A broad orientation to educational theory has been an object for criticism, and in reform policy disregarded and replaced by theories from psychology and socio-linguistics. This paper is written to rethink this critique, starting from an underlying presumption that educational theory and research constitutes an academic field which provides a variety of theoretical lenses for reflecting upon core purposes and practices of schooling. Drawing on a thorough literature review, the paper starts out by describing the idea and articulation of Bildung and didactics from a North-Continental point of view (Hopmann, 2007; Künzli, 1998). It seeks to point out core issues related to curriculum and teaching which are currently reflected and contested within a European research discourse. The second part of the paper reports on transitions in the way theoretical perspectives are rooted and transformed in regard of three braking points in curriculum history; 1) the pragmatic turn within the early 20th century with a focus on the importance of schooling as the context for teaching and learning as promoted by Dewey and associates (Dewey, 1915/1990; Englund, 1995; Schwab, 1978), 2) the re-conceptual turn during the late 20th century which demolished the normative idea of curriculum and schooling by arguing for a social-epistemological point of view (Popkewitz, 1977, 1991) and 3) the call for bringing content, teaching and didactics back in as suggested by European researchers during the first decade of the 21st century (Biesta, 2012; Hopmann, 2015; Young, 2008). The final part of the paper summarizes and rethinks current theories and analytical approaches to curriculum reform with a particular interest in questions about how responsible actors may define the whys and whats of teaching in schools. Drawing on the notion of guided pathways for future education (Dewey 1915/1990), the paper provides examples from policy and research discourses in Norway on how pragmatic and scientific theories influence curriculum and teaching. The study builds on literature and document analysis which suggests conceptual optiques for studying curriculum and teaching in schools. Moreover, through a cross-historical approach, the paper demonstrates how ideas and concepts of education and Bildung are transferred and translated by analytical approaches which seek to reinvent content and teaching as core research issues. On this background, the paper questions the idea that the epistemology of “what to teach” is solely a question of what knowledge that is of most worth to be transformed into curriculum policy and teaching practice.

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