Improvisation as a pedagogical attitude of schoolteachers

Hitches and unforeseeable events in teaching/learning processes are witnessing the aliveness of the pedagogical encounter that is still surviving in schools, despite the controlling and standardizing instances that surround them. Improvisation as a pedagogical and professional attitude of schoolteachers can be the axe for protecting school inclusion, democracy, creativity, and participation. This paper is about the methodological and ontological journey I took in the effort of bringing to scientific light the theme of improvisation in school teaching. After discussing the main stages of my empirical research, I argue how improvisation can’t be conceptualized as an isolated phenomenon but is rather emerging in the intra-action, in the classroom scene, of entangled agencies. I conclude that stepping away from an outcome-oriented research process to map instead what situationally promote or undermine improvisation as a pedagogical attitude can have a greater transformative impact on school practice.