Conflicting Knowledge Paradigms: Competence Discourse and Disciplinary Reality in Social Sciences Teaching

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to offer an inside look at the coexistence of different ways of conceiving and organising the knowledge of social sciences in current schools. To this end, the methods of autoethnography and critical discourse analysis were used in a case study focused on the teaching experience of one of the authors. The system of categories constructed allowed us to empirically verify the existence of a conflict between two major epistemological paradigms, competency and disciplinary, in clear correspondence with a gap between innovative educational discourses and traditional school practices. In the case analysed, this conflict led to a curricular over-dimensioning, which aimed to expand the elements to be worked on by teachers and their students qualitatively and quantitatively. The causes of this phenomenon are related to neo-liberal pedagogical parameters and allowed us to conclude that we should not conceive of competency-based learning either as an educational change by itself or as a strategy that guarantees change.