The Representation of Teaching in the German Tradition: The Primacy of Bildung

This paper is the first installment of a two-part contribution examining the representation of teaching in Germany and the Anglo-American world. Representations were selected according to three criteria: a primary concern with teaching in schools, popularity, and aesthetic negotiation of reality. It is argued that these representations have to be understood as situated in the educational context of their countries and that they provide opportunities for intercultural learning and the training of future teachers. Whereas the second part (Archiv, 259:2) will focus on the United States and Britain, the first part is concerned with German representations of teaching. It first argues for the primacy of Bildung in the German system and highlights the difficulties of translating the concept into English. The paper then goes on to describe two strands of the German tradition, i.e. a problem-oriented and comedic vein of representation. Both strands are, however, marked by similar tendencies: the use of Bildung as a (deficiently realised) frame of reference, a strong “system focus”, and an affirmative conservativism.