Loosely described (by scholars in the field), pedagogy is the art of teaching. Different practices are informed by different educational philosophies and their assumptions about learning, the intellectual learning of a child, teaching style, and curricula.

Conservative or closed pedagogy sees learning as the absorption of specific bodies of knowledge, the child’s ability as determined by hereditary and environmental factors external to the school, the appropriate teaching style as one where teachers are [experts], and have authority over pupils, and direct the learning of subordinates, and the curriculum as the relevant class room knowledge as defined by teachers.

Liberal or open pedagogy conceives of learning as a process and not the acquisition of specific knowledge, the child’s mind as capable of development, teaching as simply guiding this development, and curricula as tailored to suit the pupils’ own expressed interests.

The interpretation of ‘progressive’ and ‘child centred’ teaching methods have been a long standing discourse since the 60’s. Notably here, is the work of Paulo Freire (a Brazilian); who argued it has radical political implications because it emphasises personal autonomy rather than social control, others claim that fully developed ‘progressive’ methods are rarely found beyond the early years of primary school and are unlikely to have any lasting influence on attitudes, or that open pedagogy reflects the middle class value system and is therefore unlikely to have radical implications beyond school.