The aim of this article is to provide a critical overview and interpretation of pedagogic modalities and their characteristics. It describes the construction and specification of pedagogic modalities and relates various practical implementations of different educational approaches to distinct ideological starting points. By doing so, it offers an elaborated understanding of the often dualistically presented dilemma between students’ identity growth and their academic progress. An element of Bernstein’s theory is brought together with a four-field model from the same theorist and analytically sorted in terms of their relationship to one-another. This makes it possible to establish coherent understandings of phenomena that have not previously been identified or well understood and to draw conclusions in the perspective of equity.