The possibilities of didactics – a pragmatist perspective

Abstract

In this inaugural speech I develop my view on the concept of didactics, didactic research and the importance of didactics in the current educational policy context. I claim that the subject of Education can play an important role in the development of didactics due to its long history of didactic concerns and its comprehensive theories about teaching and learning. I particularly emphasize the opportunities that I believe lie in a didactic perspective grounded in Dewey’s pragmatic philosophy. In my opinion Dewey’s work is still highly relevant and can offer a basis for political arguments, pedagogic guidance, methodological alternatives and a way to resolve essential philosophical problems. Furthermore, I highlight environmental and sustainability issues as a new political moral dimension of education which puts education in a genuine and long-term perspective for the future. I argue that this dimension, along with Dewey’s approach to education, is an important corrective to the educational policy tendencies that want to reduce education to a short-term issue of knowledge transfer, individual success and competitiveness of the business sector.