27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching

Network 27 aims to advance research on didactics, learning and teaching in Europe. We understand research and scientific discussions as a necessary pre-condition to improve the quality of teaching and learning in various social contexts.

The network provides a Europe wide meeting place for educational researchers from the diverse traditions in relation to didactics and /or teaching and learning. Central questions from a didactical perspective are what is taught, what is learned and also why, and how. In turn these questions raise further questions about the role of subjects and subject didactics and also, significantly for many traditions within Europe, about the concept of Bildung. Thus, the relations between subject specific, comparative and general didactics and/or research on teaching and learning can be explored. Bringing together research on teaching and learning in different subject-specific domains, we in particular aim at discussing the generic aspects of teaching and learning on an empirical basis.

Discussions in the network highlight the way in which the field of didactics and research on teaching and learning is characterized by its fragmentation across Europe. The very diverse systems of initial teacher education and similarly diverse arrangements for the continuing professional development of teachers reflect this fragmentation. Thus, the delineation of common ground for European research related to didactics / learning and teaching is a major challenge, depending on the teacher education needs in different countries.

Major areas explored and discussed in our network are:

• Different paradigms for didactic research in Europe
• Frameworks for the comparison of teaching and learning actions across subjects and educational contexts
• Lenses for classroom observation and video studies
• Literacies, language use across subject matters and tacit dimensions of teaching
• Teaching resources, teacher’s work and the enacted curriculum
• Relationships between didactics and the other learning sciences
• Gender as an analtytical tool for discussing classroom interactions and inequalities