The Pedagogical Models

Ana Myriam Pinto Blanco

Academic Secretariat IDEAD of the University of Tolima
Email: ampinto@[Link]

Lucila Castro Quitora

Full Professor at the University of Tolima
Email: lcastro@[Link]

This essay presents the theoretical foundation of some models.

pedagogical. The first part focuses on conceptualization. The second,
analyze five models: traditional, behaviorist, progressive, cognitivist, and
critical-radical.

Content

The concept of model

Concept of pedagogical model
Traditional pedagogical model
Behaviorist pedagogical model
Progressive pedagogical model
Cognitive pedagogical model
Critical-radical pedagogical model

The concept of model

According to Flórez Ochoa1a model is the image or representation of the set of

relationships that define a phenomenon, with a view to better understanding it. From
According to this definition, it can be inferred that a model is an approximation.
useful theory in the description and understanding of interrelated aspects of a
particular phenomenon. In this model conceptualization it is necessary
establish that the analysis of the phenomenon under study is not solely a process
analytical in which the whole is examined in its parts, but also as a
integration process of relationships.

From Zubiría2It is important to consider that understanding a model is essential.

recognize the traces or marks that allow for the reconstruction of aspects of life
human and serve as a basis for reflection and research. In this sense,
a model constitutes a comprehensive and integrative approach to
determined phenomenon, and from the theoretical-practical point of view it is to offer a
framework for understanding implications, scopes, limitations and
paradigmatic weaknesses that are present to explain it. In the social sciences
macro and micro models attempt to describe and understand social phenomena
data on its structure, functioning, and historical development3.

Concept of pedagogical model

As education is a social phenomenon, pedagogical models constitute

own models of pedagogy, recognized not only as a knowledge but also
which can be the subject of conceptual criticism and review of the foundations
about which it has been built ...4".

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According to De Zubiría5The
notebook of a child, the texts we use, a board with
annotations, the way to arrange the classroom or simply the map or the resource
The didactic used tells us much more about the pedagogical approaches than what
apparently one could think. They are actually the undeniable mark of our
pedagogical conception. It is understood that in the previous idea the practices
Classroom routines are the material manifestations of a model.
pedagogical that is implicitly found in the didactic actions of
the teachers. That is to say, the teacher possesses an implicit theoretical discourse that gives
support for your teaching practices.

Flórez6it states that pedagogical models represent particular ways of

interrelationship between pedagogical parameters. The meaning of parameters
Pedagogical is, in the concept of this author, the background of explanations.
about a specific conception of the human being and a clearly defined idea
determined by society. Similarly, Flórez7emphasizes the need for
rigorous analysis with systematic methods in the study of models
pedagogical.

This author reiterates that pedagogical models themselves are an object

interesting historical study for social scientists, on the one hand for the
stories of ideologies in a particular social formation period, and
on the other hand, for structural anthropology, which might find behind the
empirical model of pedagogical relationships any logical organization
underlying and invariant8Under the same criterion, this author emphasizes that the models
Pedagogical methods in general respond at least to the following five questions:

• The ideal of the well-educated person that is intended to be formed.

• Through what or with what methodological strategies.
• With what specific educational contents and experiences.
• At what rhythms or levels should the training process be conducted?
• Who directs the training process and on whom does it focus.

The previous aspects are considered invariant for the analysis of the models
pedagogical. However, the variants of these invariants are presented in the
characteristic proposal of each pedagogical approach. It is worth clarifying that the
term, pedagogical model, has been used interchangeably as a synonym of
pedagogical trends, pedagogical schools, and pedagogical approaches.

Batista and Flórez9 they consider that the parameters that are interrelated for the
analysis of a pedagogical model must include: the educational goals, the
teaching contents, the relationship style between teacher-student, the methods
of teaching, the basic concepts of development and the type of institution
educational.

According to Canfux10apedagogical model expresses those conceptions and

actions, more or less systematized that constitute different alternatives of
organization of the teaching process to make it more effective. In this
definition a new element appears in the conceptualization of the model
pedagogical: the effectiveness of teaching processes. This effectiveness is
refers to the achievement of the educational purposes that a society predetermined to
transmit the values of your culture and to shape the ideal of a good person
educated, aiming to be shaped as a prototype of man or woman in a

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determined historical, social and cultural context. The concept of type of subject that
the aim is to educate, according to Zuluaga11aims to indicate with which conception of
man works, what role is assigned to the school in the "training of
man", how he is thought of in relation to work, society, culture and the
to know.

