International Journal of Education & the Arts

Citation: Maassen, T., Koek, N., & Abma, T. (2024). Caring, showing, working wood: On the caring dimensions of woodworking. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 25(si1.15). http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea25si1.15

Health care education emphasizes a theoretical understanding of care and a cognitive approach to learning, often neglecting the embodied aspects of caregiving. This highlights the need for art educational practices in nursing that encourage embodied reflection, allowing nurses to develop their intuition and practical skills. The purpose of this article is to share lessons drawn from wood workshops to illuminate the forgotten personal and aesthetic dimensions of care and explore innovative ways to reintroduce these aspects of care in nurse education. We examine if philosophical woodworking would make it possible for nursing students to talk and think about caring in different ways than those expressed in standard accounts. Theoretically, our study is situated within care aesthetics. We use five theoretical concepts to deepen our understanding of the findings generated in the wood workshops: Care, Craft, Making, Responsivity, and Showing. Methodologically, this study is embedded in Participatory Action Research as we fostered a communicative space to generate various forms of knowledge in cycles of action, reflection and learning. Participants were instructed to “show the wood” and while working wood, they shared their reflections and experiences with the participating researcher. Thinking with theory was used as an analysis strategy. The findings reveal that woodworking involved several stages of reflection, including non-intentional and intentional contact-making. We conclude woodworking potentially offers greater opportunities for embodied reflection than common practice-based learning, but further investigation is required with health care students and teachers to test the relevance of our findings for nurse education.