Compound Subjects in the Social Sciences: Disciplinary Identity, Educational Media, and Publishing

 There are diverse reasons why governments decide to redesign the canon of school subjects. Along with daily relevance and learner-centeredness, some of the most recent decisions motivating the abandonment of school subjects, such as History, Geography, and Civics in favor of a compound subject Social Studies or Social Sciences is the shortage of qualified teachers. From a scholarly perspective, the different fields of Education Sciences support curricular reform targeting the revision of the canon. In contrast, Subject Education and representatives of the academic disciplines connected with the school subjects argue for the status quo, often reasoning from a content-based perspective. Despite the considerable tradition compound subjects have across the globe, scholarship is rather modest and largely conceptual. There is little evidence on which canon warrants better education. In addition, as education remain tied to nations and/or regions, most debates take place in a multitude of languages and produce (grey) literature with regional and national impact. Looking at literature published in English, French, and German showcases that, on the one hand, there is limited debates across national boundaries despite a common language. On the other hand, the literature review also shows heterogeneous theoretical, normative, and conceptual frameworks guiding such debates, leading to a highly fragmented discourse. Still, textbooks and educational resources may offer valuable insight into key challenges connected to compound subjects.

Drawing upon the work of the international network Compounds, this panel addresses the challenges of compound subjects in the area of Social Studies or Social Sciences along four main questions:

(1) What is the subject-specific identity of compound subjects and how did they develop in time?

(2) How is teaching and learning in compound subjects taking place?

(3) What is the role of educational resources, in general, and textbooks, in particular, for compound subjects?

(4) How do educational publishers shape the discourse around compound subjects? The aim of this panel is twofold.

On the one hand, the ambition of the organizers is to explore compound subjects through multiple lenses representing a variety of fields, such as the Subject Education/Didactics, General Education Sciences, Publishing Studies, and Textbook and Educational Media Studies. This transdisciplinary approach bears the promise of leading to relevant questions to both academics and practitioners. On the other hand, it invites colleagues to discuss, in light of their own linguistic and disciplinary background, the four questions with members of the panel and the Compounds consortium.