Abstract
The question of content – that is, knowledge in the curriculum – has all but disappeared from global policy and academic discourses concerning teaching and teachers. Invoking the work of Michael Young and his colleagues concerning 'bringing knowledge back in', Bildung-centred Didaktik, and Joseph J. Schwab's curriculum thinking, this article attempts to bring content back into the conversation on teaching and teachers. The discussion yields an educational, curricular understanding of teaching and teachers by making three arguments. First, teaching (content) is an 'intergenerational' task vital for social reproduction and innovation. Second, teaching, by way of a meaningful encounter between content and students, contributes to their self-formation and the development of human powers and dispositions. Third, teaching is a practical, interpretive act that calls for curriculum thinking that is centred on the 'what' (content) and 'why' (purpose) of teaching.
Highlights
Content – knowledge in the curriculum – is an indispensable element in talking and thinking about classroom teaching
In the German Didaktik tradition, teaching is conceptualized by way of the Didaktik triangle – comprised of three general, essential elements: content, teacher and student
This article is concerned with the disappearance of content in current global policy and academic discourses concerning teaching and teachers
Summary
Content – knowledge in the curriculum – is an indispensable element in talking and thinking about classroom teaching. Bildung-centred Didaktik and Schwab’s curriculum thinking are discussed because these two models or theories provide important insights into teaching and teachers from the perspective of education as the cultivation of human powers and dispositions in and through content. Despite being developed in different social, historical and cultural milieus, Bildungcentred Didaktik and Schwab’s curriculum thinking have significant similarities with respect to theorizing teaching and teachers Both employ, as a point of departure, a vision of education – centred on the cultivation of human powers and dispositions – for thinking about the role of knowledge in education and curriculum. The tradition has a strong dependency on foundational disciplines for its language, theoretical perspectives and methods
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