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From Input to Output - From Contents to Competencies. What do education standards mean for textbooks?
Panel Discussion, 17 March, 2011, 3:00-4:30 pm, Leipzig Book Fair
In the aftermath of the ‘PISA shock’, the mediocre performance of the German education system in international comparison, the German federal states have put some aspects of their education ideas to the test, in some cases subjecting them to fundamental alterations. A key concern was replacing the traditional content-related orientation in line with structures prescribed by the discipline (input) with the development of competencies (output), which should ideally be measurable for the purposes of quality control.
These new ideas and the changes within the German education system that they entail have been accompanied by lively debate amongst the advocates and opponents of the reform and its consequences. Many questions have been discussed within the relevant disciplinary spheres, yet subject to public assessment. The consequences for textbooks, however, have hardly been addressed up until now. This is surprising given that textbooks – despite all claims to the contrary – remain the central teaching and learning media in the classroom. While other media increasingly complement them, they are far from replacing them altogether.
Unlike New Media, which generally involve a wealth of information with little structure or control, textbooks convey highly structured, didactically reduced and state-legitimised knowledge. Research claims the right to ‘veto’ this knowledge: a textbook should only present portrayals that do not contradict scholarship. All these factors give many people who work with them the impression that textbooks are particularly respectable and reliable educational media.
In view of this special status held by textbooks, the introduction of almost comprehensive educational standards as explicitly recommended by the Standing Conference of Ministers of Education raises many questions. What will happen, for instance, if content-related curricular requirements lose their significance? What can teachers use for orientation when the same competencies can be gained from completely different contents? Which economic and political effects would such a standardisation have on the German textbook market, which is still federal in structure? And, more fundamentally, how can the transfer of economic concerns to the field of education be reconciled with the nature of textbooks, which also convey images of society, values and orientation guidelines?
These and similar questions will be discussed amongst the panellists and the audience. The panellists are individuals who work with textbooks from a wide range of perspectives and with different interests in mind: teachers, scholars, education policy-makers and publishers. As there will almost certainly be parents and pupils in the audience too, the discussion promises to explore the complexities of the problem in sufficient detail.
Moderation
Simone Lässig (Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research)
Panellists
Frank Biewendt (Thuringia Institute for Teacher Training, Curriculum Development and Media)
Wassilios Fthenakis (Didacta )
Andreas Gruschka (Goethe University, Frankfurt)
Ralph Hartung (Ministry of Education, Hesse, Dept. of Quality Management)
Preben Späth (European Educational Publishers Group, EEPG)
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