Traditional pedagogical model

The traditional model had a notable influence on the teaching processes and on the
educational systems. This approach originated in scholasticism, a philosophy of its own
the Catholic Church that prevailed from the 9th century to the 15th century. Where the end
the primordial aspect of education was directed towards the recovery of thought
classic as a result of the Renaissance. This model has been characterized as
encyclopedist for as much, according to Canfux12The content of the teaching consists
in a set of accumulated knowledge and social values by the
adult generations that are passed on to students as established truths;
generally, these contents are dissociated from the experience of the
students and social realities. Despite the historical development and evolution.
social towards other forms of organization some of the primordial concepts
Implicitly and explicitly, traditionalism in pedagogy still persists in the
current pedagogical practices. These basic ideas are related to the
character education, discipline as a means to educate, the predominance of the
memory, the teacher-centered curriculum and verbalist methods of
teaching.

Flórez13summarize the previous statement by concluding, The basic method of

learning is the academic, verbalist, who teaches his classes under a regime
of disciplining some students who are basically receivers. In coincidence
with the previous appreciation Canfux14the professor generally demands from the
student the memorization of the information that narrates and exposes, referring to the
reality as something static and still; at times the discourse is
completely alien to the existential experience of the students and the content
they are offered as segments of reality, disconnected from their totality.

An important aspect to consider in the traditional pedagogical model is the role

of the master. According to De Zubiría15...under the purpose of teaching
knowledge and norms, the teacher fulfills the role of transmitter. The teacher
give the lesson to a student who will receive the information and the rules
transmitted... Learning is also an act of authority.

Another important element to consider in the traditional pedagogical model is the

educational ideal of shaping the character of the individual. Some religious models
they have continued, and still continue to be, the Aristotelian foundations of antiquity
to shape individuals of character. In the formation of character, the concept of
the master as a model to imitate was predominant. According to Flórez16In this
the model, the method, and the content are somewhat confused in imitation and
emulation of the good example, of the proposed ideal as a pattern and whose embodiment
the closest one is manifested in the teacher.

Similarly, class lessons focused on moral education and

Civic instruction emphasized the importance of duty, obedience, the
honesty, patriotism, and courage. In Flórez's concept.17It is forecasted the

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cultivation of the faculties of the soul: understanding, memory, and will, and a
undifferentiated and naive vision of the transfer of the achieved domain in
subjects like Latin and mathematics.

In summary, it can be considered that the educational goals proposed by the model
traditional pedagogy is centered on a type of religious humanism that
emphasizes character formation. The teacher-student relationship can be
rated as authoritarian-vertical. The method is based on the
transmission of the values of a culture through example. The
learning is therefore achieved based on memorization, repetition, and
the training. Thus, the development of the human being is achieved through education of
character and the faculties of the soul.

Behaviorist pedagogical model

Like the traditional pedagogical model, the behavioral model considers

that the function of the school is to transmit socially accepted knowledge.
According to this model, learning is the result of more or less changes
behavioral permanents and consequently learning is modified by the
environmental conditions. According to Flórez18This model was developed
parallel to the increasing rationalization and economic planning of the
resources in the upper phase of capitalism, under the gaze of shaping
meticulous about the 'productive' behavior of individuals. The model has been
qualified as positivist in the sense that it is taken as the object of learning
the analysis of behavior under precise conditions of observation,
operationalization, measurement and control.

According to this author, the method is basically that of fixation and control of the
precision-crafted 'instructional' objectives meticulously reinforced.
According to the theoretical foundations of behaviorism, learning is
originated from a triple relationship of contingency between a preceding stimulus, the
behavior and a consequent stimulus. Yelon and Weinstein19The stimulus can be
denominar señal; él provoca la respuesta. La consecuencia de la respuesta
it can be positive or negative, but both reinforce behavior. The model
behaviorism impacted the curriculum design processes by proposing situations of
learning in which the identification of behavior, learning must be done
in very specific and measurable terms. Similarly, the stages to get to
the mastery of skills and learning must be subdivided into tasks
small and the reinforcements must be contingent on the achievement of each behavior.
According to the behavioral model, the goal of an educational process is the
shaping of behaviors that are considered appropriate and technically
productive according to the established social parameters. The teacher
fulfills the role of designer of learning situations in which both
stimuli such as reinforcers are programmed to achieve behaviors
desired. It is taught to achieve clearly defined learning objectives.
established. The learnings at the level of competencies operationally
defined are designed so that through the evaluation it can be measured the
level of the same. The focus of the teaching process is learning. Rojas and
Corral20 they affirm, The origins of educational technology can be found in the
programmed teaching, with the idea of raising the efficiency of management
teaching process. Programmed instruction has been defined by Fry21like "...
technical resource, method or system of teaching that is applied through

