Fagdidaktiske forståelser

et metafagdidaktisk perspektiv på danskfaget

Resumé

The article investigates how different subject-didactic understandings of the school subject Danish can be identified and analysed. Grounded in a hermeneutic and meta-didactic perspective, the study includes a literature review of existing research. This review identifies Wayne Sawyer and Piet-Hein van de Ven’s article “Starting points. Paradigms in Mother tongue Education” (2006) as a key text. The study further shows that Sawyer & van de Ven’s four paradigms have had significant influence on analyses and characterisations of Nordic L1 subjects. The article takes a critical stance toward these paradigms and argues for the need for a more systematic, pedagogically grounded and subject-didactic approach. In response, a foundational architecture for subject-didactic understandings is introduced, comprising key dimensions such as school ideals, ways of understanding Bildung and teaching content, which together make it possible to explore different holistic conceptions of the subject. Based on this framework, four understandings of L1 are described: Danish as a cultural subject, Danish as a practical-aesthetic subject, Danish as a utility-oriented subject, and Danish as a societal subject. The article argues that such understandings can support both theoretical development in subject didactics and teachers’ professional reflection. Finally, the potential of the framework to promote integrative understandings and counteract fragmentation in the didactic development of the subject is discussed, particularly considering the current curriculum reform efforts.