Pedagogical Tact An Historical Introduction 2023

Like tact in general, pedagogical tact is “a ready and delicate sense of what is fitting and proper in dealing with others” (OED), with the added proviso that these “others” are children, youth, or students. More broadly, and in keeping with its origin in the Latin tangere, touch, tact refers to “a keen faculty of perception or discrimination likened to the sense of touch” (OED). Pedagogy is understood in this context above all as a way of being with children and the young, one oriented to their maturation and eventual independence. In this context, pedagogical tact refers to attuned ways of being, acting, and speaking that are most appropriate for the child or student. Pedagogical tact was introduced to educational discourse by J.F. Herbart (1776-1841) in a lecture to student teachers in 1802. It has been discussed, adapted and redefined ever since--with the last few years representing a veritable renaissance in interest. This presentation introduces pedagogical tact by retracing this history.

[@samuelakalewold4870]

What a remarkable and enlightening presentation. Thank you Prof Friesen for that. As an Ethiopian [Africa] educator who had a background in science education and curriculum theory [of the North American tradition] and lost hope in the instrumentalist thinking that failed educational/ curricular reform since the 1950s; got some soothing [through the critical and hermeneutic lenses] to resort to curriculum practice in contexts, in order to understand the recurrent problem [induced by instrumental thinking, measurability...] and advocate for contextual changes...
For the past decades, I had sensed the inadequacy of the US tradition of pedagogy [teaching methodology], particularly for being scientific/ theoretical, its prescriptive nature that failed to address [or even distort] the practical problems we faced on a daily basis. But my recent encounter with the alternative tradition [Continental Europe pedagogy] and some of your works from the internet filled me with hope.

[@normfriesen]

Thanks so much, Samuel! (?)
You touch on an important problem in American educational thinking today: Namely that curriculum theory and critical pedagogy view institutional instruction and teacher as instrumental and ideological, and therefore "bad."
The continental tradition, you rightly point out, provides a positive program for teaching and even instruction that is not instrumentalist.
Aspects of education are **intrinsically** instrumental (and ideological, although that depends on the definition of the term). That simply cannot be avoided, and is part of engaging with a child (which curriculum theory has utterly forgotten) and part of the older generation recognizing their responsibility.