Pedagogical Tact Reconnecting Theory and Practice in Education

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

Norm Friesen (PhD) has edited and translated Klaus Mollenhauer’s Forgotten Connections and a selection of key pedagogical texts titled Tact and the Pedagogical Relation. Friesen has worked as a visiting researcher at the Humboldt University and the University of Vienna.

Thomas Senkbeil’s (PhD) diverse experience bridges the fields of pedagogy, therapeutic practice, and academic research, with a focus on the relational dimensions of education. He is co-editor of The Human Being as Facticity: Educational Anthropological Approaches and of "Pedagogical Tact: Connections Old & New", a special issue of Ethics & Education.