Subjects from social sciences, history, and anthropology are used as a reference in order to understand education a little more as a growing philosophy and not as a system.
What is a pedagogue
The person who is in charge of educating children is known as a pedagogue. The term comes from the Latin " paedagogus ", however its oldest origin is in the Greek language.
A pedagogue is a professional from the pedagogy career, understanding that the definition of pedagogy is described as the study that is responsible for the teaching and education of children. This means that the pedagogue has the same capacities as a teacher and is able to teach his students.
It is important to highlight that the professional of the pedagogy career has psychosocial knowledge; In other words, he is able to work with the child as a person (depending on his psychological coding) and as a social actor (according to his relationship with the environment that surrounds him).
History of pedagogy
This science arises within the educational context when the need arises to refine techniques and methodologies aimed at transmitting knowledge, as well as systematizing educational events. In other words, pedagogy appears in reciprocity to man's requirements for transmitting the knowledge obtained and the information acquired during daily practice within his natural and social environment.
There are historical accounts regarding educational currents, which at a certain point became invisible, so you can confuse the facts that establish the end of one era and the beginning of another movement. As regards the concept of traditional and modern pedagogy, the line that divides them is very narrow. Despite the permanence of traditional methods, they continue to be maintained today, like the traditional school model but with the leveling of new movements.
The origin of the definition of pedagogy resides in the fact that this is the first sample of a natural and spontaneous act of the human being, subsequently the systematic and intentional character that pedagogy gives to education was born. So there is a small transit through the different stages and times through which education passed.
Main pedagogical theories of learning
Pedagogical theories are a different way of analyzing the processes of learning and teaching. They are based on studies carried out in different contexts, such as sociology, psychology or within the educational system itself. Each of these theories start from a different hypothesis, and in general, from different teaching methods.
There are five main theories of pedagogy;
Theories based on mental discipline
The initial pedagogical theories of history are based on the idea that the purpose of teaching is not learning itself. Rather, what was appreciated were the characteristic traits that this process shaped: behaviors, intelligence and values. In this way, teaching worked more than anything to discipline the mind and train better individuals.
This pattern was the one used in Greco-Roman times, where citizens were educated in rhetoric, logic, music, astronomy, and grammar. Education was based on repetition and imitation, and the teacher had full power over his students.
Naturalistic theories
Naturalistic theories were one of the first pedagogical hypotheses that provided an alternative to the theory of mental discipline. This way of assimilating education, believes that the learning system occurs naturally, because of the same way of being of children.
According to naturalists, the fundamental role of the teacher is to form the right conditions for students to learn and develop their full capacity.
In this way, the transfer of pure knowledge is downplayed, and greater emphasis is placed on the taking of different experiences by students.
Associationist theories
Associationism is one of the movements with the greatest influence on the development of pedagogy as a discipline. For its creators, learning basically consisted of making mental associations between different experiences and ideas. Its creators affirm that we come into the world without any kind of wisdom, and that knowledge must be built through the years.
Among the most relevant authors of this movement are Jean Piaget and Johann Herbart. The two expressed that the mechanisms they used to build knowledge was through experience, for example: accumulation and assimilation, are the two ideas that are still present in the theories of the development of the activity.
Behavioral theories
Behavioral theories is one of the most popular movements in the entire context of psychology, and one that has had the most dominance in both teaching and related disciplines.
This theory is based on the idea that all training is carried out by relating one experience or virtue to a previous one, or virtues with pleasant or unpleasant stimuli.
Behaviorism consists essentially of works on basic limitations and operant limitations. In this movement, children are visualized as “ clean sheets ”, without any kind of prior knowledge and without individual distinctions. In this way, its defenders thought that any knowledge is necessarily passive.
Cognitive theories
In different respects, the meaning of cognitive pedagogy is the opposite of behaviorism. This focuses more than anything on understanding processes such as thinking, learning and language, which are purely mental. His followers think that these processes have a very important role in all aspects of people's lives.
In the field of education, cognitive theories confirm that any learning system follows a certain order. In the first place is the awakening of curiosity; then the problems are investigated in a preliminary way, and the first theories are made. Finally, the most acceptable ones are chosen, verified and adopted.
