**Abstract**

This section will look at differing concepts of pedagogy using research data collected at a college that is at the forefront of using technology as a tool for learning. The data collected was originally analysed using the concepts of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK), Signature Pedagogies and expansive vocational education to see how these concepts applied to practice. The research indicated that whilst there were differences in the pedagogical content approach, the concept of signature pedagogies was strong across all the vocational curriculum areas looked at. It highlighted several instances where the teachers were using an 'implicit structure' in their pedagogy to draw out the moral aspects of the profession and the inherent principles that guide a professional in a particular field. Finally, it confirms that through using signature pedagogies teachers are able to develop habits of the heart, mind and hand in their learners and to cultivate learners who 'think like professionals'.

**Keywords:** pedagogical content knowledge, technological pedagogical content knowledge, signature pedagogies, expansive education

## **1. Introduction**

This chapter investigates the relationship of varying pedagogical definitions alongside observations of teaching practice within different vocational areas. These pedagogical concepts include Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK), Signature Pedagogies and expansive vocational education. Originally Shulman [1] defined pedagogy in distinct ways that incorporated concepts such as Content Knowledge (CK) and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) and both relate to both academic and vocational pedagogy. However, for now the emphasis is on a consideration of signature pedagogies in vocational learning and its importance in professional learning.

## **2. Vocational pedagogies**

According to Shulman [2] Content Knowledge arises from the knowledge of the discipline being taught and here he uses the example of Biology as the subject in question. In terms of teaching, he raises some interesting questions such as "How does the novice teacher (or even the seasoned veteran) draw on expertise in the subject

matter in the process of teaching?" (p. 8). Ultimately this is about the amount and organisation of knowledge that the teacher has. Pedagogical Content Knowledge on the other hand refers to the way that the teacher organises specific topics and ranks them according to difficulty in learning. In this way he or she is able to build up a coherent scheme of work that builds knowledge and scaffolds it so that it becomes more accessible to learners. Here Shulman means the most frequently taught topics and the most accessible forms of representation and illustrations of that topic, again with the desire to make it more accessible to learners. In the past these would have been 'cut and pasted', photocopied and reproduced for the learners, nowadays the internet has allowed a different form of cut and paste. Hence in the light of technology Shulman's original definitions of teacher knowledge have been revised and here a different dimension has been added to these concepts, that of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK). Several authors (Koehler and Mishra [3] and Harris et al. [4]) discuss this concept and define the term as the effective use of technology in teaching and learning. Here it assumes that a teacher has some technical content knowledge, that is some knowledge of technology available to teaching as resources to illustrate and represent topics. Here the Content Knowledge, and PCK as advocated by Shulman come together as Technological Content Knowledge in other words, the knowledge of how technological aids can enhance these representations. However, this is all very well if the technology also aids pedagogically or if it is chosen just because it is there. Here the new concept of TPCK presents different challenges to teachers today.
