Teaching as communication. A contingency-based approach

Abstract

A contingency-based description of teaching aims at explaining structural circumstances and the process-based logic of social and pedagogical frames of teaching. After having defined the essential theoretical terms of the concept, this article shows how the organization of teaching is established communicatively and under the influence of contingency in the three dimensions of the teaching system (subject, social, and temporal dimension). With regard to didactical challenges, the output of contingency-based theory is discussed as a last point. This theory of teaching consolidates a non-prescriptive and realistic view on teaching concerning the successes and failures in influencing students’ learning. Furthermore, this theory looks at the meaning of pedagogical planning knowledge in a new way. (DIPF/Orig.