PaulStevens,Nov2013ID:1075158

UnitPlanArt&IdentityExplanation/DiscussiononPedagogy
Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners: Justification for Pedagogical
Choices
What is Pedagogy?
Pedagogy is the how of teaching, as well as, perhaps more importantly, the why.
I see it as a word more acquainted with the why than the how even because the how
that we are concerned with here is not the logistics of doing - the everyday - so much as
the big picture how which is directly informed by motivations and a reflective practice -
the why.
Pedagogy is important for two reasons: Firstly, because it is not a given, and secondly
because it makes teaching an art form.
The Collins New English Dictionary defines the word pedagogy as a noun meaning the
principles, practice, and/or profession of teaching. (1997).
This definition is more useful than I supposed it would be. It presents us firstly with the 3
Ps of pedagogy (easy to remember): Principles, Practice, and Profession. This is useful
because we must remember that none of these three things can be assumed in any
teachers day-to-day and all require a why. Let me explain what I mean.
Principles implies a considered, strongly held ethical, political and philosophical outlook
informing action.
Practice implies study and reflection informing action.
And Profession implies an occupation worth taking up (and being rewarded by society); an
art form practiced best by those with experience and the highest qualifications.
What a privileged position those who take up pedagogy must hold (if only the media,
government and our communities more recognised these essential qualities to our
vocation).
But before we get sidetracked with that kind of politics let us return to the politics with
which pedagogy is interested: A high-minded concern with the acquisition and sharing of
power (Zepke, 2003). For this in a nutshell is the question of pedagogy: How are my
actions as a teacher making my students less or more free? This is the creating of citizens
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which Dewey speaks of (1916); the Pedagogy of the Oppressed with which Freire is
concerned (1970).
I observed to a colleague recently what I considered to be the foundational difference I
observed between effective teachers (and those who could become effective), and
ineffective teachers (if I were to make such a crude division): Effective teachers never
stop maintaining a reflective practice, they always consider and reconsider their methods,
always question whether things could be done better or smarter, consistently challenging
assumptions, always thinking on how their actions affect their students. They think, and
think about how and why they think, as well as how and why they teach. To put it
succinctly, in the words of William Ayers from his book To Become a Teacher, Teaching is
always a search for better teaching. (pg. xiii, 1995).
This is significant because the position of students can never be assumed and the practice
of freedom requires both the promotion of inclusiveness, along with the recognition and
celebration of diversity. This is easy to say when it come to teaching but doesnt happen
on its own. It requires thinking before entering the classroom; a reflective pedagogical
practice.
Every student who ever enters my classroom will be a different person, with unique
needs and contributions, and yet it can be said that all people really require the same
things: Acknowledgement, safety, security, structure, encouragement, love. There is an
inherent tension in teaching then: All students are different but ultimately need the same
things. This creates an often narrow path for teachers to traverse.
Equality, consistency and fairness are important to any classroom but this does not mean
that I should treat every student the same. Take cultural background as one example of an
element of our students worth taking into account. Or not, for some mistaken colour
blindness with racial sensitivity. But it is as disregarding to ignore a students cultural
heritage as it is to judge them based on it.
How then should it be approached? How do you acknowledge, for example, the learning
challenges faced by so many from Mori and Pacific Islands backgrounds without
assuming their inferiority and acting based on this bias? A narrow path indeed.
The answer comes only through sustained, informed, reflective practice; i.e: pedagogy.
Pedagogy then is a living, breathing thing, changing over time, growing and moving,
ebbing and flowing. It is mine (and yours will be different to mine). And it matters as long
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as we care.
My answer to the above then (How do we approach our students, with all of their
diversity?): I aim to teach on the basis that my students are people first - before anything
else, including their designation as students or their, still recognised, cultural
background - and to therefore treat them with the utmost humanity, as partners in the
quest for knowledge. This is teaching as a hand-in-hand walk together towards freedom.
(Freire, 1970; hooks, 1994).


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