This six-year study, consisting of four sub-investigations (one conceptual, three empirical), describes how subjectifying education with positioning of the body and embodiment of students in the educational practice requires teacher artistry, and forms by which teachers can stimulate learners' desire to become an embodied person in the world. The purpose of this research is to reconsider subjectification as the main target domain of education from the perspective of embodied cognition.
The main research question is: How can Dutch teachers develop their artistry to create an inclusive educational practice that encourages their learners (in Dutch (v)mbo and higher education) to become embodied persons situated in the world? Since schools and classrooms are mini societies, there are many opportunities in these settings for learners' encounters with the world and their micro sociocultural worlds. Qualities like feeling what is happening inside oneself, expression of emotions, reflection and reflexivity, being able to be where the other is, having meaningful relationships with teachers and other learners, and engaging with the world are important for learners' wellbeing (De Haan, 2021; Zembylas, 2007; Zheng, 2022). The sort of curriculum that would pedagogically foster the development of these qualities in education is more likely to have the learner's body (or better, their embodied mind, Varela et al., 1992) at a central position in teaching and learning, thus enhancing opportunities for emotional and bodily expression (Zembylas, 2007). An overarching conclusion follows to answer the main research question. Teaching is not implementing a method or proven intervention 'that works' in the classroom, nor is it following a recipe (Biesta, in publication). It is both craft (technē) and art (including practical knowledge, phronesis) (Eisner, 2002). Through constant attention to embodied perception in the curriculum and evoking aesthetic experiences (Stenhouse, 1988), through 'making', working with 'experientiality' (Caracciolo, 2019) and 'doing the arts', giving shape to the environment (Alibali & Nathan, 2018), vitality, emotions, uncertainties and unpredictable activities and outcomes (Eisner, 1985), teachers develop their artistry. It is important for teachers to come together, add knowledge to each other and make education together. They have a responsibility to create inclusive spaces in the classroom for plurality and possible transformation. There are at least three current barriers in Dutch education that make it difficult for teachers to create inclusive spaces in the classroom: the Dutch 'measurement culture', the gap between academic "for the head" and vocational "for the hand" education, and Cartesian dualism as the paradigm underlying education. These three barriers do not disappear when teachers 'make' and 'do arts' with their learners' Artistic principles, however, in addition to recognizing the embodiment of learners, spark the joy of improvisation and experimentation and inspire teachers to further develop their teacher artistry. Schools then become spaces where teachers approach their learners as embodied persons who are in the world, rather than as individuals with separate brains, and bodies that are not being addressed. This is an important step toward embodied subjectification in education.
