Pedagogical Skills

Bhavya MadhuI B EdMangalam College of Education

• Pedagogy can be defined as the art of teaching.

• Pedagogy involves being able to convey knowledge and

skills in ways that students can understand, remember

and apply.

• Pedagogical skills can generally be divided

into classroom management skills and content-related

skills.

What is Pedagogy?

Behaviour management is perhaps one of

the most difficult skills for pre-service

teachers to master. Having good

pedagogical skills is essential for classroom

and behaviour management.

• Being able to reflect on your teaching

practices and identify what works and what

doesn’t.

• Being transparent.

Classroommanagement

•Teachers need to be consistent and equitable in their

negotiation of expectations and consequences for inappropriate

behaviour.

• Being able to create a learning environment that it

challenging, open, engaging and rich which enables students to

meet their targeted learning outcomes as well as being

interested and motivated

•Knowing your students – not just academically, what their

interests are, their personality and their learning styles.

The concept of pedagogical content knowledge is not new.

The term gained renewed emphasis with Lee Shulman

(1986), a teacher education researcher who was interested in

expanding and improving knowledge on teaching and

teacher preparationHe argued that developing general

pedagogical skills was insufficient for preparing content

teachers as was education that stressed only content

knowledge. In his view, the key to distinguishing the

knowledge base of teaching rested at the intersection of 

content and pedagogy (Shulman, 1986).

Content knowledge and skills

Shulman defined pedagogical content knowledge as teachers’

interpretations and transformations of subject-matter knowledge in the

context of facilitating student learning. He further proposed several key

elements of pedagogical content knowledge:

(1) knowledge of representations of subject matter (content

knowledge.

(2) understanding of students’ conceptions of the subject and the

learning and teaching implications that were associated with the specific

subject matter.

(3) general pedagogical knowledge (or teaching strategies). To complete

what he called the knowledge base for teaching, he included other

elements.

(4) curriculum knowledge

(5) knowledge of educational contexts

(6) knowledge of the purposes of education (Shulman, 1987).

To this conception of pedagogical content knowledge,

others have contributed valuable insights on the importance

and relevance of the linguistic and cultural characteristics of a

diverse student population

Inclusive teaching refer to any number of teaching approaches that

address the needs of students with a variety of backgrounds,

learning styles, and abilities. These strategies contribute to an

overall inclusive learning environment, in which students feel

equally valued.

Benefits of inclusive teaching:•You can connect with and engage with a variety of students.

•You are prepared for “spark moments” or issues that arise when

controversial material is discussed.

•Students connect with course materials that are relevant to them.

Inclusive Teaching.

•Students feel comfortable in the classroom environment to voice

their ideas/thoughts/questions.

•Students are more likely to experience success in your course

through activities that support their learning styles, abilities, and

backgrounds.

How can you teach inclusively?•Be reflective by asking yourself the following:

•Incorporate diversity into your overall curriculum.

•Be intentional about creating a safe learning environment by

utilizing ground rules.

•Be proactive in connecting with and learning about your students.

•Utilize a variety of teaching strategies, activities, and assignments

that will accommodate the needs of students with diverse learning

styles, abilties, backgrounds, and experiences. 

•Use universal design principles to create accessible classes.

For example, present information both orally and visually to

accommodate both students with visual or auditory

impairments in addition to students with various learning

preferences.

•When possible, provide flexibility in how students

demonstrate their knowledge and how you assess student

knowledge and development. Vary your assessments (for

example, incorporate a blend of collaborative and individual

assignments) or allow choice in assignments (for example,

give students multiple project topics to choose from.