Towards Powerful Educational Knowledge: Perspectives from Educational Foundations, Curriculum Theory and Didaktik

by Jim Hordern (Editor), Johan Muller (Editor), Deng Zongyi (Editor)

Overview

Didaktik as a consequence of the rising tide of empiricism in educational research, the ‘what works’ agenda in global educational reform and internal fragmentation within the traditions themselves.   

This insightful volume will be of interest to all those concerned about the future of education, and particular the relationship between educational theory and educational practice in curriculum studies, teacher education and professional development. It will be a key resource for teachers, curriculum developers, policy makers and researchers in the field of curriculum theory and didactics. The book was originally published as a special issue of Journal of Curriculum Studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032712796
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/29/2025
Pages:	124
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jim Hordern is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bath, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Plymouth and Visiting Professor at the University of Derby. His research interests are in educational knowledge and practice.

Johan Muller is Professor Emeritus of Curriculum in the School of Education, and a senior research scholar at the University of Cape Town. He has published in the area of curriculum theory and policy, focusing on schooling and higher education. His most recent book, Curriculum and the Specialisation of Knowledge with Michael Young, was published in 2016.

Zongyi Deng is Professor of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the Institute of Education (IOE), University College London (UCL). He is also an executive editor of the Journal of Curriculum Studies (JCS) and has held faculty positions at Nanyang Technological University and the University of Hong Kong. His interest areas include curriculum content or subject matter, curriculum theory, didactics (Didaktik), curriculum policy and reform, and comparative and international education.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction: Towards powerful educational knowledge? Addressing the challenges facing educational foundations, curriculum theory and Didaktik

Jim Hordern, Johan Muller and Zongyi Deng

1. Rethinking the foundations: towards powerful professional knowledge in teacher education in the USA and England

Brian Barrett and Jim Hordern

2. A pedagogic compact: retrieving ‘powerful’ educational knowledge from Didaktik and curriculum studies

Johan Muller and Ursula Hoadley

3.Constructing ‘powerful’ curriculum theory

Zongyi Deng

4. The shifting powers of educational knowledge: power relations between sociology and economics of education

Stephanie Allais and Yael Shalem

5. Analysing micro-credentials in higher education: a Bernsteinian analysis

Leesa Wheelahan and Gavin Moodie

6. Powerful educational knowledge through Subject Didactics and General Subject Didactics. Recent developments in German-speaking countries

Helmut Johannes Vollmer

Afterword: Bridging divides in educational theory?

Michael Young