A condition for improving the quality of special didactic training of teachers is the creation of the theory of study subjects of the „special didactic“ (methodology) type. The purpose of this study is to contribute towards elaborating the theory of this component of teacher training.
In the first part of the article the author delimits the objectives of special didactics as study subjects. In the next part he analyses 16 university textbooks of special didactics with the aim of finding out how they solve the following problems: 1) The function of the textbook in teaching special didactics, 2) formulation of the goals of special didactics courses, the attainment of which the textbook is supposed to help. Selection and arrangement of the subject-matter in view of the goals which the given special didactics and textbook in question aim to attain, 3) inter-subject relations in the teaching of special didactics and other subject, 4) utilization of the results of special didactics researches in the textbooks of special didactics.
On the basis of the results of the analysis the author makes suggestions for the solution of some questions concerning special didactics as a subject, e. g. for the conception of the structure of special didactics textbooks and draws attention to the need for cooperation with other experts in teacher training, especially with psychologists and educationists.