We explain what a pedagogical approach is and the characteristics of the executive, therapeutic and liberating approaches.
What is a pedagogical approach?
When we talk about pedagogical approaches, we normally refer to the different conceptualizations that exist around the educational fact, that is, to the different possible teaching paradigms, each with its own idea of what it is to educate how it can be achieved and what are the ideal mechanisms for this.
Therefore, there is no single possible pedagogical approach, but there have been many and very different ones throughout the history of education. Each one grants certain roles to the educator, or pursues certain teaching environments. Among them, it is possible to highlight the following three:
- Executive focus . It gives the educator a role of “director” of the teaching process, through properly structured planning, which is put into practice through school evaluations, and through a variety of resources sequenced and orchestrated to reward learning and discourage harmful behaviors. This is a traditional approach, typical of the psychological school of behaviorism.
- Therapeutic approach . In this case, the role of the educator is thought of as a facilitator, that is, as a companion of the learning process, whose main mission is to channel learning in a meaningful way, without being responsible for teaching. In that sense, you must empathize with the students and get to know them in such a way that you can address each one's difficulties and provide solutions so that each student is educated in their own way.
- Liberating approach . According to this approach, the task of education is to liberate, that is, to form more critical citizens better prepared to face knowledge; And for this, a rather constructivist approach is essential, in which education is something that happens and is built in the classroom, rather than something that is imposed or taught to the student. So the teacher must achieve an environment conducive to knowledge and to formulate and test different hypotheses.
References
- “Approaches to teaching” by Gary Fenstermacher and Jonas Soltis in Terras.edu.ar.
- “Education: pedagogical approaches and contemporary didactics” (video) in TELDE.
- “3 pedagogical approaches you can try” at Concordia University (Mexico).
