Educating for the future: A conceptual framework of responsive pedagogy

Abstract

Schools of today are educating for an unknown future, and knowledge of today will become partly irrelevant in 20–30 years. Teaching and assessment focusing on the learning of factual knowledge will not serve the needs of the learners in the future, as it does not prepare for life-long learning in a per today not definable future. The main goal of today’s schooling should be to support students in learning how to go about learning. The aim of this position paper is to define responsive pedagogy in relation to self-regulation, self-efficacy, achievements and assessment. The concept responsive pedagogy used in this paper is the recursive dialogue between the learner’s internal feedback and external feedback provided by significant others. The core of responsive pedagogy is the explicit intention of the teacher to make learners believe in their own competence and ability to successfully complete assignments and meet challenges, to strengthen students’ self-efficacy, and to increase their overall self-concept. Responsive pedagogy is hypothesised to impact achievements positively, yet this needs to be carefully researched. Today’s schools should prepare for tomorrow, and educate independent self-regulated learners who believe in their own capacity to engage in continuous learning and knowledge production.