Introduction: pedagogy, didactics and methodology

1. Pedagogy, didactics and methodology - introduction

Pedagogy is a social science concerned with the systematic study of upbringing and education. Pedagogy "studies, researches and improves upbringing and education" (Hrvatska enciklopedija, 2025). It is important to note that in the English-speaking context, the terms education or educational sciences are often used to encompass both upbringing and education, as well as the field of pedagogy itself.

It is also essential to recognize that different levels of education - primary, secondary and tertiary - have distinct needs. Primary and secondary education focus on the upbringing and education of children and adolescents, whereas tertiary education primarily addresses the education of adults. In this context, the role of andragogy, the science of adult education, must also be acknowledged.

The educational system operates within its own legal frameworks and structured processes; therefore, in addition to pedagogy, it is necessary to consider didactics and methodology as related scientific disciplines. Didactics focuses on the organization of the educational process, while methodology addresses the organization of the education within a specific subject. In the following sections, each of these three concepts will be explained with particular emphasis on their relevance in the context of higher education.

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.

3. What is didactics?

Didactics is a branch of pedagogy that enompasses theoretical and empirical knowledge about school teaching and learning. The founders of didactics are Wolfgang Ratke (Methodus didactica, 1613) and Jan Ámos Komenský (Didactica magna, 1632). Didactics can be defined either as a general theory of education, regardless of where the educational process takes place, or more narrowly as a theory of teaching, which represents the most systematic interaction among students, teachers and sources of knowledge.

The word didactics has been known for approximately 2500 years (Greek didaskein: the art of teaching). Historically, it carried several related meanings:

didaskein - to teach and give lessons

didaskalos - teacher (usually a male slave)

didaskaleion - school, space for learning

didaktike tehne - technique, or the art of teaching.

Today, the term didactics is predominantly used in Europe, whereas in the Anglo-American context similar concepts are referred to as curriculum, theory of instruction, or research on teaching. There are numerous definitions of didactics. Pranjić (as cited in Cindrić et al., 2016) categorizes them into five groups:

• the science of teaching and learning
• the theory or science of teaching
• educational content theory
• learning process management theory
• the application of psychological theories of teaching and learning.

Gudjons (1993) emphasizes that didactics always encompasses two aspects: teaching and learning. These processes must be viewed within educational institutions (such as schools, adult education, extracurricular vocational education) as organized activities. Poljak (1991) explains the relationship between didactics and pedagogy by situating them at different levels of educational theory. He defines didactics as a branch of pedagogy that studies the general laws of education, understood as cause-and-effect relationships and interdependencies within the process of acquiring education.

Didactics describes and explains the effectiveness of teaching based on didactic principles and predicts cause-and-effect relationships in the educational process. According to Cindrić et al. (2016), the main tasks of didactics include:

analyzing and planning the educational process

Didactics, as a theory of the educational process, applies a scientific approach and enables research into teaching practice (classroom life). Therefore, it develops a methodology for researching the educational process.

Didactic guidelines should be understood as support for teachers in organizing teaching and learning, rather than as fixed recipes or guaranteed solutions for complex teaching situations. They represent open possibilities that teachers can apply, critically examine in their own practice, and further develop through experience. Consequently, didactics does not hinder teacher or student creativity; instead, it encourages reflection on practice and responsibility for educational outcomes. From this perspective, didactics is not only a theory but also a reflective and practice-oriented discipline.

enabling insight into didactic theories and trends

As a core component of pedagogy, didactics occupies a central position because teaching is its primary focus. Within school pedagogy, didactics addresses the purpose and tasks of teaching by connecting educational goals (such as knowledge acquisition and skill development) with broader educational aims (such as fostering interests, rational attitudes, and socially useful needs). It links goal achievement with the effective organization of teaching, including its temporal structure (school year, month, week, lesson), content, and instructional units. Didactics also examines teaching effectiveness through didactic principles, designs effective teaching methods, adapts instruction to group size, reflects on teaching processes in line with learning logic, and develops systems of monitoring, assessment, and evaluation. Between general educational theory and teaching practice lie subject-specific methodologies, known as special didactics, which apply general principles to particular subject areas.

