Bildung, diversity, and spaces in didactic practice

Abstract

This chapter’s starting point is that the present complex and diverse society calls for a complex concept of Bildung, a concept of Bildung that addresses personal and cultural diversity and meets the complexity of didactic practices. The first part of this chapter explores how (some) scholars of the curriculum and Didaktik traditions approach diversity, and which curricular, pedagogical or didactic strategies and changes they suggest, with a view to achieving inclusive Bildung/citizenship education. The second part of this chapter addresses the aim of diversity from the perspective of didactic practice, and presents material from a case study of year-10 students’ film production. Based on the findings of this study, the chapter explores whether and how a concept of Bildung that embraces personal and cultural diversity may be extended or complemented by the understandings of education for democracy outside the tradition of Didaktik. Finally, the chapter suggests a diversity-sensitive concept of Bildung that combines well-established understandings of Bildung with a spatial approach that brings into focus the students’ affective and embodied experience of personal and cultural diversity.