General didactics for an uncertain world? Analyzing curriculum literature in Danish teacher education

In this study, we map and analyze the curriculum literature used in the course ‘general didactics’ in the Danish teacher education, asking what defines general didactics from an empirical standpoint, and whether that discipline is up to the task of preparing student teachers for a changing and uncertain world.
Over the last several decades, Danish teacher education has undergone significant changes in the central curriculum and other provisions. This is indeed also the case for the central course curriculum of ‘general didactics’. However, there is little empirical research regarding the specific theoretical content and the literature used in educational practice .
In a previous study, we mapped the curriculum literature used in the course ‘general didactics’ in all Danish teacher education colleges in the year 2020/2021 (Mikkelsen & Pjedsted 2022). The study showed a prevalence of introductory and practice-oriented or ‘instrumental’ literature, but also showed great local variance.
In the current follow-up study, we conduct a detailed qualitative analysis of the 14 most prevalent of these titles (of a total of 600 references). We examine which types of knowledge, theory types and didactic positions are represented in the texts, and how the texts themselves are didacticized. One hypothesis directing the study is whether there is a dominance of instrumental, neopositivistic and prescriptive theory types and positions, and whether the texts’ are didacticized in a simplistic (reflexive) manner.
The paper contributes to the field of general didactics, providing empirical answers to the questions of where the discipline and its concepts of knowledge is headed, whether it is in fact being ‘instrumentalized’, or whether it does have room for more vivid visions and discussions of schooling, teaching and Bildung in relation to societal and existential questions and challenges - in a changing and uncertain world.