SUMMARY
The article discusses the assumption, that pedagogical professions (teachers and social educators or pedagogues) lack a specific professional vocabulary that may contribute to the status and authority of the professions. With the concept of relational competence as point of departure it is argued that a psychological vocabulary has found its way into the field of pedagogics as part of a general turn towards a focus on competences and school effectiveness, but that a pedagogical language rather should build on pedagogics’ own aim and self-understanding. The German pedagogical researcher Benner’s concepts on Bildsamkeit and invitation to self-determination are introduced as examples on how a professional, pedagogical vocabulary may be rediscovered and further developed.