Uncertainty as a Dimension of Pedagogical Action

Major research topic

Overall objective

Uncertainty has become a significant concept for the diagnosis of society and of our time. On the one hand, it refers to the increasing risks that unfold in different spheres of social action and in a variety of manifestations, and which threaten the core of Western democracies under the heading of 'post-factional populism'. On the other hand, it leads to the search for an adequate handling of uncertainties. For the field of education, this means reflecting

• how the conditions of education and learning have shifted under the focus of increased uncertainty in the face of current social developments,
• which manifestations of uncertainty become visible in education and learning by examining lessons from the the pupils' and the teachers' perspectives more closely,
• which consequences can be derived from this for schools as organizations and
• which are the resulting consequences for the professionalization of teachers to prepare them for dealing with constitutive and increasing uncertainties.

The faculty's major research topic "Uncertainty as a dimension of pedagogical action" aims to span, bundle and relate these different perspectives. In doing so, four approaches have emerged:

1. The changing conditions shall be reviewed and analyzed from the perspective of basic theoretical approaches. This includes the macro level of the educational system.
2. The specific manifestations of uncertainty at the micro level are traced in lessons and with regard to the pupils from the perspective of teaching methodology based on theory of Bildung.
3. The interdependency of uncertainty with the teachers' actions, with their forging of a professional identity and with the resulting demands on teacher training are investigated from the perspective of theory of professions.
4. Finally, the consequences of uncertainty for the meso level of the educational system will be investigated based on theory of school development.

As a cross-sectional task, we will do development work on research methodology. This means that we strive to find and develop adequate research methods in order to capture uncertainty in the individual areas.

Central research questions of this research topic

• Which chances, challenges and findings can be derived when focussing on uncertainty from the perspectives of general education, teaching methodology, theory of professions and theory of school development?
• How can we empirically capture uncertainty as a core dimension of educational action in a dialogue between qualitative-reconstructive and quantitative methodologies?