One of the central questions in didactics is the relation between teaching and learning. It has been addressed differently in different approaches, and the recent developments in didactics have raised this question once again:  The shift from teaching to learning stresses the activity of pupils (this topic was widely discussed at the ECER 2008 in Gothenburg), and the meta-analysis of educational research (cf. Hattie 2009) indicates the importance of the leading role of the teacher.

The issue of how pupils perceive the subject matter proposed to them by teachers and the issue of pupils’ participation in constructing the subject matter in the instructional process seem to be crucial for any theory in didactics. The national/cultural traditions regarding the models of academic knowledge about teaching and learning and structural particularities of national systems of education are also likely to influence the development of didactic concepts (cf. Rakhkochkine 2012a, Rakhkochkine 2012b). It can be assumed that a systematic analytical comparison of different approaches that concentrate on these issues will contribute to a better understanding of key factors that promote participation of pupils.

Thus, the paper addresses the question of similarities and differences of national/cultural traditions of pupils’ participation by a comparative analysis of the concept of personalised learning in England and of the approach of Bildungsgangsdidaktik (research on learner development and educational experience) in Germany.

The concept of „personalised learning” has been developed and implemented at schools in England since 2004 as part of the Labour’s agenda for reforming social services (Leadbeater 2004, Rakhkochkine 2010)  However, due to the recent political changes in United Kingdom, there is no official support of the concept anymore. The central goal of the concept is the change of the traditional scripts of teaching and learning which should help to raise the standards and to remove barriers to learning, especially for pupils with educational disadvantages. It should be a counterbalance to the uniform teaching scripts, especially for teaching literacy and numeracy (Leadbeater 2004, 40). Personalised learning aims at developing pupils’ participation for changing the scripts of instruction (Teaching and Learning in 2020 Review Group 2006, 6).  The concept intends changes in five areas: assessment for learning, teaching and learning strategies, curriculum entitlement and choice, school organization, and partnership beyond the school.

Bildungsgangsdidaktik (didactics based on research on learner development and educational experience) has been developed by the research group at the University of Hamburg (Germany) as an original approach in German didactics (Meyer 2004). It focuses on the dialectic relationship of teaching, learning, biographical learning background and developmental tasks (Meyer 2004, Meyer 2010, 87).  From this point of view, sense-making, experience and development tasks are key elements of the instructional process. There is a growing body of theoretical and empirical research, including procedures for instructional planning, that shows how the pupils can become authentic co-constructors of instructional process (see an overview in Meyer 2010).

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