Herner Saeverot

This article argues that Hegel’s book The Phenomenology of Spirit can be read as a Bildungsroman or a theory of reception. Hegel (as he appears in this book) sets forth to educate his readers to a historical understanding. This is the article’s main argument which will be split up in three parts. First, it seems that Hegel tries to lead the uneducated reader to his own ideal philosophy. If so, the reception will be merely technical, i.e., the book has only one answer and the reader has to submit to Hegel to get him right. The article argues against such a reading. Secondly, it seems more likely that Hegel invites his readers to take an active part in the interpretation of the book. To substantiate this claim, the article argues that the hitherto unknown phenomenon in the book “touches” and challenges the reader, who must “touch” back and accept the challenge in order to grasp the phenomenon. This reception involves the experience of “touch” (not physical) and is therefore haptic. Thirdly, and in extension of the haptic reception, the article argues that there is a reception as recollection, meaning that Hegel invites the reader to reflect upon the recollected experiences or “the gallery of images” that Hegel has archived in his book. In doing so, the reader will see the gallery of images with new eyes—which ultimately is a process of Bildung as the reader gains self-awareness and knowledge through Hegel’s images.

Spiller det noen rolle hvilken paraply man plasserer pedagogikk og pedagogisk forskning inn under? Kan det tenkes at pedagogikk, skole og samfunn kan tape på en utdanningsvitenskapelig organisering av fakulteter, studietilbud og forskning? Hvordan kan man heve statusen til pedagogikk som autonom akademisk disiplin? Eller er pedagogikk kun et uselvstendig kunnskapsområde som er avhengig av å låne teorier og metoder fra andre vitenskaper for å undersøke fenomener knyttet til utdanning? Hvilken fremtid har pedagogikkvitenskapen? Lektor og stipendiat Christian Lomsdalen snakker med professor dr. Herner Sæverot fra Høgskulen på Vestlandet om dette. Intervjuet er delt inn i fire deler: 1. innledning, 2. utdanningsvitenskap, 3. pedagogikkvitenskap og 4. avslutning.

This article is concerned with presenting a qualitative study of teachers dealing with undemocratic attitudes in secondary school. The research question was: how do teachers teach when the aim is to remove undemocratic attitudes and prevent the formation of undemocratic attitudes? The research group which was part of the study established collaboration with two teacher groups at a Norwegian secondary school. This collaboration included two start-up meetings, filming and observation of teaching sessions, as well as group interviews with two different teacher groups about the teaching which had been filmed and observed. The findings were analysed by way of the theory of indirect pedagogy and its different models for teaching, including both direct and indirect approaches of teaching. First, there is the model of direct instruction; second, there is the model of indirect summoning which is specified; and third, there is the model of indirect summoning which is unspecified. A major finding was that the teachers who participated in the study combined direct and indirect approaches in their teaching. While direct approaches and the model of indirect summoning which is specific were mostly used for learning purposes, such as acquiring knowledge of certain concepts (epistemology), the model of indirect summoning which is unspecified was particularly prominent in situations where the purpose was to make students responsible for society and democracy (existence and morality).

This article is the text of a speech delivered by Herner Sæverot, the editor-in-chief of Nordic Studies in Education, at the opening of the 48th annual congress of the Nordic Educational Research Association (NERA) in Turku, Finland, on 4 March 2020. Nordic Studies in Education celebrates 40 years of publication this year.