"Didaktik" is at the centre of most school teaching and teacher education in Continental Europe, but at the same time almost unknown in the English speaking world. The article gives a brief outline of the history and the common core of Didaktik, of its current situation, and of the basic differences compared to the Anglo-American concept of "curriculum and instruction" and the French "transposition didactique". The common core of Didaktik is characterised as "restrained teaching", based on (a) a commitment to Bildung, (b) the educative difference of matter and meaning, and (c) the autonomy of teaching and learning. (Contains 5 figures and 9 notes.)