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didactic machines but also through written texts". The principles
theoretical foundations of programmed instruction are the
next:

• One can learn a behavior through an organized system of practices or

adequately reinforced repetitions.
• Learning has an active character through which manipulation is done.
elements of the environment to provoke a behavior that has been
scheduled.
• The exposure and sequence of a complex learning process are
based on the different levels of complexity of a behavior.
• The programming of student behaviors is of utmost importance.
so that the organization of the content, the sequence of learning, and
the control of stimuli, antecedents, and consequences, makes possible the
issuance of the desired behavior.

Progressive pedagogical model

The progressive model is based on the philosophical ideas proposed by the

pragmatism. Basically, progressive pedagogical ideas are made
evident in the educational proposals of the new school. An aspect
fundamental to this trend is the proposal for a total transformation of
school system, turning the student into the center of the school system
around whom the processes of the school revolve. From this perspective the
school is created for life, to become the natural environment of the child and
become the space in which the child experiences and learns the elements
essential for good performance in their adult life. Rodríguez and Sanz22
The new school... emphasized the active role that must be taken.
student, transformed the functions that the teacher must assume in the process
educational and showed the need and possibility of changes in the development of
same. Pedagogical progressivism proposes that with social education,
society ensures its own development. The new school equalized education
with the processes of individual development, and the concept of growth has been
one of its most important metaphors.

The Zubiría23The new school breaks with the traditional paradigm that
explained learning as the process of impressions that come from the outside.
they are ingrained in the student. Instead, the new school will defend action as
condition and guarantee of learning. This author synthesizes five basic postulates
from active school, namely:

• The purpose of school cannot be limited to learning: the

school must prepare for life24.
• If school is to prepare for life, nature, and life itself.
They must be studied.[contents]25.
• Educational content should be organized starting from the simple and
concrete towards the complex and abstract [sequencing]26.
• When considering the child as the craftsman of their own knowledge, the
activism prioritizes the subject and their experimentation [method]27".
• Teaching
resources will be understood as childhood tools that when
allow manipulation and experimentation, will contribute to educating the

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 senses, ensuring learning and the development of capacities
intellectuals [didactic resources]28".

For pedagogical progressivism, every social experience is essentially

educational. Dewey29he considered that social life is to education what the
nutrition and reproduction are to physiological life, therefore school is a
social institution that must focus on the most effective means to offer
al niño los recursos necesarios para cultivar la herencia cultural y desarrollar sus
powers to achieve social purposes.

Cognitivist pedagogical model

The cognitive approach that some theorists, including Flórez30are called

also developer, has the educational goal that each individual has access,
progressively and sequentially, to the stage of intellectual development, according to
the needs and conditions of each one. The theoretical foundations of the model
cognitivists originated from the ideas of the Genetic Psychology of Jean
Piaget. However, there is the theoretical position presented by Mones.31who
consider that this pedagogical movement is a variant of the New School and
of pedagogical progressivism. From another perspective, it has been thought that the
Cognitive tendency is more of an epistemological proposal than a pedagogical one.
Nevertheless, De Zubiría32estimates that, despite the fact that his position could fit within
what could properly be called a theory of knowledge and not of
learning nor teaching, its dissemination among the educational community
it reached a great dimension, especially since the seventies. Having as
referring to the previous concept, it is estimated that humans use
cognitive processes that are different in children and adults. Likewise
way, learning is explained as a manifestation of the processes
cognitive processes that occur during learning.

In the cognitivist model, the role of the teacher is directed towards taking into account the
level of development and the cognitive process of the students. The teacher must guide
for students to develop learning through meaningful reception and to
participate in exploratory activities, which can be used later in
independent ways of thinking.

According to Corral33the
cognitive approach considers learning as
successive modifications of cognitive structures that are the cause of the
behavior of man, unlike behaviorism which is oriented towards change
behavioral director. An interesting and innovative field of the previous concept is
the emphasis that has been placed on the analysis of development processes
cognitive. According to this author, the reconceptualization of learning has established
some definitions of considerable validity for research; for example, the
emphasis shifts from the study of developmental stages, as moments
knowledge stables, to the study of the processes that give rise to it and are the cause
in turn of its future modification.

