The Historical Genealogy and Contemporary Trajectories of Phenomenological Pedagogy: On the Theoretical Value and Methodological Potential of Phenomenology in Contemporary Educational Research

Phenomenology is not only a philosophy but also a fundamental attitude of thinking and a philosophical methodology. Its essential spirit of "returning to the things themselves", along with its systematic methods of epoché, reduction, and eidetic intuition, holds significant implications for contemporary educational research. Since the development from the Utrecht School to the present, Phenomenological Pedagogy has evolved into at least three distinct approaches: The methodological-empirical research employs phenomenological methods to analysis experiences of teachers and students; the philosophical-theoretical Research conducts theoretical reconstruction based on phenomenological theories; and the perspective-application research applies phenomenological concepts to educational practice. As a third path for educational research beyond theoretical and positivist research, phenomenological pedagogy helps educational research transcend the reductionism potentially caused by technical rationality and restore emphasis on the meaning of life and humanistic care in education.