Signature pedagogies

Signature pedagogies are the characteristic forms of teaching and learning through which a profession prepares new members for its ways of working. Lee S. Shulman introduced the concept in 2005 in his research on professional education. Case discussion in legal education and bedside teaching in medicine are two of his examples.

These are not simply popular teaching techniques. A signature pedagogy reveals a community’s assumptions about knowledgeable, competent action. It develops three dimensions together: thinking like a professional, acting in practice and behaving with integrity and responsibility.

Shulman distinguishes three structures. The surface structure consists of observable teaching and learning activities; the deep structure concerns assumptions about how professional knowledge develops; the implicit structure communicates values, attitudes and moral dispositions. This distinction helps us avoid copying only the external format of a practice.

Using them in learning design

• Identify the performances, ways of reasoning and responsibilities of the field.
• Recognise the recurring educational practices through which they are learned.
• Examine the values and hierarchies those practices convey implicitly.
• Retain their educational strengths while addressing rigidity, exclusion and unjustified habits.

Signature pedagogies are primarily a framework for interpretation and design. They connect teaching practices, professional identity and disciplinary culture, while requiring critical examination of their strengths and limitations.

Sources

Reference titles are retained in their original language. Linked resources may be in Italian or another language.

1. Articolo su lascuolaimmaginata.it — Le segnature pedagogiche tra teoria e pratica didattica
2. Lee S. Shulman – Signature pedagogies in the professions | Daedalus | MIT Press
3. Signature Pedagogies e formazione universitaria: verso una didattica consapevole