Teacher knowledge and the knowledge base of teaching

In this chapter, the knowledge base of teaching is conceived as all profession-related insights, which are potentially relevant to a teacherʹs activities. From this perspective, it is argued that teacher knowledge, or teacher practical knowledge, should be included within this knowledge base, along with formal propositional knowledge. Although teacher knowledge is strongly related to individual experiences and contexts, there are elements of teacher knowledge that are shared by all teachers or large groups of teachers, for instance, all teachers who teach pupils of a certain age level. Investigating teacher knowledge to identify these common elements so as to do justice to its complex and specific nature can be problematic from a methodological point of view. To illustrate the potential benefits and limitations of research on teacher knowledge, the results from several studies are presented. A major conclusion from these studies is that an understanding of teacher knowledge may be useful to improve teacher education and to make educational innovations more successful. Finally, three areas of interest for future research are identified.