Teaching is enriched when viewed from a three-dimensional perspective, beyond the so-called “learnification” paradigm (Biesta, 2023): it takes the form of an educational, formative, participatory, and democratic experience that is engaging and holistic (Baldacci, 2025). Teaching can be approached from various disciplinary and sub-disciplinary perspectives, in a more technical and specialized manner—for example, in relation to methods, techniques, and tools—or by drawing on the contingent experiences of learners, or still, by examining the underlying pedagogical frameworks. In this vein, this paper proposes interpreting teaching as a holistic educational and formative experience (hooks, 2020), in which subjective dimensions, contexts, learning histories, and the pedagogical-didactic framework within which this experience takes shape are central (Massa, 1999; Ferrante, 2017). Teaching is thus conceived as a complex and nonlinear field, within which students and teachers are fully engaged in a human—and even “beyond human” (Ferrante, 2018)—formative and social process. Each individual learns by “internalizing” what the environment offers, along complex life trajectories that span formal, non-formal, and informal contexts, in line with a perspective of lifelong, lifewide, and lifedeep education. Teachers, too, bring their own learning histories, which shape their practices, pedagogical choices, the design of instructional frameworks, and the nature of their educational relationships. However, it is precisely in the concrete reality of the teaching experience that the limitations of a conception of knowledge—built on the divisions and oversimplifications typical of modern pedagogy—become apparent. In this sense, teaching—precisely because it is a concrete, practical experience that puts practices into action—can be seen as a point of rupture where tensions, excesses, and dimensions of experience—affective, relational, and symbolic—become visible; these elements elude full formalization and have often been marginalized or rendered invisible. Interpreting teaching as a holistic and nonlinear educational experience thus allows us to move beyond a juxtapositional view of its elements (teacher, student, method, assessment), opening up the possibility of examining what takes place in the “interstitial spaces”—which are often not immediately addressed but are crucial to learning processes. From this perspective, we can also embrace a different conception of teacher education (Michelini, 2022), which requires a high degree of reflexivity (Mezirow, 2003; Schon, 1993; Biesta, 2021), the ability to confront one’s own lack of knowledge, and a willingness to reexamine practices, mechanisms, and frameworks of meaning, while acknowledging the

La didattica si arricchisce se intesa in un’ottica tridimensionale, oltre il cosiddetto paradigma della learnification (Biesta, 2023): essa si configura come esperienza educativa, formativa, partecipativa e democratica, coinvolgente e complessiva (Baldacci, 2025). Di didattica si può parlare da diverse prospettive disciplinari e sotto-disciplinari, in modo più tecnico e specialistico — ad esempio in relazione a metodi, tecniche e strumenti — oppure a partire dall’esperienza contingente dei soggetti oppure, ancora, interrogando le cornici pedagogiche di fondo. In questa direzione, il presente contributo propone di interpretare la didattica come esperienza educativa e formativa globale (hooks, 2020), in cui assumono rilievo le dimensioni soggettive, i contesti, le storie di apprendimento e il dispositivo pedagogico-didattico entro cui tale esperienza prende forma (Massa, 1999; Ferrante, 2017). La didattica viene così concepita come campo complesso e non lineare, all’interno del quale studenti e insegnanti sono pienamente coinvolti in un processo umano e anche ‘oltre che umano’ (Ferrante, 2018), formativo e sociale. Ogni soggetto apprende “prendendo dentro” ciò che l’ambiente propone, lungo traiettorie biografiche articolate che attraversano contesti formali, non formali e informali, secondo una prospettiva di lifelong, lifewide e lifedeep education. Anche gli insegnanti sono portatori di una propria storia di apprendimento, che orienta le loro pratiche, le scelte didattiche, la costruzione del dispositivo pedagogico e le modalità di relazione educativa. Tuttavia, è proprio nella concretezza dell’esperienza didattica che emergono i limiti di una visione del sapere costruita su separazioni e riduzioni tipiche della modernità pedagogica. In questo senso, la didattica – proprio per il suo essere un’esperienza concreta, operativa, che realizza pratiche - può essere letta come un punto di frattura in cui si rendono visibili tensioni, eccedenze e dimensioni dell’esperienza - affettive, relazionali e simboliche - che sfuggono a una piena 2 formalizzazione e che sono state spesso marginalizzate o rese invisibili. Interpretare la didattica come esperienza educativa complessiva e non lineare consente quindi di superare una visione giustappositiva dei suoi elementi (docente, studente, metodo, valutazione), aprendo alla possibilità di interrogare ciò che avviene negli “spazi-tra”, spesso non immediatamente tematizzato ma decisivo per i processi di apprendimento. In questa prospettiva, si può aprire anche a una diversa concezione della formazione dei docenti (Michelini, 2022), che richiede un elevato grado di riflessività (Mezirow, 2003; Schon, 1993; Biesta, 2021), la capacità di confrontarsi con il proprio non-sapere e la disponibilità a rimettere in discussione pratiche, dispositivi e cornici di senso, assumendo la complessità del giudizio educativo e l'imprevedibilità dell'esperienza formativa.

