A World of Pedagogic Principles: The Idea of Principles in Academic Pedagogy

Principles are by definition abstract notions and, as such, their precise identification may be an onerous task, especially when it comes to them acting as indicators of the inherent pedagogic value of proposed or applied educational models and approaches. Nevertheless, pedagogic principles can be crystallized and agreed upon and can act as objective starting points in one’s pedagogic endeavours. The paper, thus, explores the practical application and the theoretical character of pedagogic principles. It then proceeds by offering examples of what could constitute pedagogic principles in the academic environment and examines the value of such from a theoretical and practical perspective. Elaborating on the idea of Academic Freedom the paper advocates a model of pedagogy wherein the objective character of pedagogic approaches based on principles can still flourish further by the hybridization of such approaches with subjective pedagogic models that have been tested in practice. The paper concludes with evaluating certain modern developments in the area of pedagogic principles.