The research question is:
How and under what conditions do processes of resonance emerge as lived moments in classroom teaching, and how are they perceived, interpreted, and shaped in teachers’ pedagogical practice?

Introduction, Relevance, Research Gap, and State of Research

School is increasingly shaped by processes of acceleration, standardization, and performance orientation that characterize educational systems across Europe. Against this background, pedagogical approaches that foreground relational quality, meaning-making, and lived experience are gaining renewed relevance. Resonance pedagogy, grounded in the resonance theory of Hartmut Rosa (2016, 2019), conceptualizes education as a relational process characterized by mutual responsiveness, openness, and meaningful engagement between teachers, students, and the world.

This study investigates how resonance relationships are created, experienced, and disrupted in everyday classroom practice in primary schools. Focusing on teachers’ perspectives, it explores how resonance pedagogy becomes visible in pedagogical action and how teachers interpret and shape moments of resonance in their professional practice. Rather than examining specific instructional techniques, the study emphasizes relational dynamics, experiential dimensions of teaching, and conditions that enable or hinder resonant educational encounters.

The relevance of this topic lies in a growing body of European and international research demonstrating the importance of teacher–student relationships for learning, motivation, and well-being, particularly in contexts marked by institutional pressure and cultural heterogeneity. Resonance pedagogy offers a theoretically grounded counter-perspective to instrumental and outcome-driven models of education by emphasizing relational depth, responsiveness, and experiences of meaning. While resonance theory has gained considerable attention in educational discourse across Europe, empirical studies examining resonance pedagogy in classroom practice remain limited.

Existing contributions are predominantly theoretical or normative and provide little insight into how resonance is lived, negotiated, and interpreted by teachers in everyday school contexts. Consequently, resonance pedagogy lacks sufficient empirical grounding to inform teacher education and professional development at a European level. Addressing this gap, the present study employs qualitative interviews, research diaries, and participatory classroom observations to reconstruct teachers’ implicit orientations toward resonance and their pedagogical practices. By doing so, the study contributes empirically to current European debates on pedagogical professionalism, relational teaching, and meaningful education under conditions of social acceleration.

Theoretical Origins of Resonance Pedagogy

Resonance pedagogy is theoretically rooted in the resonance theory developed by Hartmut Rosa (2016, 2019), which conceptualizes resonance as a counter-concept to late-modern experiences of acceleration, alienation, and social exhaustion. Resonance refers to a “successful relationship to the world” characterized by mutual openness, responsiveness, and transformation. It is not understood as harmony or permanent positivity, but as a fragile and dynamic process that includes moments of disruption.

Applied to education, this perspective reframes teaching and learning not as processes of knowledge transmission but as relational and experiential events. Teaching becomes resonant when teachers and students respond authentically to one another and when subject matter mediates meaningful world relations. European scholars such as Beljan, Endres, and Winkler conceptualize schools as “spaces of resonance” and emphasize the relational quality of educational processes.

Although Rosa’s theory is sociological in origin, its foundations are deeply embedded in European philosophical and educational traditions. Relational conceptions of education can be traced back to Plato’s notion of pedagogical eros as well as to the work of Friedrich Schleiermacher and Otto Friedrich Bollnow, who emphasize emotional attunement, responsiveness, and enthusiasm in educational relationships. Phenomenological perspectives, particularly those of Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, further inform resonance pedagogy by highlighting embodied and affective dimensions of subject–world relations. Hermeneutic traditions and critical theories of alienation, especially Karl Marx’s concept of alienation, complement this framework by contrasting resonant with reified modes of relating to the world.

Methodology and Methods Methodological Considerations The methodological framework of this study aims to reconstruct how resonance-oriented pedagogical elements are constituted and given meaning from the perspective of teachers, and how resonance is perceived, experienced, and reflected upon in everyday classroom practice. The study is situated within qualitative–hermeneutic research and draws on reconstructive educational research as developed by Ralf Bohnsack and colleagues. This approach assumes that pedagogical reality—and resonance as part of it—is socially produced in interaction, communicatively mediated, and sedimented in implicit individual and collective structures of meaning. Teaching practice is therefore understood as a meaningful social practice shaped by experiential knowledge, tacit orientations, and professional self-understandings. Against this background, the study examines whether and under which conditions resonance processes postulated by resonance pedagogy can be identified as lived experiential phenomena in school practice. Central to the analysis is how teachers interpret moments of successful or disrupted resonance and how they account for the emergence or absence of meaningful world relations in their pedagogical actions. Rather than operationalizing resonance as a predefined construct, the study adopts a reconstructive logic that foregrounds teachers’ own interpretations. To complement this reconstructive approach, a phenomenological perspective inspired by Max van Manen’s phenomenology of practice is integrated. This perspective conceptualizes pedagogical action as embodied, situational, and atmospherically grounded. Teaching is understood as a lived practice involving bodily, emotional, and relational engagement within concrete situations. From this viewpoint, resonance becomes accessible not only as an interactional pattern but as a qualitatively lived experience manifesting in moments of openness, connection, attentiveness, as well as blockage or withdrawal. The phenomenological lens thus foregrounds the experiential dimension of pedagogical practice and enables access to tacit meaning structures central to resonance-oriented teaching. Methods The research design combines several qualitative methods to capture resonance relationships in classroom practice from the perspective of primary school teachers. Semi-structured interviews provide access to teachers’ narratives and sense-making processes regarding resonant and non-resonant situations. Research diaries allow teachers to document experiences longitudinally and close to practice, offering insight into situational perceptions and emotional dynamics. Participatory classroom observations situate these subjective accounts within concrete pedagogical interactions. The triangulation of interviews, diaries, and observations enables a differentiated reconstruction of implicit orientations, professional beliefs, and action logics underlying resonance-oriented pedagogical practice. By combining reconstructive and phenomenological approaches, the study addresses the complexity of resonance as a relational, experiential, and meaning-laden phenomenon.