Various types of pedagogy
The different types of pedagogy are:
Descriptive pedagogy
In this kind of pedagogy, studies are based on the empirical field, that is, they start from reality. Starting with descriptions made through the observation of reality, the corresponding field studies are carried out, from which conclusions are subsequently drawn.
Normative pedagogy
It is the type of pedagogy that establishes standards, theorizes, reflects and guides the educational fact, is remarkably theoretical and is based on philosophy. Within normative pedagogy there are two large extensions:
The philosophical pedagogy or philosophy of teaching, which studies problems such as: the values and ideals that make up the pedagogical axiology, the goal of education and educational purposes.
Technological pedagogy, which studies the following aspects: the structure that makes up the educational method, the methodology that begins the didactic pedagogy and control, giving the birth of the organization and school administration.
Children pedagogy
As its name indicates, children's pedagogy is based on the study of children, originating methods and carrying out procedures to be used by teachers in the educational field. Field studies are normally carried out in different institutions from which professionals start, to develop implementation methods that are novel in teaching.
Psychological pedagogy
In pedagogy there are certain situations where it is related to psychology. The pedagogy begins in some referential behaviors in which it is based to specify a profile of the personality, reveal if there are any problems in children such as: violations or abuse, poor performance, multiple personality disorder, concentration deficit, etc. In this way, education will be prepared for children who require it and together with psychology, they will help solve the problem if the child has a specific one.
Definition of critical pedagogy
Critical pedagogy is a group of methods that allow to establish from practice and theory, a teaching proposal that involves people's critical thoughts.
Pedagogy itself involves a set of knowledge and techniques aimed at education, which goes beyond the socio-political and cultural spaces of which individuals are part and whose purpose is to transform the traditional educational method.
However, pedagogy is sub-segmented into different fields with individual purposes, among which is Critical pedagogy, which emerges as a teaching proposal that encourages students to take a position of questioning before all that they learn and do.
Characteristics of critical pedagogy
Critical pedagogy is a study that seeks for students to develop their critical and reflective skills. They have several characteristics, among which the following prevail:
- Modify the conventional educational system.
- It is a teaching proposition that motivates the questioning of what is studied.
- Critical pedagogy is intended to be a political and ethical method.
- It makes it easy for people to wonder about the social methods in which they participate.
- It empowers teaching systems from an analytical position that transforms educational values and methods.
- It facilitates social changes based on the questions of social and political processes.
Importance of studying the career of pedagogy
The career of pedagogy is of great importance to face the challenges that education constantly faces. Being this a study dedicated to teaching, and at the same time it is an art, the importance of studying pedagogy lies in the contributions that it can make basically to improve the field of teaching, providing the appropriate and effective methods of how to teach, what to teach and how it should be done.
On the other hand, children's pedagogy, for example, is the main reason why people focus on their study, since helping children in their educational and mental training motivates them.
In a country like Mexico, for example, where educational inequality and lag is a reality, the Bachelor of Pedagogy tries to help with the solution of these problems and to produce opportunities; providing programs so that the education that can be accessed is comprehensive, and for that, the evaluation and correction of educational systems is necessary.
This kind of thing makes a Bachelor's degree in pedagogy essential.
How many years does it take to get a degree in pedagogy
The pedagogy course has a duration of 8 semesters that are equivalent to four years, but in other universities it could go up to 10 semesters. Although there are also other institutions where it is divided into a semester to be studied in 3 years. It is important to highlight that there are many universities in Mexico that offer the study of this career, among the most common this one: UNAM pedagogy, Anáhuac University, UANL in Nuevo León and BUAP in Puebla.
Pedagogy at UNAM
The Bachelor's Degree in Pedagogy offered by the National Autonomous University of Mexico "UNAM" has a duration of 8 semesters. The professional who graduated from the pedagogy career will have the necessary elements to organize the theoretical and methodological progress of the pedagogical area, exercising the following functions:
- pedagogical consulting and advice.
- Pedagogical teaching.
- Planning and evaluation of educational projects at the level of formal, non-formal and informal education.
- Curriculum planning and evaluation.
- Educational supervision and coordination. Among others.
