The coming of post-standardization in education

what role for the German didaktik tradition?

Dennis Shirley

pp. 35-45

in: Meinert A. Meyer, Manfred Prenzel, Stéphanie Hellekamps (eds), Perspektiven der Didaktik, Wiesbaden, Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2009

Abstract

Recent reforms intended to raise academic achievement in the United States have resulted in a narrowing of the curriculum, ethically dubious strategies of targeting some students and neglecting others, and teachers' loss of professional discretion and control. These perverse consequences of the standards and accountability movements are leading to a new age of " post-standardization" in which educators will re-assert their pedagogical autonomy and appropriate philosophical and normative legacies that can restore dignity and integrity to their profession. This task is complicated in the Anglo-American context because of the lack of a dynamic pedagogical canon. Given its signature themes of Allgemeinbildung, humanism, and the integrity of the disciplines (Fachdidaktik), the German Didaktik tradition provides a valuable resource for ensuring that international discussions and debates about education can proceed with full awareness of the complexities and richness of the pedagogical encounter.