About the Different Types of Pedagogies

Different types of pedagogies

General pedagogy refers to universal and global issues of investigation and the action upon education. There are different types of pedagogies that center their attention on different aspects.

According to the focus on which the study centers, there are more specific branches within pedagogy as a mother discipline. While there are different authors that suggest different classifications and denominations, we’ll describe the different types of pedagogies with the greatest relevance today.

Child pedagogy

This field of study focuses on the first years of people’s lives. It analyzes the process of children’s maturation, development and growth. It also examines how these processes bear relation with certain decisive social, environmental, economic and other aspects, according to concrete contexts.

Child pedagogy mainly studies the competencies that children acquire during the first stage of life. This involves fundamental foundations for a person’s future vital development. At the same time, the role of educators takes on special relevance.

Social pedagogy

This area focuses on social groups that either suffer or are at risk of social exclusion. Its action strategy is education and formation as a means of preventing behaviors that pose a risk and lead to social isolation.

It also offers services that help people with greater social, cultural, and economic difficulties, etc. The purpose of this help is to give them access to formative itineraries.

Descriptive pedagogy

The objective of this line of study has more to do with research and is more empirical in nature. It attempts to study concrete realities in hopes to obtain enough data and information to describe and interpret it.

In its research, descriptive pedagogy studies biological, historical, psychological, and social factors that influence both teaching-learning processes in a particular way and educational phenomena in general.

It carries out what are called field studies, using techniques and instruments that help in the process of information recollection. What’s more, it studies educational phenomena in different contexts, situations and geographical locations.

Psychological pedagogy

Psychological pedagogy, or educational psychology, uses the tools of the discipline of psychology to study and understand the processes and behaviors that come into play in teaching-learning situations.

This area of pedagogy looks at personality characteristics and patterns for answers to learning problems… such as low performance or attention deficit.

Political pedagogy and other types of pedagogy

This area studies the relationship that exists between education and public life, in general, and with the state in particular. It also analyzes the educational elements that exist within society and the way that people relate to one another.

Normative pedagogy

With an absolutely theoretical foundation, normative pedagogy establishes norms and guides education. It leans on philosophy to theorize about ideals, values that education should promote, and the goals it should pursue.

Critical pedagogy

This type of pedagogy advocates for teaching that helps students question and challenge what they learn in formal education settings. It seeks to produce critical awareness through the constant relationship between theory and praxis (practice). The objective is to challenge the dominant norms and beliefs that society establishes.

Final considerations regarding different types of pedagogies

Given the intrinsic complexity of educational phenomena, pedagogy as a discipline has become more specialized… and this is true for all of these other theories and types of pedagogies. It’s clear that it helps respond to the need for analysis that allows for an ever-deeper understanding of the complex process of education.