The relevance of the topic is linked to a growing international rapprochement within the curriculum field, making necessary understanding regarding differing traditions of the planning of teaching and learning. One may say that there exist two main traditions: the Anglo American tradition of curriculum studies and the Continental and North European tradition of didactics. Although the curriculum studies tradition is internationally acknowledged, adopted, and adapted, the tradition of didactics is still relatively unknown in English and U.S. curriculum contexts and settings.

The word didactics originates from the Greek didaskein, which meant to be a teacher or to educate. As a word used in English, it has a rather negative connotation. It is, for example, found as an adjective meaning to behave like a teacher. The term ...