University of Vienna, Center for Teacher Education and Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Science

The abundance, complexity, dynamics, and ambiguity of (aesthetic) experience of and with learning objects, but also with oneself and others, requires an instrument of investigation and reflection for educational research that does justice to the perspective of the actors and their personal meanings. This approach of explicitly focusing on the perceptions and experiences of the learners and consciously leaving subject-related and performance-related results in the background follows a 'learning-side' view of pedagogical action at the Center for Teacher Education and the Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Science. In order to exemplify the possibilities of perception, experience and knowledge of self, world and others at selected (educational) places and to methodically open up learning processes, the aesthetically composed as well as phenomenologically founded survey instrument of the vignette is suitable.

Since 2018, the Center for Teacher Education at the University of Vienna, in cooperation with the Leibniz Universität Hannover, has therefore been conducting the research project "Oriented towards the Phenomenon: Art Education 'Close to the Work' and Vignette Research. Potentials of Research on Aesthetic Education in Perceptual Access" is located. In the mutual fruitfulness of the approaches 'Close to the Work' and vignette research, possibilities are opened up to approach supposedly known things in a new way and to perceive and reflect on phenomena in their ambiguity. In the development of an experience-oriented didactic setting in higher education, the project "Ethos in the Teaching Profession" - together with the Humboldt University of Berlin and the University of Innsbruck - also explores potentials for the formation of a professional pedagogical attitude (ethos).

From November 2020 to November 2022 the EU-Project „Professionalization of educators and educational leaders through learning research with vignettes/ProLernen“ wascoordinated at ZLB. Jointly with six further locations of the network – the University Colllege of Teacher Education Vienna, the University of Klagenfurt, the Leibniz University Hannover, the Free University Bozen, the University of Westmazedonien as well as the School Authority of the Principality of Liechtenstein in cooperation with the University College of Teacher Education Zurich – a handbook for future educators and educational leaders was developed on the basis of the vignette methodology. For professionalization purposes, training modules were also developed for these target groups.

In cooperation with the University of Pretoria and the University Innsbruck, the project "Teach4Reach" is being implemented with the aim of anchoring the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in teacher education by using vignettes.

At the Institute for Teacher Education as well as at the Institute for Educational Science, vignettes are used in the education and training of (prospective) educators. Thus, students, educators, and teachers can learn from vignettes or draw research insights for their future and current professional practice. Using vignettes as condensed classroom scenes, students are trained to take a different look at learning and pedagogical action, but also at possibilities for research in formal educational institutions such as schools. Questions regarding their own pedagogical professionalism are also taken into consideration. For example, Veronika Ehm's dissertation project is dedicated to the topic of art mediation and aesthetic education in kindergarten. Using phenomenological vignettes, she works out "what is special" about the encounters between children, art objects, teachers and an artist.