WHY DIDACTICS IS NOT METHODOLOGY AND METHODS ARE NOT EVERYTHING

What this episode is about
From our point of view, political education suffers from two very different problems at the same time: On the one hand, it is often not methodologically sophisticated enough and presents itself in the same old lectures, panel discussions or readings. On the other hand, however, a methodological fetishism can be discovered time and again, which assumes that this or that method is the ultimate path to success. Both attitudes are inappropriate. Political education needs methods - but these must always be justifiable in terms of objectives, objects and social configurations. How do we get to such justifications? This is the core of this evening school play.

Before we get started:
This episode of Evening School, like most, is about 30 minutes long. It is question-led and encourages you to rethink your own repertoire of methods.

The central question is:
This episode focuses on the importance of methods for political education work and how they can be appropriately justified.

Who am I listening to?
The author and speaker in this episode is Prof. Dr. Anja Besand, Director of the John Dewey Research Center and Chair of Didactics of Civic Education at the TUD Dresden University of Technology. You can find out more about her here.

In-depth literature

Authors' group for subject didactics (2016): How do I justify methods? in: What is good political education, Schwalbach, pp. 132-142

Self-assessment tasks

Question 1:
Which methods do you like to work with a lot in your job? Why? What does this method do particularly well and what are its limitations?

Question 2:
How would you describe the relationship between didactics and methodology and in what way do didactic issues go beyond methodological issues?