We explain what an educational model is, its characteristics, the premises that structure it and the types that exist.
What is an educational model?
The educational model, teaching model or pedagogical model is understood as the different types of plans structured to transmit knowledge to younger generations always aiming to obtain better results, that is, the most complete and comprehensive training of the individual.
Like any other process, education requires inputs, resources and planning, not only in relation to educational management, but also to the management of knowledge and learning processes, since it has been proven that Individuals and generations learn in different ways and respond differently to different types of teaching.
In fact, changes in the objective reality of the world, such as technological, moral or political reality, usually demand new educational models, that is, an update in the ways of teaching.
To do this, education specialists debate and design educational models, structured based on three fundamental premises:
- The focus. What is teaching? What do we hope to obtain at the end of an educational process and how close or far are we from it?
- The methodology. How to teach? What do we need to achieve the previous objective? What is the best route towards it?
- The evaluation. How can teaching progress be measured? How can we verify that what was taught was actually learned?
Thus, teaching models have varied enormously over time, since the times when physical punishment was administered, for example. The purpose of this evolutionary process is to build more effective teaching models, which also respond to the moral, philosophical and civic values that we wish to see implemented in our society.
Types of educational model
There are many ways to classify educational models, but below we will present the five most fundamental:
- The traditional teaching model. The most used throughout history, is based on the principle that teaching is transmitting knowledge, which is possessed by the educator. In this model, the student occupies a passive role, he is a mere recipient of the knowledge that the educator must pour over him. In that sense, the educator occupies the leading role, since he must find a way for the students to learn, as if everything depended on him.
- The behavioral teaching model. Considering the entire educational process as a technical, scientific mechanism, in which the teacher is basically an operator, this model is based on the methods and principles of the psychological school of behaviorism, developed by BF Skinner. Repetition is key in this model, as is conditioning through punishments and rewards, administered by the teacher.
- The constructivist teaching model. It starts from considering the teacher-student interaction in terms different from the above, to the extent that the former continually reflects on his or her performance and interprets the student's errors as indicators and symptoms that serve to redirect the process. For this model, error is necessary, and learning is nothing more than risking making mistakes, as knowledge is built very gradually, by the student himself, and not transmitted from the teacher.
- The Sunbury model of teaching. This educational model is based on the idea that there are multiple methods of teaching and learning, given that learning is something that the student does, not something that is done to the student. Thus, the latter is given a leading role, which defines the educator as a counselor, a companion in the process, who must never tell the student what to do, but guide him so that he discovers it himself.
- The projective teaching model. As its name indicates, this model is based on the idea that learning can occur in the form of “projects”, that is, searches and investigations triggered by an excuse or pretext proposed by the teacher, who is just a facilitator, a facilitator for the group itself to generate its norms, pursue its interests, propose its methods and build knowledge through experience.
References
- “Teaching models” on Wikipedia.
- “Educational model, what is it and why does it matter?” in El Financiero (Mexico).
- “Change of educational model” in Junta de Andalucía (Spain).
