The importance of developing pedagogical content knowledge for improving teaching expertise
Written by: Hannah Thomson
9 min read
Hannah Thomson, Curriculum Associate at The Teacher Development Trust, UK (Assistant Headteacher at the Laurus Trust at time of writing)
Pedagogical knowledge
Pedagogical knowledge is the generic knowledge required for the processes and practices of teaching and learning – for example, student learning, classroom management and instructional design. A teacher with deep pedagogical knowledge understands how students construct knowledge through schemas and how motivation and behaviour impact learning (Willingham, 2018). The Early Career Framework (ECF; DfE, 2019) and National Professional Qualification (NPQ; DfE, 2022) frameworks for professional development, in addition to the Teachers’ Standards (DfE, 2011), support the construction of this pedagogical knowledge in different areas: teaching, curriculum, behaviour and assessment. Pedagogical knowledge is vital; however, this article suggests that generic pedagogical knowledge alone is not enough if we want to improve teacher quali
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Thank you for writing this. An interesting and well argued case for Subject Specific Pedagogy to be at the forefront of teachers professional development. Let’s hope we can keep experienced teachers in the profession to disseminate their pedagogical content knowledge to more novice teachers and ultimately, student benefit.