Pedagogery

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Teaching that is overly formal, rigid and preoccupied with rules and minor points rather than real understanding
2. A schoolmasterly manner of instruction that lectures and corrects constantly and seems more concerned with authority than learning
3. The heavy-handed, pedantic approach some teachers take when they insist on correctness and display their own learning

Etymology: "Pedagogery" is an alternative spelling of "pedagoguery," which means the methods, manner, or pretensions of a pedagogue, a schoolmaster or teacher. The word is built from "pedagogue," which came into English from Old French "pedagogue," borrowed from Latin "paedagogus," itself taken from Greek "paidagōgos." In Greek the term named a household slave who escorted boys to and from school and supervised their conduct, so the earliest sense had little to do with teaching at all. The "-ery" ending, borrowed through French, turns the noun into a word for a practice or behaviour, so "pedagoguery" describes the habits of a teacher, often with the implication of dull, overbearing, or pedantic instruction.

Synonyms: pedantry