Teachers’ pedagogical tact in craft-art learning situations

Abstract

The goal of this research is to explore how teachers’ pedagogical tact occurs in craft-art learning situations, in the context of Finnish Basic Education in the Arts, by using the grounded theory (GT) method. The theoretical concepts—the term pathic, pedagogical tact and self-determination theory (SDT) and the key concepts autonomy, competence and relatedness—have been chosen based on how they supported the data analysis. The data consisted of five stimulated recall interviews with teachers. The GT analysis revealed that teachers’ pedagogical tact manifested itself in pathic perceiving, acting and interacting. The teachers supported students’ autonomy, relatedness and competence in craft-art learning by creating an open atmosphere and caring relationships with the students to support their sense of ownership and personal resources. The results provide conceptual understanding of craft-art pedagogy.