The Eccentric and Inter-Corporeal Dynamic of Pedagogy Students’ Pedagogical Experiences: A Social-Theoretical and Empirical Search for Professional Bildung Among Pedagogy Students During Practicum in Danish Daycare Centres

In this dissertation, I have theoretically and empirically investigated the eccentric and inter-corporeal dynamic of pedagogy students’ pedagogical experiences during practicum in Danish daycare centres. In this regard, I have focused on the pre-conceptual self-other relation, i.e., the distance to oneself and one’s way of acting and standing in the world, which is not dependent on linguistically mediated reflection but precedes it (Türstig & Brinkmann, 2023, p. 194f.). This focus is inspired by ethnographic research on young children’s Bildung (Schäfer & Staege, 2010): If a distance to oneself—which must be the condition for a relation to oneself—is only possible through self-reflection mediated by language, children (and mentally disabled people) seem to be exempt from having Bildung experiences (Brinkmann, 2021, p. 192). In addition, research on children’s pre-conceptual and pre-reflective way of being in the world also reminds us that even adults’ way of being in the world and relating to themselves and others is, to a large degree, implicit and embodied (Lippitz, 1987; Stieve, 2010b). Even our ethical relation to others is not (only) a product of thought:

"Just as the perception of a thing opens me up to being, by realizing the paradoxical synthesis of an infinity of perceptual aspects, in the same way the perception of the other founds morality by realizing the paradox of an alter ego, of a common situation, by placing my perspectives and my incommunicable solitude in the visual field of another and of all the others." (Merleau-Ponty, 1982, p. 26)

Therefore, even if we expect critical reflection—asking and thinking about what constitutes good pedagogy—to be integral to professional Bildung, the embodiment perspective is also highly relevant for understanding the process of professional Bildung among pedagogy students during their practicum in Danish day care institutions. This focus aligns with a historical shift in emphasis within Bildung research:

"Consequently, up until the 20th century, there was a dominance of the intellect, the mind [des Geistes], and reason in conceptions of human nature. Only in more recent times have pedagogical views of humanity been more intensely concerned with the body […]" (Zirfas, 2021, p. 182 [own translation])

The idea that learning and Bildung imply a reflective discourse based on collaborative thinking (e.g., Mezirow, 1990) “has been subject to criticism within German philosophy of education. The main point of criticism is that such a cognitivist and discursive approach does not (and cannot) include the contingent, lifeworld-related aspects, the social aspects and the ones connected to power which arise in pedagogical interaction” (Brinkmann, 2017; with reference to Reichenbach, 2001; Ricken, 2006). Furthermore, while students must understand basic pedagogical distinctions and principles, theoretical standpoints cannot instruct students on how to stand and carry themselves in specific situations.

For example, we can encourage students to mind their tone when approaching children, ensuring it is caring and respectful. However, this awareness or sense of oneself is not primarily the result of an intellectual effort. Before we can even begin to think about the specificity of our tone, it must stand out in its difference from other tones—just as a colour or a musical tone must. We can only reflect on something when this something stands out in its difference from something else—also when this ‘thing’ is ourselves. This distinction arises through practical and social responses from others: Students remark upon their own way of embodying themselves when it is marked or responded to by others.

When we are responded to by different people, our way of being in the world—our tone, posture, and overall appearance—is put into perspective: it stands out in a particular way. In relation to different people, we gain a varied sense of ourselves, or what can be called our “body image” (Whitney, 2018). It is this variation that makes a relation to oneself possible. Without diverse experiences of the self-other relationship, no self-perspectivity—and therefore no self-relation—would be possible. Thus, it is only when pedagogy students are responded to in different ways by various individuals, in diverse situations, that they can begin to question their way of being in the world. They come to understand that their current way of standing is just one way of standing among many possible alternatives.

My research suggests that during practicum, students are responded to by children and colleagues in new and unexpected ways, eliciting responses that they are not always in control of and that might run counter to their own self-conception, and sometimes being deemed questionable in the eyes of supervisors and colleagues. In other words, they encounter themselves in new and different ways—and, in doing so, they often find themselves in a questioning state. It is this questioning state—this “eccentric positionality” (Plessner, 1975)—that makes them take on, or forces upon them, a (professional) relation to themselves.

The purpose of this dissertation has been to:

• Theoretically and empirically investigate the preconceptual, inter-corporeal, and eccentric dynamic of this questioning state as it unfolds within a social-emotional field of tension between self and other; and
• Theoretically and empirically examine the “pedagogicity” (Heitger, 1999) of this experiential structure as it emerges within the intergenerational pedagogical relationship between children, students, and supervisors (and colleagues).

