Pedagogy vs. Methodology

Main Difference

The main difference between Pedagogy and Methodology is that the Pedagogy is a discipline that deals with the theory and practice of education and Methodology is a systematic, theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a field of study.

• Pedagogy

  Pedagogy () is the discipline that deals with the theory and practice of teaching. Pedagogy informs teaching strategies, teacher actions, and teacher judgments and decisions by taking into consideration theories of learning, understandings of students and their needs, and the backgrounds and interests of individual students. Pedagogy includes how the teacher interacts with students and the social and intellectual environment the teacher seeks to establish. Spanning a broad range of practice, its aims range from furthering liberal education (the general development of human potential) to the narrower specifics of vocational education (the imparting and acquisition of specific skills).

  Instructive strategies are governed by the pupil’s background knowledge and experience, situation, and environment, as well as learning goals set by the student and teacher. One example would be the Socratic schools of thought.

  The teaching of adults, as a specific group, is referred to as andragogy.

• Methodology

  Methodology is the systematic, theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a field of study. It comprises the theoretical analysis of the body of methods and principles associated with a branch of knowledge. Typically, it encompasses concepts such as paradigm, theoretical model, phases and quantitative or qualitative techniques.

  A methodology does not set out to provide solutions – it is, therefore, not the same as a method. Instead, a methodology offers the theoretical underpinning for understanding which method, set of methods, or best practices can be applied to a specific case, for example, to calculate a specific result.

  It has been defined also as follows:

  “the analysis of the principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline”;

  “the systematic study of methods that are, can be, or have been applied within a discipline”;

  “the study or description of methods”.