In the cognitivist model, what is important is not the outcome of the process
learning in terms of behaviors achieved and demonstrated, but the
qualitative indicators that allow inferring about the structures of
knowledge and the mental processes that generate them.

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In a manner similar to the New School, the cognitive proposal emphasizes
importance of experience in the development of cognitive processes. In this
an aspect that stands out is the active role of the subject in their processes
of knowledge and cognitive development.

From Flavell's point of view34the applications of Piaget to education

they can be expressed from three points of view, namely:

As a theoretical element that offers very defined instruments for

evaluate and establish the levels of cognitive and moral development of the
individuals.
As a useful tool in the planning of educational programs
that allows the organization of the curricular content according to the
levels of development achieved by children.
In the clarification of some teaching methods such as the
discovery learning.

Another significant contribution of Piaget's ideas has been his theory of development
moral. The pedagogical application of moral dilemmas has been relevant in the
development of programs aimed at developing moral judgment and the
reasonings that guide individuals' moral decisions. One of the
The limitations of the cognitivist model have been analyzed by Sanz and Corral.35to
establish that... its fundamental limitation lies in not understanding
sufficiently the developer character and not just the facilitator of the process of
teaching, which reduces its role as an essential pathway for the development of its
intellectual processes.

Critical-radical pedagogical model

Critical Pedagogy emerges as a result of the work of Theory

Criticism in the eighties and nineties. Some of the foundations.
contemporary theorists of critical pedagogy have their origins in theory
critique proposed by the philosophers and social theorists of the Frankfurt School,
who worked in Germany at the Institute for Social Research. The
critical theory term, was used by Max Horkheimer, director of the Institute
from 1931 to 1958. Among other recognized theorists of the school of
From Frankfurt, one can mention: Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Erich Fromm and
Walter Benjamin, members of the Frankfurt School, many of them were
Jews; they moved the Institute to Columbia University in New York,
during World War II and returned to Germany once it was over
war. In North America, these theorists actively participated in life
academic with a series of studies of recognized importance related to
criticism about racism, exclusion, racial prejudice, and policies of
segregation. These studies positively influenced philosophical thought
pedagogical and critical perspectives in the United States are the basis of the
theoretical-critical thinkers of today. Similar works have emerged not only
as a theory that is shared not only, but also as new perspectives with
multiple traditional social elements in order to create new orders that
are in a position to increase human freedom.

Critical Pedagogy is primarily interested in critiquing the structures

social issues that affect school life, particularly situations

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related to everyday school life and the structure of power. Secondly
place, is interested in the development of critical-reflective thinking skills
in order to transform society. According to Peter McLaren36Pedagogy
criticism examines schools both in their historical context and in their environment
social for being part of the social and political fabric that characterizes society
dominant.

In this sense, Critical-radical Pedagogy presents not only a language

of criticism, but also a language of possibilities. The teachers who apply
the approaches of Critical Pedagogy co-participate with their students in the
critical reflection on their own beliefs and judgments. Similarly, they question
critically the 'texts' that are used in the teaching processes. By the
The term "text" is understood not only as textbooks but also as sources.
originals, popular culture, the various discourses that explain a fact, and the
lenguaje entre otros. La deconstrucción del lenguaje y del texto es de igual
importance. For example: What meanings, senses, and presuppositions
What underlies the expression "educational equity"?

Among the theorists who participate in the theoretical construction of Pedagogy

Criticism can be cited:

• Paulo Freire (Brazil). When analyzing the oppressor-oppressed relationships, he establishes

the fundamentals for understanding liberating education and its possibilities.
Propone las relaciones dialógicas entre profesor alumno, con el fin de
promote processes of awareness and liberation.
• Donaldo Macedo (Brazil). He is primarily interested in the analysis of the
processes of literacy, culture, and power.
• Ira Shor (United States). He focuses his work on the proposal of the
education as a process of "empowerment". Research at the level of
student empowerment at the university level. Two of its latest works
Empowering education, and when students have power.
• Michel Apple (United States). Studies the relationships between curriculum
McLAREN, Peter. Critical Pedagogy. In Pedagogical Currents.
Manizales. CINDE and power (who is silenced, who has the word...)
school and democracy, conservatism and education, sociology of the
education, ideology and education.
• Aronowitz (United States). Critiques the relationships between politics and school. The
crisis of education.
• Henry Giroux. He focuses his work on the proposal of the intellectual labor of
the teachers, the theories of reproduction and the pedagogy of opposition.