The empirical part of the investigation has been based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in three Danish daycare centres. On this basis, I have written three ethnographic narratives (Schäfer, 2010), each of which reveals different aspects of the eccentric and inter-corporeal dynamic of pedagogy students’ pedagogical experiences. In general, I have focused on situations and courses of events in which pedagogy students’ habitual self-other relationships and their ingrained tendencies to act and manifest themselves in certain ways are brought into question, creating an opening for new ways of professionally embodying themselves. I have connected this questioning state to negative experiences of not-being-able-to, not knowing, not understanding, and failing (Benner, 2005b; Brinkmann, 2015; Buck, 2019; Rödel, 2019).

As already indicated, my research suggests that professional Bildung—which is closely related to the development of a (professional) self-relation and self-awareness—is bound up with having a body that is publicly accessible to other people, including children, supervisors, colleagues, and parents. And therefore, also subject to social judgement.

"In embodiment [Verkörperung], the human being practically takes a position towards themselves and simultaneously relates to this position in front of others (cf. Plessner, 1976). From this perspective, in its practice, the human is always already directed beyond themselves towards others and other things. (Brinkmann, 2015, p. 539 [own translation])"

Again and again, in relation to others, pedagogy students experience that the way they perceive themselves—their way of being in the world—is different from how both children and supervisors see them. While this may sometimes be accompanied by feelings of discomfort and uncertainty about themselves, this “corporeal exposure to others and the other, […] can open uncertain and formative possibilities [bildende Möglichkeiten]” (Magyar-Haas, 2020, p. 9 [own translation]). However, this opening does not occur as a continuous and harmonious process.

"Rather, as I have shown with Plessner, embodiment is a precarious and fragile process. In terms of Bildung and learning, negative experiences, experiences of failure, disappointment, irritation, interruption, etc. are in the centre. Embodiment is a highly fragile and vulnerable positioning that has to be constantly re-established and re-formed." (Brinkmann et al., 2024, p. 17)

Besides contributing to the understanding of the eccentric, inter-corporeal, and pre-conceptual dimension of professional pedagogical Bildung, this dissertation has also aimed to theoretically and empirically explore the strictly pedagogical character of these eccentric experiences—namely, how they are embedded in the inter-generational pedagogical relationship between children, students, supervisors, and colleagues. In this respect, I have focused on the idea that a professional pedagogical experience involves having pedagogical intentions towards someone and experiencing a partial disappointment of or break with these intentions. I find support for this definition in the purpose of modern pedagogical anthropology:

"Against the fixation on a specific future, it advocates for an irreducible openness in humanity and the pedagogical. And against supposed current knowledge, it brings into play the anthropological incompleteness, the broken pedagogical intentionality [die gebrochene pädagogische Intentionalität] and the unavailability of the other und die […]" (Wulf & Zirfas, 2014, p. 10, italics added [own translation])

The broken pedagogical intentionality and the unavailability of the other reveal the irreducible character of pedagogy students’ eccentric self-other experiences: they experience themselves in relation to something different from themselves, and what is different from themselves they experience in relation to themselves. The eventful and irreducible character of these experiences holds great pedagogical importance, as it can be connected to a strictly pedagogical difference. If we are to take seriously the pedagogical constitutive principle of plasticity/Bildsamkeit and the learners’ freedom (Zirfas, 2021, p. 108ff.), we must respect the pedagogical difference (Prange, 2005; Benner, 2023a, p. 44; Uljens, 1997)—, that is, the distinction between the pedagogical intention to make someone see what they would not otherwise be able to see on their own, and what they ultimately end up experiencing. This pedagogical difference, which aligns with a non-affirmative theory of education (Benner, 2023a), must be reflected not only in the relationship between student and child, but also in the relationship between supervisor and student.

In that sense, my contribution also consists of reflecting on students as educational beings in the double meaning of the word: “Man is an educational [erzieherisches] being, in that he is both educated […] and a being that educates others” (Zirfas, 2021, p. 181 [own translation]). Just as the future orientation towards the child must be interrupted and exceeded by the child’s actual Bildung (cf. Lippitz, 2019; Zirfas, 2021, p. 112), so too must, to some extent, the future orientation of supervisors on behalf of the coming generation of pedagogues. In this sense, I have argued that the profession of pedagogy must exceed itself in an intergenerational, eccentric play of differences.