Beyond Pedagogy: Toward an Integrated Ecology of Medical Learning

Abstract

Medical education is currently undergoing profound transformations in a context characterized by the increasing complexity of knowledge, the diversity of learners, and the demands of clinical competence. This article presents an integrated ecological model of medical learning that brings together five approaches from the educational sciences: pedagogy, andragogy, heutagogy, peeragogy, and didactics.
Pedagogy and andragogy are presented as complementary and form the pillars of a continuum ranging from structured teaching to autonomous learning, while heutagogy and peeragogy further extend this dynamic by placing the learner at the center of the process, in a logic of self-directed learning and co-construction of knowledge. Didactics, finally, ensures the coherence of the system through content structuring, instructional design, and the integration of theory and practice.
This conceptual model aims to go beyond the simple opposition between teacher-directed instruction and self-determined learning to establish an educational ecology in which teachers and students co-evolve toward competence, responsibility, reflexivity, and professional adaptability — conditions for effective, sustainable, and humanistic medical training.