Pedagogy: Theory and Practice of Teaching and Learning

The word pedagogy corresponds to the ancient Greek παιδαγωγία paidagōgía, German 'leading a boy, educating, teaching, caring', which goes back to παῖς páis, German 'child' and ἄγειν ágein, German 'to lead, guide'. The Sophists (Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias of Elis) with their reflections on παιδεία paideía, German 'education and instruction of the child' marked the beginning of Western pedagogy. But in ancient Greece the term παιδαγωγός paidagōgós denoted first a slave who accompanied children from the home of their parents to the school or gymnasium and back home again, then generally the overseer or educator of boys.

The term pedagogy only acquired its current meaning in the second half of the 18th century, when the discipline differentiated itself from philosophy and theology and emancipated itself as an independent discipline.

In English, pedagogy/educational science(s) is usually called Educational Science (s) or Education for short, French "sciences de l'éducation", Spanish "ciencias de la educación". Whoever translates education into German has to keep in mind that it usually means training and education. A peculiarity of German becomes visible in the term Bildung, for which there is no equivalent in other languages. The discussion about education and educational theory is therefore sometimes difficult to convey outside the German-speaking world.

"Pedagogy" finds only apparent use in English and the Romance languages. The words "pedagogy" (English), "pédagogie" (French), "pedagogía" (Spanish) mean a practice rather than a science. In other languages, however, there is a usage like in German, e.g. Dutch "pedagogiek", Polish "pedagogika".

The distinction between the terms should not be viewed exclusively in historical terms. Pedagogy is rather the traditional term, which was already used in antiquity and in the Middle Ages or is associated with religious-normative goals ("Christian pedagogy"), educational science or educational sciences, on the other hand, is a new term, which was first used in the 18th century and has been increasingly used since the 1960s to emphasize the scientific character of the discipline.

The terms pedagogy and educational science are used inconsistently in the professional world. Depending on the introductory work, the terms are either understood as synonymous or an attempt is made to justify a separation of the concepts. There is controversy - especially in the German-speaking world - over the idea that the term Erziehungswissenschaft has replaced the term Pädagogik. The dispute over terminology cannot be understood without reference to considerations of philosophy of science, for authors who argue for a delimitation of the terms usually refer to "competing approaches in philosophy of science". In delineating the terms, this is meant to refer to a specific method of dealing with education and educational issues. In this respect, the controversy over the two terms can also be understood as a dispute over a fundamental self-understanding of the discipline.

The term educational science emphasizes the empirical and thus, from the point of view of positivism, the only scientific approach to the subject. According to this understanding, educational science starts from education as a given fact, which it describes and explains with empirical methods. Accordingly, the purpose of educational science "is not to influence educational action, but [...] to gain knowledge of the facts." Due to its exclusively empirical method, educational science in this understanding is not able to make statements about the tasks of education, as it were, since logically speaking one cannot conclude from a descriptive judgment to a normative judgment (Hume's law). For this interpretation of the discipline, this results in the problem of the question of completeness, since the investigation of education would not be able to avoid the question of what education is for in the first place. However, the answer to these imposing questions of meaning cannot be derived from empiricism.

The discipline's turn to empirical methods can be understood as a consequence of the pressure to scientify the disciplines that arose through the Enlightenment and the progress of the natural sciences. It is thus closely interwoven with the emancipation of the discipline from practical philosophy, of which it has been a part since antiquity. According to Brezinka, the turn to empirical methods can also be interpreted as a development from pedagogy to educational science and thus signifies a history of progress. Important historical steps in this development are, for example, Otto Willmann, who in his Prague lectures in 1876 put forward the thesis that pedagogy must be understood as a social science - i.e. an empirical science -, which above all made a distinction from philosophy clear. Also worthy of mention in this regard is Emile Durkheim, who in 1911 argued that a distinction should be made between a theoretical social science of education, the science of education, and a practical theory for educators. Since then, in this understanding, in addition to the designation of educational science as a "social science", one also speaks of a "pedagogical real science".

The term pedagogy is usually used for any kind of concern with education and educational issues. It can therefore be regarded as a traditionally adult generic term for the discipline. It includes value judgements about desirable goals of education and standards for educational action derived from them, as well as proposals about organisational forms of educational institutions, but also descriptive and explanatory statements about the reality of education.

If pedagogy is used in distinction to educational science - i.e. in the special sense - then this usually emphasises the humanistic-hermeneutic approach to the subject. In this sense, pedagogy is a discipline that can hardly be separated from practical philosophy due to a common range of methods, and attempts to clarify the task of educational activity and derive normative conclusions for practice. In doing so, pre-scientific pedagogical practice is regarded as the basis, which is analysed through methodological-critical reflection in order to reshape the respective existing practice in an effective and meaningful way. The use of the term pedagogy thus takes account, on the one hand, of the view that education always implies a dual character of facticity and normativity (education as a fact and as a task). It is not only a matter of clarifying what technical means can be used to achieve certain goals in educational practice, but also what goals these should have in the first place. In this context, the view is usually held that there can be no unencumbered educational reality that could serve as the basis for an empirical science of education, since education cannot be exhaustively investigated without reference to historical and social conditions and contexts.

Attempting to show reasons for the distinction between the terms can be useful to better understand the respective self-understanding of the discipline expressed in contributions from the professional community. Overall, the distinction between the two terms can also serve to illustrate that different aspects are constitutive for the discipline. It includes an action-guiding and a descriptive aspect as well as a humanistic as well as an empirical approach to questions relevant to education.