Educational practice as a hermeneutic event: state of the art, applications and horizons (2019-2024)

Abstract

This documentary article systematically reviews the state of the art concerning educational praxis conceived as a hermeneutical event during the five-year period 2019-2024, with the fundamental purpose of critically assessing its epistemological foundations, methodological applications, and future projections. The study addresses the progressive hegemony of the scientific-technical discourse in educational systems and its consequent impact on the symbolic precariousness of teaching (Gadamer, 2004; Rodríguez de la Peña, 2023), a phenomenon that reduces pedagogical practice to an instrumental technique devoid of its reflective, ontological, and ethical dimensions. The theoretical underpinning is structured around three pillars: the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer (2004), which posits understanding as the essential mode of educational dialogue (question-answer structure); the critical pedagogy of Paulo Freire (2004), which defines praxis as the necessary dialectical and liberating action between theory and experience; and the ethics of action of Paul Ricoeur (2023), who introduces the hermeneutic circle of praxis (the good, the just, and the application) as the foundation for pedagogical moral judgment. Methodologically, a qualitative documentary review was conducted, grounded in Hermeneutic Phenomenology (García Naranjo, 2024). This involved examining studies from the 2019-2024 period that utilized interpretative methods oriented toward explaining, understanding, and interpreting, in line with the reflexive phases proposed by M. Van Manen (Fuster, 2019). The findings demonstrate the relevance of this approach in accessing the subjectivity and lived experience of educational actors (Castillo et al., 2023). This perspective is confirmed as essential for unveiling the profound meaning and essence of pedagogical actions as human works (García Naranjo, 2024), thereby enabling processes of critical reflection and continuous improvement (Fuster, 2019). In conclusion, conceptualizing educational praxis as a hermeneutic event transcends the technical paradigm and reinstalls ethical reflection and dialogical understanding as central tenets, projecting a research horizon directed toward an ecology of pedagogical existence.