Introduction: pedagogy, didactics and methodology

2. What is pedagogy?

As previously noted, pedagogy is a social science that studies, investigates, and seeks to improve upbringing and education. It examines the various influences on individual and social development, as well as the factors, processes, and content involved in shaping human personality and identity. The term pedagogy originates from ancient Greece (Greek: paidagōgós: upbringing). Building on the fundamental aims of upbringing, pedagogy explores and defines educational tasks, principles, and content, and investigates ways in which they can be effectively applied in practice. Throughout its development, pedagogy has evolved in response to social change and has drawn on scientific insights from other disciplines, as well as on fundamental human needs for socialization, enculturation, education, and preparation for life. It emerged as an independent science of upbringing in the nineteenth century, with its autonomy grounded in a theoretically based scientific framework, methodological validation through experience, and a clearly defined field of practice - upbringing as a distinct and purposeful human activity.

Higher education pedagogy is a discipline that focuses on education within higher education institutions. It developed as a distinct field in the second half of the twentieth century, separating from school pedagogy due to the specific characteristics and demands of the higher education context. In recent decades, it has increasingly addressed issues related to the harmonization of higher education systems at the European level, particularly in connection with the Bologna Process and related reforms. A key development in this area has been the shift from teacher-centered to student-centered approaches to teaching and learning. Within this framework, higher education didactics, which examines teaching and learning processes in higher education institutions, has also evolved as a specialized field.

In their work, Petričević et al. (2017) focus specifically on higher education pedagogy, defining it as "a scientific pedagogical discipline that studies the laws of educational work under the specific conditions of higher education (Vukasović, 1990, according to Petričević et al., 2017) or the laws governing higher education educational processes and the key actors involved in them, namely, higher education teachers and full-time students."

The authors further emphasize that higher education pedagogy addresses all aspects of education and upbringing within higher education. This includes issues related to full-time students and students with disabilities, as well as challenges associated with assessing and recognizing the knowledge and skills of adults who, through incomplete formal education or self-directed learning, seek to obtain appropriate higher education qualifications. In addition to matters of initial education, higher education pedagogy also examines the professional training and continuous development of higher education teachers.