Didactics of General Didactics: From declarative knowledge towards the development of didactic thinking
Abstract
General didactics has a key position in the study plans of master's degrees in the fi elds of teaching of general educational subjects, and it is general didactics that we expect to lay the theoretical foundations of the teaching profession. Th is study has three main goals: to refl ect on the educational needs of future teachers, to present a thematic analysis of the most frequently used university textbooks of general didactics, and to analyse the process of innovation of the teaching of general didactics in the light of demands for quality in university teaching.
Th e eight-year process of innovation is illustrated by the interim results of student evaluations of teaching, and the basic aspects of the teaching of the subject of general didactics are analysed: the goals of the subject, content, examination, activity in teaching and apart from teaching and use of examples from practice. Th e aim of these innovations has been to arrive by progressive steps at a balanced model of the teaching of general didactics, based on the integration of the theory of teaching and the results of empirical educational research with an understanding of concrete didactic situations.
Th e main result of this study is six requirements on the teaching of general didactics in degree courses in teaching.