The Tact of Teaching: The Meaning of Pedagogical Thoughtfulness

by Max van Manen

Overview

In The Tact of Teaching bestselling author Max van Manen offers teachers at every stage an original and inspiring interpretation of the notion of pedagogy, one that searches for its roots in the experience of in loco parentis. Using dozens of anecdotes and scenes taken directly from life in classrooms, including many from the often-neglected domain of high school, The Tact of Teaching explicates the meaning of pedagogical moments, the conditions of pedagogy, the relation between pedagogy and politics, the nature of pedagogical experience, and the practical forms of pedagogical understanding. The author: -Presents experiential analysis of the relation between pedagogical reflection and action-Explores how pedagogical tact manifests itself, what tact accomplishes, and how tact does what it does-Speaks of hope and humane practice in an era of schooling often given over to mindless technocracy or fashionable despair

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138463837
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/13/2017
Pages:	254
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Max van Manen is emeritus Professor in Research Methods, Pedagogy and Curriculum Studies in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta and Adjunct Professor at the University of Victoria. He is the leading proponent of the practice and meaning of phenomenological inquiry in pedagogy, psychology, health science, and the human sciences. He is author of books on phenomenology and on pedagogy, including Childhood's Secrets: Intimacy, Privacy, and the Self Reconsidered (with Bas Levering, 1996), Phenomenology of Practice: Meaning-Giving Methods in Phenomenological Research and Writing (2014), and Pedagogical Tact: Knowing What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do (2015). He has had his books translated into many languages. Max van Manen has also authored numerous articles and chapters on pedagogy, health science, curriculum, qualitative research methods, and phenomenology. He founded the journal Phenomenology and Pedagogy and developed the website PhenomenologyOnline. He is recipient of an honorary doctorate, and he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Curriculum Division of the American Educational Research Association among many other awards and distinctions.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Toward a Pedagogy of Thoughtfulness; Chapter 2 The Concept of Pedagogy; Chapter 3 The Pedagogical Moment; Chapter 4 The Nature of Pedagogy; Chapter 5 The Practice of Pedagogy; Chapter 6 The Nature of Tact; Chapter 7 Pedagogical Tact; Chapter 8 Tact and Teaching; Chapter 9 Conclusion;

Editorial Reviews

This book is a welcome antidote to the preponderance of psychological texts that paint adult-child interactions as a series of discrete tasks and skills. While acknowledging the place of traditional skills approaches, van Manen openly, directly, and wholeheartedly addresses those dimensions of relationships that psychology cannot handle, primary among which is the elusive ability to be with children in a way that makes personal growth possible.” — Antoinette A. Oberg, University of Victoria

“Modern education has lost much of its moral currency. The passion and struggle for teaching excellence has been inhibited by a variety of social forces including bureaucratic rationality. Current calls for ‘participative management’ and ‘shared governance’ are a step in the right direction; however, this type of terminology still lacks the vital moral element which this text addresses.” — James G. Henderson, Kent State University

“From start to finish this is a highly readable, engrossing, and stimulating book; I came away from its reading refreshed and invigorated. The use of anecdotal material (vignettes of children in homes, schools, classrooms, etc.) is an undoubted strength of the work — I know of no other educational text that makes such extensive use of the commonplaces of everyday life. I found myself relating to these instances time after time after time.” — Rod Evans, University of Calgary

From the Publisher