Expected Outcomes / Results of the Research The expected outcomes of this dissertation relate to empirical, theoretical, and practice-oriented contributions to resonance pedagogy and qualitative educational research. On an empirical level, the study is expected to generate insights into how resonance processes emerge, are experienced, and are interpreted by primary school teachers in everyday classroom contexts. Through the qualitative reconstruction of interviews, research diaries, and participatory observations, the study will identify characteristic forms and moments of resonant and non-resonant pedagogical relationships, as well as situations in which resonance is facilitated, disrupted, or absent. The findings are expected to reveal how teachers perceive and make sense of resonance experiences in relation to their professional self-understanding, emotional involvement, and pedagogical decision-making. In particular, the study may illuminate how teachers interpret moments of openness, connection, attentiveness, or withdrawal, and how these experiences shape their understanding of meaningful teaching and learning. At the same time, structural and institutional conditions—such as time pressure, curricular demands, and organizational constraints—are expected to emerge as factors influencing resonant pedagogical relationships. On a theoretical level, the study aims to contribute to the empirical grounding of resonance pedagogy by translating the abstract concept of resonance, as developed by Hartmut Rosa, into empirically reconstructable dimensions of pedagogical practice. By integrating phenomenological and reconstructive perspectives, the research is expected to refine the understanding of resonance as a lived, relational, and situational phenomenon rather than a normative ideal. From a practical perspective, the results may offer reflective impulses for teacher education and professional development by making visible implicit orientations and relational practices that support or hinder resonance in the classroom. Ultimately, the study seeks to strengthen the understanding of pedagogical professionalism as resonant relational practice and to contribute to debates on relationships, emotions, and world relations in education.

Literature: Beljan, J. (2017). Schule als Resonanzraum und Entfremdungszone: Resonanzpädagogik als Bildungsansatz. Springer VS. Beljan, J., & Winkler, M. (2019). Resonanzpädagogik auf dem Prüfstand: Analysen – Perspektiven – Anwendungen. Beltz Juventa. Bohnsack, R. (2014). Rekonstruktive Sozialforschung: Einführung in qualitative Methoden (9. Aufl.). UTB. Bohnsack, R., Nentwig-Gesemann, I., & Nohl, A.-M. (Hrsg.). (2013). Die dokumentarische Methode und ihre Forschungspraxis (3. Aufl.). Springer VS. Bollnow, O. F. (1959). Existenzphilosophie und Pädagogik. Kohlhammer. Bremer, R., & Gruschka, A. (1987). Bürgerliche Kälte und Pädagogik. Pädagogische Korrespondenz, 1, 19–33. Buhren, C. G., Endres, W., & Rosa, H. (Hrsg.). (2018). Resonanzpädagogik und Schulleitung: Schule als Resonanzraum gestalten. Beltz Juventa. Ellinger, S., & Kleinhenz, L. (2022). Strukturell erstickte Resonanzbeziehung: Kritik an der Einseitigkeit des pädagogischen Umgangs in der Schule. In S. Richter & A. Bitzer (Hrsg.), In Beziehung sein (S. 95–106). Beltz Juventa. Endres, W. (2020). Resonanzpädagogik in Schule und Unterricht: Von der Entdeckung neuer Denkmuster. Beltz Verlag. Gruschka, A. (2000). Es ist eben, wie es ist: Über die fraglose Übernahme der Strukturen, die Kälte verursachen. Pädagogische Korrespondenz, 26, 28–38. Humboldt, W. von. (1792). Über das Studium des Altertums und des Griechischen insbesondere. Husserl, E. (1913). Ideen zu einer reinen Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen Philosophie. Niemeyer. Keller, M. M., Goetz, T., Becker, E. S., Morger, V., & Hensley, L. (2016). Teachers’ emotional experiences and exhaustion as predictors of emotional labor in the classroom. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1239. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01239 Marx, K. (1844). Ökonomisch-philosophische Manuskripte. Merleau-Ponty, M. (1945). Phänomenologie der Wahrnehmung. Gallimard. Platon. (2000). Symposion (U. Wolf, Übers.). Reclam. (Originalwerk ca. 380 v. Chr.) Rosa, H. (2016). Resonanz: Eine Soziologie der Weltbeziehung. Suhrkamp. Rosa, H. (2019). Unverfügbarkeit. Residenz Verlag. Rosa, H., & Endres, W. (2016). Resonanzpädagogik – Wenn es im Klassenzimmer knistert (2. Aufl.). Beltz Verlag. Rosa, H., Buhren, C. G., & Endres, W. (2018). Resonanzpädagogik & Schulleitung: Neue Impulse für die Schulentwicklung. Beltz Verlag. Rosa, H., Endres, W., & Beljan, J. (2017). Resonanz im Klassenzimmer: 48 Impulskarten zur Resonanzpädagogik. Beltz Verlag. Schiller, F. (1795). Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen in einer Reihe von Briefen. Schleiermacher, F. (1799/1990). Über die Religion. Reden an die Gebildeten unter ihren Verächtern (K.-V. Selge, Hrsg.). Reclam. (Original 1799) Van Manen, M. (2014). Phenomenology of practice: Meaning-giving methods in phenomenological research and writing. Left Coast Press. Wienberg, J. (2021). Erlebte Momente von Resonanz im Weiterbildungsgeschehen [Dissertation, Universität Hamburg]. DIE Bonn.