Beyond Fragmentation: Didactics, Learning and Teaching in Europe

Book excerpt: There is great diversity in teacher education systems and approaches to learning and teaching practice across Europe, even though the practical everyday problems of the various national education systems may be very similar. Against this background, in the field of research on didactics, learning and teaching it is important to overcome fragmentation and to find common ground. In this book the editors demonstrate how far we have come over recent years in advancing research in the field which has the ultimate aim of improving learning and teaching. The editors recognise the diverging national and local practices as a starting point in searching for common ground and in creating shared understandings. The book is organised in six parts with 26 chapters in which the authors examine whether there is a paradigmatic shift from teaching to learning, take a closer look at various teacher education models and their empirical basis, discuss the importance of subject didactics, curriculum work and lesson planning, and analyse the impact of Information and Communication Technologies on didactical design. Finally, they relate the empirical findings to theory construction and offer proposals to further advance this vital field by increasing levels of international co-operation.