Pedagogical Competences: Key to Effective Teaching-Learning

Pedagogical competence is defined as “the skill of an individual to practice a  coordinated, synergistic combination of concrete resources (e.g. instruction materials such  as books, articles, and cases and technology such as software and hardware) and  insubstantial resources  (e.g. knowledge, skills, experience) to attain efficiency”.

 It also presumes an insightful and critical method to teaching, learning and pedagogical development over time, as it is attached to one’s own professional role.

The  prominence  in  understanding pedagogical competence  should thus fall on the  combined features which outline the capability to solve pedagogical  problems and typical pedagogical responsibilities occurring in  situations  of  real  pedagogical  activities  by  applying  knowledge,  professional  and  life experience, values and talents in a creative way so to acquire suitable and operative results.

There exists various types of learning aids and learning medium. The three essential interaction processes that can be used are the visual, auditory and (hands-on) kinestetic processes.  Likewise, there is also diverse level of command of the learned knowledge. As per first level of command the student have perceived the concepts. In the next level the student can describe to others and in the most radical command level the student can practice, relate and combine knowledge.

The teacher should be able to understand these gradation levels and also being able to explain the practical meaning of these levels in their own fields of proficiencies. They should be able to cultivate different type of pedagogical tools and interaction approaches with the students in order to interact with the different learning approaches.

Pedagogical competence needs those teachers who actively think about and interrogate their own practices in the classroom, keeping in mind the possible strategies for engagement, and keenly selecting the methods that best fit their objectives and topics.

 Ms. Shikha Kukreja

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Communication Studies