ABSTRACT
When the implications of the nature and contexts of disciplines within teaching and learning are being discussed, it is essential to consider what the term ‘discipline’ may mean. Attempts to define it are often plagued by institutional particularity about individual turf, academic goals, student needs, pedagogical philosophies, administrative curricular policies, and attitudes towards nonmainstream curricula (Glasgow 1997:xxiv). Disciplinarity has had a profound effect on the generation and transmission of knowledge and as a consequence has multiple meanings. For example, discipline implies both a domain to be investigated and the methods used in that domain (Pfnister 1969:25). The term denotes exclusivity; it is used to distinguish one body of knowledge from another, emphasizing primarily characteristics that separate discrete units of knowledge as opposed to those that might relate them (Swoboda 1979:64). Kockelmans (1979) defines discipline as ‘a branch of learning or a field of study characterised by a body of intersubjectively acceptable knowledge, pertaining to a well-defined realm of entities, systematically established on the basis of generally accepted principles with the help of methodical rules and procedures: e.g., mathematics, chemistry, and history’ (p. 127). A further definition is that of Kiger (1971), who states that a discipline is a ‘recognised branch or segment of knowledge within rational learning with certain generally agreed upon canons and standards’ (pp. 52-3).
