What the Teacher has Already Experienced Individual Experience as a Legitimate Resource for Classroom Practice

Abstract

Purpose: This essay investigates whether teachers’ individual experience beyond manuals, standardized training programs, and protocols can serve as a legitimate resource for classroom practice, rather than being dismissed as mere guesswork or noise to be eliminated.

Methodology/Approach: This is a theoretical-philosophical essay grounded in an account of teaching experience. It draws on Walter Benjamin’s concept of experience (Erfahrung), Antônio Carlos Gomes da Costa’s “pedagogy of presence,” and Silvio Gallo’s “minor education,” as well as contributions from Paulo Freire, Jorge Larrosa, António Nóvoa, Dermeval Saviani, Elizabeth Macedo, Moacir Gadotti, and José Carlos Libâneo.

Results: Teachers’ accumulated experience, when interpreted in light of the context and subjected to pedagogical reflection, can constitute a legitimate form of practical knowledge. Intuition, understood as situated perception developed through this experience, guides attention to what emerges in the classroom. It should not be confused with guesswork, which merely reproduces impressions without reflection, without attentiveness to context, and without openness to revision.

Conclusions: Valuing teachers’ individual experience does not mean returning to mere guesswork, but rather recognizing that teaching is also a craft. Teacher education must create conditions for this practical knowledge to engage in critical dialogue with theory and pedagogical practice.