Riva, M. (2026). Didattica come esperienza educativa e formativa: campo di frattura e svelamento tra scissione del sapere e riarticolazione dell’esperienza. PEDAGOGIA PIÙ DIDATTICA, 12(2).

Didattica come esperienza educativa e formativa: campo di frattura e svelamento tra scissione del sapere e riarticolazione dell’esperienza.

Maria Grazia Riva
2026

Abstract

Teaching is enriched when viewed from a three-dimensional perspective, beyond the so-called “learnification” paradigm (Biesta, 2023): it takes the form of an educational, formative, participatory, and democratic experience that is engaging and holistic (Baldacci, 2025). Teaching can be approached from various disciplinary and sub-disciplinary perspectives, in a more technical and specialized manner—for example, in relation to methods, techniques, and tools—or by drawing on the contingent experiences of learners, or still, by examining the underlying pedagogical frameworks. In this vein, this paper proposes interpreting teaching as a holistic educational and formative experience (hooks, 2020), in which subjective dimensions, contexts, learning histories, and the pedagogical-didactic framework within which this experience takes shape are central (Massa, 1999; Ferrante, 2017). Teaching is thus conceived as a complex and nonlinear field, within which students and teachers are fully engaged in a human—and even “beyond human” (Ferrante, 2018)—formative and social process. Each individual learns by “internalizing” what the environment offers, along complex life trajectories that span formal, non-formal, and informal contexts, in line with a perspective of lifelong, lifewide, and lifedeep education. Teachers, too, bring their own learning histories, which shape their practices, pedagogical choices, the design of instructional frameworks, and the nature of their educational relationships. However, it is precisely in the concrete reality of the teaching experience that the limitations of a conception of knowledge—built on the divisions and oversimplifications typical of modern pedagogy—become apparent. In this sense, teaching—precisely because it is a concrete, practical experience that puts practices into action—can be seen as a point of rupture where tensions, excesses, and dimensions of experience—affective, relational, and symbolic—become visible; these elements elude full formalization and have often been marginalized or rendered invisible. Interpreting teaching as a holistic and nonlinear educational experience thus allows us to move beyond a juxtapositional view of its elements (teacher, student, method, assessment), opening up the possibility of examining what takes place in the “interstitial spaces”—which are often not immediately addressed but are crucial to learning processes. From this perspective, we can also embrace a different conception of teacher education (Michelini, 2022), which requires a high degree of reflexivity (Mezirow, 2003; Schon, 1993; Biesta, 2021), the ability to confront one’s own lack of knowledge, and a willingness to reexamine practices, mechanisms, and frameworks of meaning, while acknowledging the
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Teaching, Pedagogy, Fracture, Exceeds, Opacity
Didattica, Pedagogia, Frattura, Eccedenza, Opacità
Italian
2026
12
2
none
Riva, M. (2026). Didattica come esperienza educativa e formativa: campo di frattura e svelamento tra scissione del sapere e riarticolazione dell’esperienza. PEDAGOGIA PIÙ DIDATTICA, 12(2).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/616425
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