Paedagogica – serie

Tact and the Pedagogical Relation focuses on two topics of increasing interest both in teacher education and research. It shows how questions of sensitive and attuned action as well as educators’ relations with children and the young are special—uniquely different from other relations and attunements. This collection introduces readers to both classical and contemporary texts, offering many of these in translation for the first time. These illuminate the struggles and rewards of teaching, showing teaching to be an art, simultaneously a personal and professional calling.

Tact and the Pedagogical Relation focuses on two topics of increasing interest both in teacher education and research. It shows how questions of sensitive and attuned action as well as educators’ relations with children and the young are special—uniquely different from other relations and attunements. This collection introduces readers to both classical and contemporary texts, offering many of these in translation for the first time. These illuminate the struggles and rewards of teaching, showing teaching to be an art, simultaneously a personal and professional calling.

"One must assume we are all familiar with what is commonly called ‘education.’" This is how Schleiermacher begins his famous 1826 lecture on the Art of Education. But in proceeding further—and unlike Rousseau or Locke before him—Schleiermacher carefully avoids assuming that education is primarily about a return to nature or about "soundness" of mind and body. Education is instead an ethical and political undertaking and a pragmatic art whose ultimate object and morality has differed greatly over time. It is exercised as a form of practical influence of the older generation on the younger: "A significant part of the activity of the older generation extends toward the younger," Schleiermacher reasons, and it "is more complete and perfect the more it is governed by an idea of what should happen—the more it has an exemplar to guide its action—the more it is an art." This book offers these and other insights on education—long canonical in Central and Northern Europe—for the first time to an English audience. It also provides five chapters by scholars in education and its history that discuss various aspects of Schleiermacher’s lecture.

"One must assume we are all familiar with what is commonly called ‘education.’" This is how Schleiermacher begins his famous 1826 lecture on the Art of Education. But in proceeding further—and unlike Rousseau or Locke before him—Schleiermacher carefully avoids assuming that education is primarily about a return to nature or about "soundness" of mind and body. Education is instead an ethical and political undertaking and a pragmatic art whose ultimate object and morality has differed greatly over time. It is exercised as a form of practical influence of the older generation on the younger: "A significant part of the activity of the older generation extends toward the younger," Schleiermacher reasons, and it "is more complete and perfect the more it is governed by an idea of what should happen—the more it has an exemplar to guide its action—the more it is an art." This book offers these and other insights on education—long canonical in Central and Northern Europe—for the first time to an English audience. It also provides five chapters by scholars in education and its history that discuss various aspects of Schleiermacher’s lecture.

Paul Feyerabend was one of the most influential forces that changed the intellectual world in the second half of the 20th century. Based on his intimate knowledge of the history and of the contemporary state of the sciences, his background in philosophy, and his genuine interest in the arts, Feyerabend never missed an opportunity to challenge prevalent views on the sciences and philosophy. Feyerabend’s broad interest in cultural affairs included, of course, questions of education, of the ways people are educated (or: indoctrinated) into scientific beliefs and worldviews. He always was appalled by the ways in which sciences and philosophy are taught as truths and as facts rather than as imperfect, questionable theories or, even better, as practices of searching and philosophizing. His reflections touch on a wide range of pedagogical issues, from questions around the shape of educational theories or the role the sciences play or should play in education to the discussion around educational aims and methods. He proposed a unique and very much enlightening approach that relates him closely to Continental European discussions around Bildung in its broadest sense.This volume explores some of the different educational perspectives to which Feyerabend’s thoughts make a highly original and creative contribution. In each section, different scholars from across the globe who are experts in the relevant fields of educational debates will present and discuss the way in which Feyerabend challenges prevalent and enriches future pedagogical discussions.

Paul Feyerabend was one of the most influential forces that changed the intellectual world in the second half of the 20th century. Based on his intimate knowledge of the history and of the contemporary state of the sciences, his background in philosophy, and his genuine interest in the arts, Feyerabend never missed an opportunity to challenge prevalent views on the sciences and philosophy. Feyerabend’s broad interest in cultural affairs included, of course, questions of education, of the ways people are educated (or: indoctrinated) into scientific beliefs and worldviews. He always was appalled by the ways in which sciences and philosophy are taught as truths and as facts rather than as imperfect, questionable theories or, even better, as practices of searching and philosophizing. His reflections touch on a wide range of pedagogical issues, from questions around the shape of educational theories or the role the sciences play or should play in education to the discussion around educational aims and methods. He proposed a unique and very much enlightening approach that relates him closely to Continental European discussions around Bildung in its broadest sense.This volume explores some of the different educational perspectives to which Feyerabend’s thoughts make a highly original and creative contribution. In each section, different scholars from across the globe who are experts in the relevant fields of educational debates will present and discuss the way in which Feyerabend challenges prevalent and enriches future pedagogical discussions.

At a time when education is becoming ever more standardized and technocratic, there is renewed interest in the interpersonal, even intimate phenomenon of pedagogical tact. Some speak of a renaissance. Like tact in general, pedagogical tact is a ready and delicate sense of what is fitting and proper in dealing with others. In pedagogy, these "others" are typically children, youth, or students, and tact is exercised as a kind of disposition that is oriented to the learners’ maturation and eventual autonomy. It takes the form of a subtle but active discernment that arises when theories and prescriptions simply do not help. This edited collection, the first to appear on pedagogical tact in English, includes contributions from several authors who are a part of the renaissance in this area. It also features a substantial introduction to the tradition of pedagogy from which tact emerges, and one that also traces the international development of understandings of pedagogical tact.This rich collection of recent texts on pedagogical tact provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to the intricate relationship between theory and practice. It explores various characteristics, contexts, and applications of pedagogical tact, featuring contributions from distinguished scholars from the USA, Sweden, France, Germany, and Switzerland. As the first English-language volume dedicated solely to this topic since Max van Manen’s The Tact of Teaching (1991) and Pedagogical Tact (2015), it is an essential resource. Highly recommended.— Evi Agostini, Director of Studies – Education Directorate of Doctoral Studies, University of Vienna