From the vantage point of knowledge transformations entailed in curriculum making, this article seeks to contribute to a rethinking of the concept of powerful knowledge. It makes a case for linking the teaching of content knowledge to the development of human powers (understanding, ways of thinking, capabilities and dispositions) by way of knowledge transformations. The article starts by examining three perspectives or contributions to knowledge transformations: (1) Bernstein’s recontextualisation; (2) Chevallard’s didactic transposition; and (3) Gericke et al.’s transformations. This is followed by a discussion of what transformations entail from the perspective of Bildung-centred Didaktik, and what transformations mean in today’s context if education is centrally concerned with the development of human powers. It concludes by questioning the conflation of powerful knowledge with disciplinary knowledge.