Indirect Pedagogy

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. The Need for Reconnecting with Existentialism in Education

   • Herner Saeverot

   Pages 1-8

3. Time for Existential Education

   • Herner Saeverot

   Pages 9-20

4. The Pedagogic Art of Seduction

   • Herner Saeverot

   Pages 21-32

5. Educative Deceit

   • Herner Saeverot

   Pages 33-47

6. Indirect Teacher Praise

   • Herner Saeverot

   Pages 49-59

7. Indirect Teacher Praise

   • Herner Saeverot

   Pages 61-76

8. Existential Education and the Question of ‘God’

   • Herner Saeverot

   Pages 77-90

9. Back Matter

   Pages 91-104

   PDF

While existential issues perhaps concern people the most, today’s education is not as preoccupied with such issues. Instead, education is becoming more uniform and streamlined; more and more one-sidedly directed towards what is useful. The purpose of this book is to focus on education’s existential dimension. Such a focus requires at least three things. Firstly, we need to justify why it is necessary to reconnect with existentialism in education. Secondly, we need to undergo an examination of the quality of existential education, so that we can have a basis as to what kind of educational interests teachers should have. Thirdly, we need to gain knowledge about how teachers may teach in light of existential matters. However, to teach in light of existence is highly paradoxical in that existence cannot be forced on someone, but is rather a subjective matter. Teaching which is non-ironical or too direct can thus be very problematic concerning existential issues. The reason being that there is no objective truth in terms of existence. There is only a matter of subjective or existential truth, which is only true for the single individual. Therefore, the book suggests that the approach teachers’ take must be discrete and indirect so as to create room for students to take responsibility for their subjective truth. Such an indirect pedagogy is not a programme, but rather a form of existential education. The overall aim of the book is, by way of introducing and developing the concept of indirect pedagogy, to extend and reinvent the language of teaching.

• indirect pedagogy
• ubjective truth
• existential education

• University of Bergen, Norway

  Herner Saeverot

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