Purpose and Research Question

This double Symposium is composed of 6 Position Papers on the theory, philosophy, practice and research of didactics as an educational discipline and teaching and learning as the field of research of didactics. The author of each Position Paper takes up a particular position on what they see as some of the key theoretical, philosophical or practical issues in teaching and learning and presents a paper from their invested position. Our motivation is the belief that education should aim to promote self-fulfilment and self-determination, and is a public good in a pluralistic democracy. We use educational theory construction to clarify our objectives and increase the certainty of the positions we hold. Our question is: how can didactics contribute to these aims?  

Methodology

The objective of the Position Papers Symposium is to raise issues for debate, encourage exchange of ideas, and generate a basis for further analytical work. To meet this end, a “Position Paper’ methodology has been chosen. This approach will enable each presenter to put forward a way of thinking and/or doing didactics/ teaching and learning that they feel passionate about. Each presenter will put forward their own distinctive 'take' on a topic, use their own methods, and will talk about how their perspective or ‘position’ has informed their practice, or how they envisage it might do so in the future. The position papers offer eclectic and innovative ways of thinking about didactics, teaching and learning. They aim to be methodologically, theoretically and philosophically provocative.

Position Paper authors will:

• Present a particular view of didactics, teaching and learning issues that they feel strongly about;
• Present their concerns with passion and partiality;
• Create an opportunity space to raise controversial ideas, innovative ways of thinking, and propose new forms of pedagogical praxis.

By encouraging engaged debate, the Symposium will offer ways of thinking about didactics and teaching and learning practices in ways which:

• Critique dominant, hegemonic and/or marketised practices in education;
• Build theory on teaching and learning;
• Speak to past traditions and theories to look for resolutions to contemporary pedagogic problems;
• Articulate potential alliances and productive dissonances in European didactics and Anglophone teaching and learning traditions;
• Stimulate debate which can promote hopeful, innovative pragmatic interventions in teaching and learning

The Symposium offers attendees, including newer researchers, a space to engage with some strong value-laden arguments from particular and invested ‘positions’; and to thereby to articulate their own ‘Positions’. As a whole, the Symposium points to the scope, breadth and depth of some current and historical thinking in didactics/ teaching and learning.

The outcomes will include:

• The articulations of ‘positions’ which will lead to theory building
• Explication of a range of approaches which provoke discussion and debate around the variations between different national didactics and teaching and learning traditions
• Sharing new methodological approaches to take forward the field;
• Sharing examples of putting philosophy into practice;
• Contribution of an intellectual space for the discussion of didactics for experienced and newer researchers within Network 27;
• Identify new opportunities for research collaborations on shared topics of interest.