Activity Theory as a Pedagogical Foundation for Educational Models

Abstract

The search for robust pedagogical foundations has intensified as education systems confront rapid technological, social, and ecological change. Contemporary literature increasingly understands a pedagogical model as a system of theoretical premises that organizes a curricular approach and is embodied in the interactions between teachers, students, and the objects of learning, functioning as a guiding framework for reflective and purposeful teaching practice (Chatez, 2025; Silva Frasseto et al., 2022; Vásquez et al., 2024). At the same time, cultural–historical activity theory (CHAT) has consolidated as a major framework for analysing and transforming learning in complex social practices (Roth & Lee, 2007; Sannino et al., 2009). This essay proposes that the core principles of activity theory— (1) activity and consciousness, (2) object orientation, (3) the hierarchy of activity, action, and operations, (4) mediation, (5) internalization/externalization, and (6) development—can serve as a coherent pedagogical foundation for educational models. After clarifying the notion of a pedagogical model as an educational strategy, I outline the historical and conceptual background of activity theory (Vygotsky, Leontiev, Engeström) and then systematically examine how each principle can be translated into design questions for curriculum, teaching, assessment, and institutional organization. The argument is that an activity-theoretical pedagogical model reorients education from the accumulation of decontextualized competencies toward the collective transformation of socially meaningful activity systems. This reorientation has implications for teacher education, curriculum design, and research, particularly in fields where practice, knowledge, and social responsibility are tightly interwoven. The article concludes by highlighting the potential and challenges of adopting activity theory not merely as an analytical lens but as a generative framework for educational design.