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Examining assumptions about the need for teachers to transform subject matter into pedagogical forms accessible to students
Scheiner, Thorsten
Scheiner, Thorsten
Author
Abstract
This paper examines fundamental assumptions about the notion of transforming subject matter, which is widely regarded as a core practice of teacher work, a crucial feature of teacher knowledge and a measure of teacher expertise. First, the notion of transforming subject matter and the ways it has been taken up in Anglo-American discourses of teacher knowledge are discussed in relative detail. Second, the paper examines and questions fundamental, yet mostly unexplored, assumptions, including the individual teacher as the locus of transformation, the possessor of the content knowledge at stake and the gatekeeper who enables students to access subject matter content. Finally, these widespread assumptions are problematised against the background of French and German traditions of didactics. These traditions do not regard the capacity to transform subject matter as a characteristic of an individual teacher, but rather of social and cultural systems that are institutionally contextualised and oriented towards normative conceptions of education.
Keywords
didactic transposition, elementarisation, pedagogical content knowledge, pedagogical transformation, subject matter content
Date
2021
Type
Journal article
Journal
Teachers and Teaching
Book
Volume
28
Issue
1
Page Range
1-11
Article Number
ACU Department
Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education (ILSTE)
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as green open access
License
File Access
Open
Controlled
Controlled