On Developing Chinese Didactics: A Perspective from the German Didaktik Tradition

Over the last century, the development of didactics (教学论) in China has been profoundly influenced by Kairov’s theory of pedagogics. The German Didaktik tradition, which can date back to Comenius and Herbart, remains largely unknown to educational scholars in China while they possess basic knowledge of Comenius and Herbart. This article expounds three basic tenets of the German Didaktik tradition—(1) the concept of Bildung, (2) a theory of educational content, and (3) the idea of teaching as a learner-content encounter—and discusses the implications for developing Chinese didactics. It argues for a rethinking of the purposes, content, and practice of teaching with respect to the subjectification aim of education (i.e., the becoming of unique individuals, with autonomy, critical thinking, and creativity).

[1]  L. Bai.  Practicality in Curriculum Building: A Historical Perspective on the Mission of Chinese Education , 2013 .

[2]  Zhang Hua,et al.  Curriculum Studies in China: Retrospect and Prospect , 2013 .

[3]  Zongyi Deng.  The Practical and reconstructing Chinese pedagogics , 2013 .

[4]  Zongyi Deng.  Constructing Chinese Didactics (Re)discovering the German Didactics Tradition , 2012 .

[5]  Zongyi Deng,et al.  Revisiting Curriculum Potential , 2011 .

[6]  Zongjie Wu.  Interpretation, autonomy, and transformation: Chinese pedagogic discourse in a cross-cultural perspective , 2011 .

[7]  G. Biesta.  Disciplines and theory in the academic study of education: a comparative analysis of the Anglo-American and Continental construction of the field , 2011 .

[8]  Zhou Yong.  Reflections on modern China and the progressive power of educational studies , 2011 .

[9]  Yongjie Zhou.  Reflections on modern China and the progressive power of educational studies , 2011 .

[10]  Huang Shu-guang.  The Theory Radiation and Practical Influence of I.A.Kairov's Pedagogy in China , 2010 .

[11]  William Frick,et al.  Will the Leadership of Chinese Education Follow the Footsteps of American Education? A Brief Historical and Socio-Political Analysis , 2009 .

[12]  G. Biesta.  Good education in an age of measurement: on the need to reconnect with the question of purpose in education , 2009 .

[13]  L. Ye.  “New Basic Education” and me , 2009 .

[14]  S. Hopmann.  No child, no school, no state left behind: schooling in the age of accountability 1 , 2008 .

[15]  Dan Lin,et al.  Difficulties and outlets: On paradigm of China’s pedagogy , 2008 .

[16]  G. Yonge,et al.  The significance of the concepts ‘elemental’ and ‘fundamental’ in didactic theory and practice , 2008 .

[17]  K. Hansen.  Rewriting Bildung for Postmodernity: Books on Educational Philosophy, Classroom Practice, and Reflective Teaching , 2008 .

[18]  Stefan Hopmann,et al.  Restrained Teaching: The Common Core of Didaktik , 2007 .

[19]  Thomas D. Curran.  Educational Reform in Republican China: The Failure of Educators to Create a Modern Nation , 2005 .

[20]  Wang Ce-san,et al.  A Critical Reflection on the Thought of “Despising Knowledge" in Chinese Basic Education , 2004 .

[21]  R. Hayhoe,et al.  Knowledge across cultures : a contribution to dialogue among civilizations , 2001 .

[22]  David Hamilton,et al.  The pedagogic paradox (or why no didactics in England , 1999 .

[23]  Pertti Kansanen,et al.  The Deutsche Didaktik and the American Research on Teaching , 1999 .

[24]  Christoph Luth.  On Wilhelm von Humboldt's Theory of Bildung , 1998 .

[25]  S. Hopmann,et al.  Didaktik and/or curriculum : an international dialogue , 1998 .