This six-year study, consisting of four sub-investigations (one conceptual, three empirical), describes how subjectifying education with positioning of the body and embodiment of students in the educational practice requires teacher artistry, and forms by which teachers can stimulate learners' desire to become an embodied person in the world. The purpose of this research is to reconsider subjectification as the main target domain of education from the perspective of embodied cognition. The main research question is: How can Dutch teachers develop their artistry to create an inclusive educational practice that encourages their learners (in Dutch (v)mbo and higher education) to become embodied persons situated in the world? Since schools and classrooms are mini societies, there are many opportunities in these settings for learners' encounters with the world and their micro sociocultural worlds. Qualities like feeling what is happening inside oneself, expression of emotions, reflection and reflexivity, being able to be where the other is, having meaningful relationships with teachers and other learners, and engaging with the world are important for learners' wellbeing (De Haan, 2021; Zembylas, 2007; Zheng, 2022). The sort of curriculum that would pedagogically foster the development of these qualities in education is more likely to have the learner's body (or better, their embodied mind, Varela et al., 1992) at a central position in teaching and learning, thus enhancing opportunities for emotional and bodily expression (Zembylas, 2007). An overarching conclusion follows to answer the main research question. Teaching is not implementing a method or proven intervention 'that works' in the classroom, nor is it following a recipe (Biesta, in publication). It is both craft (technē) and art (including practical knowledge, phronesis) (Eisner, 2002). Through constant attention to embodied perception in the curriculum and evoking aesthetic experiences (Stenhouse, 1988), through 'making', working with 'experientiality' (Caracciolo, 2019) and 'doing the arts', giving shape to the environment (Alibali & Nathan, 2018), vitality, emotions, uncertainties and unpredictable activities and outcomes (Eisner, 1985), teachers develop their artistry. It is important for teachers to come together, add knowledge to each other and make education together. They have a responsibility to create inclusive spaces in the classroom for plurality and possible transformation. There are at least three current barriers in Dutch education that make it difficult for teachers to create inclusive spaces in the classroom: the Dutch 'measurement culture', the gap between academic "for the head" and vocational "for the hand" education, and Cartesian dualism as the paradigm underlying education. These three barriers do not disappear when teachers 'make' and 'do arts' with their learners' Artistic principles, however, in addition to recognizing the embodiment of learners, spark the joy of improvisation and experimentation and inspire teachers to further develop their teacher artistry. Schools then become spaces where teachers approach their learners as embodied persons who are in the world, rather than as individuals with separate brains, and bodies that are not being addressed. This is an important step toward embodied subjectification in education.
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How does artistic identity influence the self-confidence of music educators? What is the interconnection between the artistic and the teacher identity? What is actually meant by artistic identity in music education? What is a fruitful environment for the development of artistic self-confidence of music educators and how can institutions contribute to that? This article reflects on these questions from various angles. Brigitte Lion goes into aspects of self-confidence based on her research and experiences in coaching young teachers. In her address, Christine Stöger establishes a link between gaining self-confidence and positive experiences in the artistic area, making the case for a ‘third space’ where interconnections can occur on the cutting edge of artistic performance and pedagogy. Rineke Smilde finally, discusses the question what gaining self-confidence and displaying one’s artistry as a music educator requires of the learning environment in the institutions that train future music educators.
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This paper explores how a Bildung-making approach underpinned by embodied pedagogy and didactics can contribute to a learner becoming a person and a teacher’s development of artistry. We argue that the existing Cartesian divide between mind and body can explain the fundamental differences in how teachers and learners perceive Bildung within the Dutch educational system: either as an ‘academic’ phenomenon (for ‘the head’) or as vocational (for ‘the hand’). In this study, Dutch (pre)vocational teachers designed and co-created Bildung prototypes in professional learning communities (PLCs) and classrooms. The teachers used ‘real life’ questions from their teaching practices as their departure point to develop Bildung-making. The results of the study show that when Bildung education becomes an embodied maker’s process, it enables learners to transcend barriers to educational equity. Co-created enjoyment and social emotional learning come to the foreground during Bildung-making, thus fostering inclusive education.
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Researchers worldwide have identified affective benefits of improvisational drama techniques (IDTs) on foreign language (FL) learners. Yet the characteristics of professional development programmes (PDPs) that could lead to long-term integration of drama among FL teachers appear largely undiscovered. Through expert interviews, a needs analysis questionnaire and a literature review, this study aimed to determine which design principles a PDP must fulfil to effectively address educational challenges surrounding IDT-implementation. The findings revealed that such training calls for a symbiosis between practical considerations, namely school environment and training conditions, and tapping into a mindset among FL teachers that allows them to (re)discover core beliefs and carry out IDTs with ‘artistry’.
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Researchers worldwide have identified affective benefits of improvisational drama techniques (IDTs) on foreign language (FL) learners. Yet the characteristics of professional development programmes (PDPs) that could lead to long-term integration of drama among FL teachers appear largely undiscovered. Through expert interviews, a needs analysis questionnaire and a literature review, this study aimed to determine which design principles a PDP must fulfil to effectively address educational challenges surrounding IDT-implementation. The findings revealed that such training calls for a symbiosis between practical considerations, namely school environment and training conditions, and tapping into a mindset among FL teachers that allows them to (re)discover core beliefs and carry out IDTs with ‘artistry’.
