Den pedagogiska praktikens janusansikte: om det kommunikativa handlandets didaktiska villkor och konsekvenser

Pedagogical practice is, in several important considerations, contradictory in character. In this dissertation attenention is drawn towards the field of tension that prevails between pedagogical action, which can be descibed in terms of strategic processes and communicative pedagogical action. While the former places the preconditions for effective knowledge development of the individual at the center, the latter, takes its basis in a pedagogical process which focuses on the individual´s understanding of themselves and the social context they find themselves in. An empirical study consisting of four case studies, in three distinct pedagogical contexts, has been carried out in order to reach a deeper understanding of the inner conditions in pedagogical action, primarily with regard to communicative action. By means of participatory observations and interviews teachers, students and pupils have reflected over theire own and other´s actions in pedagogical practice. The communicative action theory of the German social philosopher Jürgen Habermas, which has the conditions which prevail between system and lifeworld as its main theme, has been of essential meaning for the interpretation of the research results. The main result of the empirical study is formulated in a number of dichotomies which gain their specific meaning in a double system and lifeworld perspective. These dichotomies are: passive-active, subjectivity-intersubjectivity, given-created, separation-integration, asymmety-symmety and control-openness. The dichotomies are analysed as an expression of the inner conditions in communicative action. Based on the dissertation results, a reasoning is conveyed for a change of focus in didactics from a narrow individual perspective which by tradition is based on the relations between pupils, teachers and content to a social/societal perspective which is formed around the pedagogical relationship between the individual, community and culture.