vakdidactici

Vakdidactici are scholars, researchers, and practitioners who study and apply vakdidactiek—the didactics of a specific school subject. The term is used in the education sciences in Dutch-speaking contexts such as the Netherlands and Flanders. Vakdidactici work at the intersection of subject knowledge and instructional practice, aiming to make teaching of a particular discipline more effective by connecting what is taught with how it is taught.

Vakdidactiek focuses on how to organize and present subject content, how to design learning activities and tasks appropriate for different levels and contexts, and how to assess subject-specific learning. It emphasizes pedagogical content knowledge—the understanding of how to teach the subject in ways that align with learners’ developmental stages and prior knowledge. The field integrates insights from cognitive psychology, curriculum studies, and subject-specific research to address the unique challenges of teaching a given discipline, such as mathematics, languages, science, or history.

In teacher education and professional practice, vakdidactici develop curricula materials, contribute to teacher preparation, and engage in ongoing professional development. Research topics commonly include the representation and progression of core concepts, the sequencing of topics, the use of subject-specific representations and tools, assessment practices aligned with disciplinary standards, and approaches to inclusive instruction. While related to general didactics, vakdidactiek centers on the particularities of each subject, providing guidelines and frameworks tailored to the teaching and learning of individual disciplines.