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A Europe-wide revival of the idea of bildung as a goal for education has been gaining momentum for a couple of decades. The main idea is that bildung enables teachers, researchers and policy makers “… to explore the ways in which education might be about something more than simply the transmission of our facts and values to the next generation,” to use a quote by Gert Biesta, the Dutch professor of educational theory and pedagogy at the University of Edinburgh. Others often narrow bildung down to a process of becoming a whole person or cultivating one’s self towards civic excellence. Those ideas come from an older tradition with bildung thinkers such as the 19th century Prussian minister of education, Wilhelm von Humboldt, who promoted bildung as a key objective of public education.
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In beleidsnotities en publicaties in Nederland komt men de laatste jaren regelmatig de stelling tegen dat van het kunstonderwijs verwacht mag worden dat het haar studenten equipeert op hun toekomstige rol als cultureel ondernemer. Deze publicatie doet verslag van een onderzoek naar de relatie tussen cultureel ondernemerschap en het kunstonderwijs. Allereerst gaat de tekst in op de definitie van cultureel ondernemerschap en op de kwaliteiten ofwel competenties waar een cultureel ondernemer over dient te beschikken. Vervolgens staat de auteur stil bij de (vermeende) risico's van dit fenomeen. Als laatste komt de vraag aan de orde of en hoe het kunstonderwijs aandacht kan besteden aan dit onderwerp. De eindconclusie van dit onderzoek luidt: "Ze kunnen beter als Rapunzel hun vlecht uit het torenraam hangen om Prins Fortuin een handje te helpen dan lijdzaam wachten tot het lot hen gunstig gezind is." Het boek is bedoeld voor studenten en docenten van Kunstvakopleidingen, zoals conservatoria en academies voor beeldende vorming, drama, dans, circus en popmuziek, die meer over het onderwerp cultureel ondernemerschap willen weten. Het is geschreven in opdracht van het lectoraat "Kunstpraktijk in de samenleving" van Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten. Studenten en docenten van de verschillende academies leverden naast kunstenaars en cultureel ondernemers een bijdrage in het onderzoek.
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A significant body of research supports the affective benefits of drama activities in foreign language (FL) learning, yet little is known about how to train teachers to implement such activities. In this study, we tested a professional development program (PDP) aimed at galvanizing FL teachers to integrate improvisational drama techniques (IDTs) into their repertoire. IDTs are defined here as activities which place pupils in a fictional situation and stimulate spoken interaction. Nineteen Dutch secondary school FL teachers participated in the PDP. The goal of this research was to discover the extent to which (1) teachers implement IDTs according to the study’s definition, (2) the techniques become integrated into the teacher’s repertoire, and (3) teachers develop the self-efficacy to execute IDTs. All three areas were met with positive results as evidenced through questionnaires, logbooks, observations and interviews. Teachers demonstrated that they could inspire the fictional artistry of drama while simultaneously stimulating FL speaking. Frequency of implementation also increased after the training. Self-efficacy furthermore improved widely, both in implementing IDTs and speaking activities in general.
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A significant body of research supports the affective benefits of drama activities in foreign language (FL) learning, yet little is known about how to train teachers to implement such activities. In this study, we tested a professional development program (PDP) aimed at galvanizing FL teachers to integrate improvisational drama techniques (IDTs) into their repertoire. IDTs are defined here as activities which place pupils in a fictional situation and stimulate spoken interaction. Nineteen Dutch secondary school FL teachers participated in the PDP. The goal of this research was to discover the extent to which (1) teachers implement IDTs according to the study’s definition, (2) the techniques become integrated into the teacher’s repertoire, and (3) teachers develop the self-efficacy to execute IDTs. All three areas were met with positive results as evidenced through questionnaires, logbooks, observations and interviews. Teachers demonstrated that they could inspire the fictional artistry of drama while simultaneously stimulating FL speaking. Frequency of implementation also increased after the training. Self-efficacy furthermore improved widely, both in implementing IDTs and speaking activities in general.
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Professional higher education is expected to educate large numbers of students to become innovative professionals within a time frame of three or four years. A mission impossible? Not necessarily, according to Henriëtta Joosten who is a philosopher as well as a teacher. She uses the experimental, liberating, but also dangerous ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche to rethink contemporary higher professional education. What does it mean to teach students to strive for better in a professional world where horizons tend to disperse and the possibility of long-term orientation is disappearing? Following Nietzsche, five key elements of striving for better are explored: uncertainty, excellence, critical thinking, truth seeking friendship, and learning through ups and downs. From these five perspectives, Joosten scrutinises existing educational discourses on professional higher education in search for openings to transform these discourses into new, more appropriate ones. Understanding excellence as rising above oneself (rather than being better than others), she argues for a learning environment in which all students are encouraged to excel. Such an environment allows for uncertainty and learning through ups and downs. Furthermore, teachers are prepared to risk their certainties in order to let a joined quest - that is, a quest of students and teacher - for better truths arise. Using the Nietzschean-inspired notions which have been developed in the study, Joosten describes two factual cases. One case relates to a course in close reading: first-year students jointly read philosophical and scientific texts. The second case involves a group of eleven senior students developing a course in project management. These descriptions and the recommendations serve as a catalyst for constructive debate on the question of how all students can be equipped for a dynamic professional world.
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