European Educational Research Association

Teaching and Learning/Didactics: Sharing Perspectives

Announcement of a Symposium and Call for Papers

The place of teaching and learning/didactics has been the subject of discussion within EERA for some time. A significant step was taken at the 2005 conference in Dublinto advance this work with the proposal that was endorsed by the AGA for aSymposium at the Geneva Conference in 2006.

Whilst issues related to teaching, learning and subject content are central to pedagogical practices, associated discussions tend to be fragmented. This fragmentation can be reinforced by institutional structures, policy documentation, the strength of some discourse communities and the relative weaknesses of others. Such fragmentation can be observed in the structures and practices of EERA and consequently this initiative aims to provide a space for dialogue with the purpose of integrating such discussions. We hope this space will attract interest from educational researchers with interests in pedagogical practice, curriculum, student learning and specific subject areas.

This development comes at a time of growing interest in teaching and learning at an international level, including particular interest in questions related to associated scholarship and research. Against this background of the relatively recent upsurge of interest in teaching and learning within the Anglo-American community, are the long traditions within continental Europe when it comes to such questions. For example the tradition of Didaktik can be traced back to Comenius in the 17th though it is not well known in the Anglo-American educational research community. Discussions about the nature of didactics have taken on different characters in different national contexts and development has been especially strong in the domain of subject didactics. Furthermore, associated ideas have influenced the development of teacher educationsignificantly inseveral countries within continental Europeover recent years.

For these reasons we consider it timely to organise this space for dialoguein order to share perspectives and questions collectively as an EERA community. The AGA in Dublin at ECER 2005 welcomed this development very positively as a basis for the establishment of an EERA Network on Teaching and Learning/Didactics.Therefore we hope that this Symposium will provide a starting point for an ongoing process of knowledge transformation about teaching and learning/didactics within EERA that will continue and grow further in the future.

The symposium and papers will be followed by a network meeting to discuss the formal proposal to establish an EERA network on Teaching and Learning/Didactics, according to following overview:

  • Day 1: Symposium Teaching and Learning/Didactics: Sharing Perspectives
  • Day 2: Papers addressing this broad heading under the following themes are invited:

Theme 1: Knowledge transformation in different subjects and interdisciplinary areas

Theme 2: Approaches to research on teaching and learning/didactics

  • Day 3: Network Meeting to discuss formal proposal to establish an EERA Network

Proposers are invited to submit an abstract that includes a title, the name and institution of each author, themeand a 400-600 word abstract as an email attachment to Brian Hudson at by 21 February 2006. Please describe the subject line of your message as “ECER 2006 Call”.

Symposium Conveners:

Brian Hudson, Umeå University/ Sheffield Hallam University (Speaker); Ingrid Carlgren, Stockholm Institute of Education; Margaret Kirkwood, University of Strathclyde; Kirsti Klette, University of Oslo; Meinert Meyer, University of Hamburg; Bernard Schneuwly, University of Geneva and Michael Uljens, Åbo Akademi