Session Information
27 SES 03 B, Critical Thinking, Citizenship and Worldview Education
Paper Session
Contribution
In research on education the field roughly covered by the concept of Bildung has seen a wide-ranging discussion philosophically but less has been said and done from an empirical and teacher-vocational perspective (Rittelmeyer 2012, Tyson 2015a, 2015b). Bildung includes matters such as: formation of character, ethical and aesthetic knowledge/capability, capacity for wise deliberation and reflection as well as the development of personal autonomy (Rittelmeyer 2012) and is defined here in close connection with the Aristotelian phronesis or practical wisdom (Tyson 2015b) in the sense that to afford Bildung in education, from a practical standpoint, is about a teacher’s phronesis. The theoretical framework for this is phronetic social science as articulated by Flyvbjerg (2001) and Schram (2012).
The aim is to present an outline of narratively articulated Bildung didactics, a field of research closely related to both Bildungsgangdidaktik (Gessler 1988, Meyer 2009, Trautmann 2004) and reflective practice (Schön 1983, 1987). It can be understood as building on Schön’s work at the point where he explicitly states that his aim has not been to explore “wisdom in response to the ethical dilemmas of practice” (1987:xiii).
In the outline a conceptual framework for narratively articulated Bildung didactics will be briefly presented consisting of the techne/phronesis distinction (Biesta 2013, Dunne 1993, Kinsella & Pitmann 2012), narratives as articulated practice (Clandinin & Connelly 1995, Gallagher 2010, McDrury & Alterio 2002, McEwan & Egan 1995, Moon 2010, Tyson 2015a), didactics (Uljens 1997) as an entwined practice of techne and phronesis, and finally, pedagogical imagination as the central concept in mediating between general ideas and particular practice, drawing on Schön’s (1987) idea that skilled practitioners have a repertoire of previous experiences that they reinterpret to enrich their confrontation with new situations.
The empirical basis for this draws on four recent studies. One is the biography of craftmaster Wolfgang B. (Tyson 2015a, 2015b) and his paradigmatic narratives of Bildung didactics as experienced over the course of his vocational education. Three are studies that in different ways have tried to scale the initial results from the biographical study by introducing more specific Bildung didactical question in various teacher education contexts as tasks for the teacher students. One is a study reported at ECER 2015 (Pedagogical imagination and practical wisdom: the role of good narratives in teacher education and professional development) concerned with narratives of successful conflict resolution among after-school care teachers. The second is a study with vocational teacher students and their stories of vocational Bildung experiences during their own vocational training. The third is a study with students at a nursing teacher program and their stories of existential Bildung didactical events in their experience and handling of patients’ suffering and similar matters.
It will be argued that there is a number of Bildung-related educational matters, not least in teacher education and teacher professional development, where a narrative articulation can contribute. These can be differentiated in at least five groups: enriching knowledge of vocational and subject-related tasks; conceptual development and critical reflection; advancement of practice; development of ‘practice fields’ and the articulation of patterns of Bildung affordances. In distinguishing these different ways in which Bildung as a form of practical knowledge can be enriched through narrative studies the presentation contributes to our capacity for doing systematic research in the subject area.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Biesta, G. (2013). “Knowledge, judgment and the curriculum: on the past, present and future of the idea of the Practical.” Journal of curriculum studies 45 (5): 684-696. Clandinin, D., and Connelly, M. (1995). Teachers’ professional knowledge landscapes. New York: Teachers College Press. Dunne, J. (1993). Back to the rough ground. Practical judgment and the lure of technique. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making social science matter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gallagher, S. (2013). “An education in narratives.” Educational philosophy and theory, 2013 1-10. Gessler, L. (1988). Bildungserfolg im Spiegel von Bildungsbiographien. Frankfurt: Peter Lang Verlag. Kelchtermanns, G. (2015). “Learning from ‘good examples of practice’.” Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 21 (4): 361-365. Kinsella, E., and Pitman, A. (Eds.). (2012). Phronesis as professional knowledge. Practical wisdom in the professions. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Larsson, S. (2009). “A pluralist view of generalization in qualitative research.” International Journal of Research & Method in Education 32 (1): 25-38. McDrury, J., and Alterio, M. (2002). Learning through storytelling in higher education. Using reflection & experience to improve learning. London: Kogan Page. McEwan, H., and Egan, K. (Eds.). (1995). Narrative in teaching, learning, and research. New York: Teacher College Press. Meyer, M. (2009). “What is Bildungsgangdidaktik?” Rhino didactics, Zeitschrift für Bildungsgangforschung und Unterricht, vol. 28. Moon, J. (2010). Using story in higher education and professional development. New York: Routledge. Rittelmeyer, C. (2012). Bildung, ein pädagogischer Grundbegriff. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Schön, D. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Schön, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner. New York: Basic Books. Schram, S. (2012). “Phronetic social science: an idea whose time has come.” In Flyvbjerg, B. et al. Real social science. Applied phronesis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Thomas, G. (2010). “Doing case study: Abduction not induction, phronesis not theory.” Qualitative Inquiry 16 (7): 575-582. Trautmann, M. ed. (2004). Entwicklungsaufgaben im Bildungsgang. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Tyson, R. (2015a). Educating for vocational excellence: the auto/biographical exploration of enacted craft pedagogy. Vocations and learning, 8(2), 229-245. Tyson, R. (2015b). Vocational Bildung in action. Licentiate thesis, Stockholm University Department of Education. Uljens, M. (1997). School didactics and learning. East Sussex: Psychology Press.
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