Pedagogical tact as a professional-theoretical guiding figure in a meta-reflexive theory-practice relationship

Abstract

This paper examines pedagogical tact as a key category for the relational connection between theory, practice and professional attitude. Against this backdrop, the term is explored in relation to structural-theoretical, competence-oriented and career-biographical approaches to professional theory, and is described as a multidimensional concept that combines ethical-normative, reflexive-analytical and performative-situational dimensions. The central question is how pedagogical tact, as a unifying category, can contribute to the development of meta-reflexive professionalism among students. Pedagogical tact is not understood here as spontaneous intuition, but as the result of a habitualised, scientifically grounded process of reflection. Building on the concept of meta-reflexivity, the paper demonstrates that professional agency arises in particular where different theoretical perspectives are applied to school practice and critically related to one another, without integrating or standardising them. Within this framework, pedagogical tact serves as a structuring link that renders the plurality of theoretical approaches relevant to action in the concrete interpretation of situations. The paper argues that pedagogical tact, as a reflexive attitude and as situational orientational knowledge, marks the space between exemplary-typifying and real-situational interpretations, within which professional courses of action are developed. It is thus identified as a central link between academic knowledge, practical situations and professional self-understanding. Finally, it is demonstrated that school-based practical training focused on meta-reflexivity can systematically foster pedagogical tact by utilising theory as a means of reflecting on practice and by enabling students to deal professionally with the structural uncertainty inherent in pedagogical action.