School subjects and subject learning in school create conditions that cannot be replaced by something else, for the appropriation of “world” in its diverse aspects and functions and for the acquisition of fundamental competences of various sorts. At the same time, they create the conditions for potential processes of Bildung on different levels of knowledge, knowing, reflection, action and evaluation that are all characterized by generalizing, linking and systematizing of experience and critical distancing towards it. Thus, teaching and learning a subject is much more than acquiring knowledge of or within that subject. The majority of subject didacticians would agree that this process of acquisition is one of co-construction in meaning-making and that it should be studied as such. There is not yet much consensus on a specific didactic theory that would allow for a rational analysis and design of planning and teaching moves (all the way down to the micro level). Nevertheless, it is largely believed that subject matter learning always implies the acquisition of transferable skills and categories to be used in other contexts of the same subjects or in another subject altogether; also, that subject learning leads to the development of general educational values, skills and competencies (like precision, openness, rationality, language awareness, or evidence-based thinking). In other words, we can or could identify a specific set of additional cross-curricular (non subject-specific) goals and competences involved in or triggered by school learning (summarized under the notion of subject-based Bildung). The three levels of subject learning can be distinguished as follows: 1. Learning OF or WITHIN a subject (knowledge, skills, subject-specific competences). This means the reconstruction of content and practices that are specific to a subject. 2. Learning alongside WITH a subject (transferable skills and competences). This means identifying and using what is generalizable and applicable in other contexts. 3. Learning THROUGH a subject (long-range educational effects that result in Bildung). This means the construction of the individual and social self in dealing, while dealing or through dealing with a specific subject or problem/topic. These hypothetical distinctions allow us to describe the different outcomes of subject-based learning processes and their effects in terms of educational impact. At the same time, they allow us to develop categories and criteria for identifying the commonalities and differences between subjects and highlight their specifics in each case.

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