Corporality and embodiment are crucial for learning and teaching. Concepts such as embodied knowledge (Merleau-Ponty 1966, Husserl 1986) referring to the human body as phatic phenomenon knowing how to do things without intellectual control of this knowledge, Bourdieu’s (1999) concept of habitus, i.e. an incorporated, prereflexive corporal-intentional knowledge as ‘practical sense’ for the coping with social situations, the understanding of sensing as decisive orientation pattern in life-world situations (Pothast 1998, p. 80ff) or Ryles’ (1969) outlines of what he calls knowing how (contrary to ‘knowing that’) make clear that there exists a form of knowledge situated within the human body. The investigation of theses forms of incorporated knowledge within pedagogic settings allows for a deeper and more differentiated understanding of how (pedagogic) sense emerges and of how it constitutes most central dimensions of learning and teaching. One of the central dimensions of every pedagogic situation that is predominantly communicated corporally is the pedagogic relation (cf. Saevi 2015, Van Manen 2016). Referring to Herbart (1802), Max van Manen (1992, 2016) considers ‘tact’ as decisive for the formation of this social dimension of learning and teaching. ‘Tact’ defines pedagogical subtlety, practical intuitiveness, sensitivity and openness toward the learner’s subjectivity, and an improvisational resoluteness in dealing with children and adolescents. It refers to the way in which the educator is directed toward the learner. In this paper, the ‘tactful’ way pedagogic relations are shaped corporally shall be delineated by means of empirical examples. The reconstructions of video scenes recorded during school lessons show that the very precise and detailed analysis of corporal expressions within brief fractions of time reveals significant structures that are decisive for the formation of relationships during pedagogic processes: The way pedagogic tact is corporally materialized gives proof of various forms of opening up scopes for cooperation, engagement and individual development, but it may also construe barriers for active participation.

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