ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some data from a national study conducted in Canada, and refers to other studies that have focused on the problem. Theory concerns the beliefs, philosophical basis, pedagogical assumptions, conceptual understanding, and rationale related to such questions as what should be taught, why teach it, and how to teach it effectively. Teachers ranged from those who felt that children’s ability to choose was unreliable and idiosyncratic to those who assumed that all children have interests and were thereby able to relate individualised interests to common educational goals across the curriculum. Alterations in theory and practice can be seen as the interplay between a set of specific practices and its underlying belief and conceptual structure. Materials represent the medium in which this interplay is carried out. Many institutions have adapted to the problem of the irrelevance of theory by increasing the practice teaching or other field aspects of the programme.
