Bildung-making as a key for inclusive education

Abstract

This paper explores how a Bildung-making approach underpinned by embodied pedagogy and didactics can contribute to a learner becoming a person and a teacher’s development of artistry. We argue that the existing Cartesian divide between mind and body can explain the fundamental differences in how teachers and learners perceive Bildung within the Dutch educational system: either as an ‘academic’ phenomenon (for ‘the head’) or as vocational (for ‘the hand’). In this study, Dutch (pre)vocational teachers designed and co-created Bildung prototypes in professional learning communities (PLCs) and classrooms. The teachers used ‘real life’ questions from their teaching practices as their departure point to develop Bildung-making. The results of the study show that when Bildung education becomes an embodied maker’s process, it enables learners to transcend barriers to educational equity. Co-created enjoyment and social emotional learning come to the foreground during Bildung-making, thus fostering inclusive education.