Introducing Fundamental Ideas as a Didactic Approach for Vocational Education

This paper introduces the concept of “fundamental ideas” as a subject didactic approach from general education to the vocational education sector, focusing on the electrical engineering field. The authors propose the “versatile designability of electrical systems” as a fundamental idea for this field, which can help learners develop subject-specific competence and flexible use of subject-specific knowledge. The idea meets the criteria for a fundamental idea and can be beneficial in teaching at vocational schools, promoting structural knowledge and future viability of subject-related competences. The concept of fundamental ideas can be integrated with other didactic approaches and curricular design in vocational education, offering an innovative approach for future teachers and for students.