Prospective areas of didactic research: А problem statement.
Authors: Klarin M. V. , Osmolovskaya I. M. 
Published: December 2020

Introduction.Current educational practice largely functions independently of didactics: decisions on the selection of content, the methods and forms of instruction are often made at different levels and in different areas of education without a conceptual substantiation. This does not necessarily mean the educators’ lack of knowledge, it rather points at the urgency of updating didactic research, including objects and phenomena that are relevant and have not been extensively studied yet.

Theaimof the present publication is to pose relevant problems of didactic research, based on the challenges rooted in the development of educational practice.

Methodology and research methods.This research is based on systemic, interdisciplinary, and anthropological approaches. Research methods include analysis, synthesis, systematisation, modelling, idealisation, forecasting.

Results.The authors state the need to expand the range of issues covered by didactic research. Additionally, the authors highlighted didactic research problems related to learning across all levels of the educational ladder, to a wide range of contexts of educational practice: psychological and didactic characteristics of a modern agent of learning; didactic foundations for the selection of educational content in the context of the transformation of the educational environment of the digital era; the expansion of conceptual and terminological toolbox of didactics; contextual features of didactic principles in diverse areas of educational practice; didactical aims and functions of non-traditional learning formats; didactic foundations and the range of the teacher’s roles in various learning formats; the development of didactics for teacher training.

The directions of promising didactic research are identified. The authors conclude the necessity for broadening research area to cover problems facing didactics: inclusion of phenomena and processes that were left out of the scope of traditional didactic research; enhancing the role of interdisciplinary research on learning, enhancing the versatility of didactic concepts and their scientific validity; a didactic study of specific innovative educational practices, identifying the feasibility and possibilities of their dissemination in different areas of education.

Scientific novelty. The article describes educational practices, which are not covered by didactic studies. The authors identify and present conceptual gaps, which challenge didactics to expand and enrich its conceptual toolkit. Several paradoxes are highlighted as conceptual contradictions, which indicate the gaps in modern didactic knowledge: paradoxes of the learning actor, of learning outcomes, of teacher expertise. These paradoxes prompt to update didactics as the theory of education.

Practical significance. The development of didactics in the areas considered in the article will make it possible to improve the educational process on a theoretically verified basis, enhance opportunities, to reduce the risks, and to increase the effectiveness of innovations.