Bitesize Research: The Value Of Subject Knowledge

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone’s having a great week! This week’s Tuesday CPD is on the theme of subject knowledge and pedagogy, and when thinking about this, I was intrigued to see the publication of a new book about the place of subject knowledge in teacher education. This volume includes the work of researchers working in Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the UK across a variety of subject contexts. Objectives: To look at the place and the value of subject knowledge in teacher education internationally Summary:

• The book as a whole uses a concept of ‘powerful knowledge’ to categorise knowledge that is most valuable for students in the modern world
• In a Geography context, authors argue that teachers need to use a strong combination of conceptual, contextual and procedural knowledge to ensure that their students become good geographers
• One chapter looks at how in a Maths context, one type of specific mathematical knowledge is argued to be central for unlocking students’ thinking and learning of maths
• Other subjects, including Religious Studies, are explained in the book to have roots in multidisciplinary approaches. They therefore argue that teachers of RS need to understand how these different approaches come together before they can successfully teach RS

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• What is my own relationship with subject knowledge? How much do I aim to maintain or extend it? And in what ways?
• How does better subject knowledge support your subject pedagogy?
• What might ‘powerful knowledge’ be in my subject?

If you would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.