McLaren37affirms, Critical Pedagogy has begun to provide a theory

radical and an analysis of the school, and at the same time adds new advances in
social theory and develops new research categories and new
methodologies.

In the approach of critical pedagogy, the teacher is a critical-reflective person.

which plays a political role in and with its community. Giroux38consider, In its
majority, radical critics agree that educators
traditionalists have generally refused to question the nature
policy of public education. It also indicates that traditionally the
the school has refused to analyze the relationships that exist between power,

8
 knowledge and domination. Giroux39states that the analyses of Pedagogy
Critics have offered a new theoretical language and a critical attitude that supports
that schools, within the broad Western humanistic tradition, do not
they offer opportunities for personal and social empowerment in society.

References
1
FLÓREZ OCHOA, Rafael. Towards a pedagogy of knowledge Santafé of
Bogotá: McGraw-Hill, 1994. p. 60.
2
DE ZUBIRIA, Julián. Treatise on Conceptual Pedagogy: The Models
pedagogical. Santafé de Bogotá: Merani Foundation. Publication Fund
Bernardo Herrera Merino, 1994. p. 8.
3
FLÓREZ, Rafael. Op. Cit. p. 160.
4
GALLEGO-BADILLO, Rómulo. Saber pedagógico. Santafé de Bogotá: Mesa
Redonda Teaching, 1990. p. 11.
5
DE ZUBIRIA, Julián. Op. Cit. p. 9.
6
FLÓREZ OCHOA, Rafael. Op. Cit, p. 162.
7
Ibid., p. 160.
8
Ibid., p. 162.
9
BATISTA, Enrique, FLÓREZ, Rafael. The pedagogical thought of the
masters. Medellín: University of Antioquia, 1983. p. 12.
10
CANFUX, Verónica. Contemporary Pedagogical Trends. Ibagué:
Ibagué University Corporation, 1996. p.15.
11
ZULUAGA, Olga Lucía. Pedagogía e historia. Bogotá: Ediciones Fondo
National for Colombia, 1987. p. 238.
12
CANFUX, Verónica. Op. Cit. p. 11.
13
FLÓREZ OCHOA, Rafael. Op. Cit. p. 167.
14
CANFUX, Verónica. Op. Cit. p. 11.
15
DE ZUBIRÍA, Julian. Op. Cit. p. 55.
16
FLÓREZ OCHOA, Rafael. Op. Cit. p. 167.
17
Ibidem. p. 167.
18
Ibidem. p. 176.
19
YELON, Stephen and WEINSTEIN, Grace. Psychology in the Classroom. Mexico:
Trillas, 1988. p. 133.

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20
ROJAS, Ana R. and CORRAL, Roberto. Educational technology. Ibagué:
University Corporation of Ibagué, 1996. p. 27.

FRY, E. B. Máquinas de enseñar. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. p. 18.

21

RODRIGUEZ, Ada Gloria, SANZ, Teresa. The new school. Havana: Center
22

of studies for the improvement of higher education. CEPES, 1996. p.

17.

DE ZUBIRIA, Julián. Op. Cit. p. 73.

23

Ibid. p. 74.
24

Ibid. p. 56.
25

Ibid. p. 75.
26

27
Ibid. p. 75.

Ibid. p. 77.
28

DEWEY, John. La educación de hoy. Buenos Aires: Losada. 1957.

29

FLÓREZ OCHOA, Rafael. Op. Cit. p. 169.

30

31
MONES, Jardi. The pedagogical models. In: Practical encyclopedia of
pedagogy. Barcelona: Editorial Planeta. 1988.

DE ZUBIRÍA, Julian. Op. Cit. p. 100.

32

CORRAL, Roberto. La Pedagogía cognoscitiva. Ibagué: El Poira Editores, 1996.

33

p. 107.

FLAVELL, J. The developmental psychology of Jean Piaget. Mexico: Paidós, 1990.

34

SANZ, Teresa, CORRAL, Roberto. Op. Cit. p. 120.

35

36
McLAREN, Peter. Pedagogía crítica. En: Corrientes pedagógicas. Manizales:
CINDE.
37
McLAREN, Peter. Op. Cit. 195 p.
38
GIROUX, Henry. Los profesores como intelectuales. Barcelona: Peidós, 1990.
31 p.

GIROUX, Henry. Op. Cit. p. 32.

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Open University No. 7 Journal of the Distance Education Institute of the University
from Tolima

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