Contemporary didactics also encompasses curriculum development, as it addresses goals, strategies, media, and evaluation. In this context, we may also speak of digital didactics or e-didactics. Some authors, such as Tchoshanov (2013), argue that the distinction between traditional didactics and e-didactics arises from a paradigm shift—from an emphasis on teaching to a focus on shaping the learning process. This shift is especially evident in online education, where traditional forms of instruction are constrained by the teaching format. While traditional didactics primarily relies on face-to-face instruction (sometimes in hybrid form), e-didactics is characterized by blended and fully online learning. Consequently, the learning environment also changes: the physical classroom is replaced by a virtual space created through learning management systems and social networks.

One important contemporary approach is inclusive didactics, which focuses on student diversity and the right of all individuals to education. Inclusive didactics is grounded in the principles of human rights, equal opportunities, and social justice. Its aim is not to adapt students to predefined educational patterns, but rather to adapt the educational system and teaching methods to students’ diverse needs. This approach rejects the notion of “one curriculum for all” and emphasizes flexibility, differentiation, and openness to different abilities, needs, and potentials.

Teachers play a crucial role in designing teaching strategies that prevent marginalization and discrimination and enable the inclusion of all students, particularly those with special educational needs or those belonging to socially vulnerable groups. Inclusive didactics integrates social and individual dimensions: it promotes equality within society while enabling individuals to develop competencies and autonomy. Although challenges remain in practice—such as insufficient teacher training or unclear implementation guidelines—inclusive didactics strives to make education a participatory process in which all students can actively engage and succeed.

For more information on didactics in a contemporary context, we recommend Chapter 8, Didaktika u suvremenom kontekstu, of the online publication Didaktika by Vasilj and Jovanović.

4. What is methodology?

Methodology (from the Greek methodikí: the art of planned action) is a pedagogical discipline that studies the principles of upbringing and education within a specific subject, or educational field.

Pranjić explains that methodology involves reflection on methods, or rather, their systematic study. There is no universal approach to scientific research. Each scientific field has its own objectives, subject matter, and research methods. Similarly, education within each field follows its own laws and approaches. For this reason, we speak of teaching and learning methods specific to a particular field or subject, or of the methodology of teaching a particular subject. When methodologies refer to other educational domains, they are specified by appropriate attributes (educational methodology, instructional methodology, methodology of practical work, flight training methodology, etc.).

Pranjić also clarifies the relationship between didactics and methodology. He defines methodology as a distinct didactic field of research, teaching, or professional activity whose primary cognitive focus lies in the practical application of didactic knowledge and reflections derived from the relevant scientific discipline. Thus, the fundamental task of methodology is to apply the scientific findings of individual disciplines in educational practice. Didactics and methodology are mutually interrelated disciplines that influence, complement, and permeate one another. Within this relationship, didactics is primarily concerned with general didactic issues, such as adherence to pedagogical principles, whereas methodology focuses on specific problems related to individual subjects or subject-specific didactics and their underlying sciences.

A second criterion for understanding the relationship between didactics and methodology is based on content prerogatives. Didactics is considered a higher-order science in relation to methodology, as it determines and provides appropriate educational content. In this sense, the task of methodology is not to define what content should be taught, but rather to determine how that content can be effectively conveyed. According to this view, didactics answers the question of what should be taught, while methodology addresses how teaching should be carried out. In this context, determining the educational value of content plays a crucial role. Content must be aligned with educational goals (the domain of didactics) and adapted to the structure and dynamics of the educational process (the domain of methodology). Approaches grounded in didactic and methodological principles therefore treat content differently, which is often reflected in the commonly used term methodological-didactic process.

For more detailed information on teaching methodology, be sure to read the article by Pranjić (2011).

5. Conclusion

Pedagogy, methodology, and didactics in the higher education environment complement one another in shaping a high-quality and stimulating educational process. Pedagogy provides a foundational understanding of educational goals and the broader social context in which higher education takes place. Didactics, as the theory of teaching and learning, focuses on the planning, organization, and implementation of instruction, as well as on the development of strategies that shift teaching from traditional, teacher-centered models toward student-centered approaches. Methodology connects general didactic principles with the specific characteristics of individual disciplines, offering concrete pathways for knowledge transfer, competence development, and the formation of academic skills. Within higher education, methodology thus functions as a mediator between theoretical frameworks and concrete teaching practices.

6. Bibliography

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