7th International Conference on the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (CITAD7)

CITAD7 : 7th International Conference on the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic

19-23 Jun 2022 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain)

Summary and Objectives

The Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (ATD) currently plays a prominent role in international research in didactics. Six international conferences have been organised on this subject so far: Baeza (Spain) in 2005, Uzès (France) in 2007, Sant Hilari Sacalm (Spain) in 2010, Toulouse (France) in 2013, Castro Urdiales (Spain) in 2016 and Grenoble (France) in 2018. Like the preceding ones, this conference brings together researchers interested in the ATD and aims at the following objectives:

Establishing an updated overview of the results and progress in the ATD, concerning both basic research and the development of education systems, including teacher education;
Developing a research programme around the most relevant open problems, either related to difficulties affecting education systems or the development of didactics as a scientific discipline;
Identifying and studying the specific problems raised by the extension of the ATD’s conceptual and methodological tools to other fields.

Special remark on the scope and the official language of the conference.

The ATD research programme has been initially developed in the French and Spanish research communities in didactics of mathematics. However, it has now developed internationally and addresses broader didactic phenomena, both as regards the bodies of knowledge considered (such as the life sciences, for example) and the type of institutions through which knowledge disseminates (e.g. museums or communication media of various types). Therefore, we particularly invite researchers in didactics of any field to take part in the conference. Given that researchers in didactics are increasingly fluent in English, we call on all participants to write and deliver their communications in this language. Nevertheless, as in previous conferences, oral or poster communications in French or Spanish will be welcome. Organisers will do their best to make this trilingual organisation an enriching and profitable experience for all participants.

Scientific themes

Axis 1: Development of the foundations, tools and aims of research in the framework of the ATD

The increasing dissemination of the ATD raises many intertwined questions. One of these questions is the degree of penetration of the ATD into a variety of fields of didactic research. How do researchers use the ATD, and, most importantly, which parts of the ATD do they effectively use? Is the full import of the theory recognised and drawn upon? Are there any misunderstandings about what the ATD can achieve and what it is allegedly not yet prepared to accomplish? A companion question is the compatibility of this enlargement with different ways to understand the object of study of didactics. The need arises to continue with the systematic work of interaction and dialogue between different didactic theories, to explain the respective principles; the way these principles affect the aims of mathematical education each theory advocates; and the type of research problems that are privileged.

Axis 2: The Curriculum Problem and the paradigm of questioning the world

This topic concerns the study of the historical transition from the classic paradigm (based on the sequential access to previously established knowledge) to an emerging didactic paradigm in which one ideally starts from a question and tries to work out an answer to that question, without any prejudice regarding the kinds of tools needed to elaborate the answer sought after. In this paradigm of questioning the world, in which the notions of inquiry (of a given question) and of study and research path (SRP) play a key role, the works of culture do not vanish: they are simply assigned a more authentically functional role, which requires studying a given work—in synergy with other works—with the aim of providing an appropriate answer to a question or set of questions, which correlatively become part and parcel of a “new” curriculum based on the study of questions. Presentations relating to the modelling and critical study, from an ATD viewpoint, of the notion of inquiry-based teaching will be welcomed. Papers tackling the issues raised by the design of purportedly “inquiry-based curricula” will be particularly encouraged.

Axis 3: ATD and the professionalization of the teaching profession

Newcomers to the ATD as a praxeological complex should be reminded that many of its key constituents were forged in the frame of teacher education in an effort to change the “craft of teaching” into a full-fledged profession. The core of this topic is the study of the teaching “semiprofessions” in school, university or vocational school. It is based on two main concepts, firstly that of profession (as distinguished from the notion of “semiprofession”), and secondly, the concept of problems of a profession, which refers to the difficulties one has to deal with when carrying out this profession. The main idea here is that, however “subjective” it may seem to others, any observed “difficulty” must be taken seriously and looked at as a problem to be solved in the framework of the ATD. Papers showing how this can be done will be welcomed, whether they tackle “big issues” or are devoted to the supposed minutiae of teaching practice.

Dates and deadlines

Proposals for oral communications, PhD Seminar and Posters

Proposals for oral presentations, posters and presentations for the seminar for doctoral student seminar must be uploaded before January 14 31, 2022.

The committee’s response, indicating the acceptance or not of the proposal, together with eventual changes to be made in the text, will be sent to the authors no later than March 14, 2022.

In case of acceptance,

Authors should submit the provisional final text of their presentation no later than May 6, 2022, in order to be included in the (electronic) pre-proceedings.
Pre-proceedings will be available on June 3, 2022

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