Craftsmanship is universally recognized as a synonym of excellence: not only for the quality of the materials, but above all for the ability to transform matter into a unique, unrepeatable work that carries into the world the history, culture, and creativity of its maker.

What distinguishes the artisan from industry is not only technique, but care: attention to detail, personalization, the refusal of homogenization and standardization. Every object bears within itself the mark of its author, an unrepeatable imprint, a signature attesting to its uniqueness and professional mastery.

Translating this vision into education means overturning the dominant educational paradigm: the teacher-as-artisan does not apply pre-packaged models, but instead builds tailored learning pathways, shaping activities and tools according to the characteristics, inclinations, and talents of students.

It is an education that does not aim to mass-produce “certified competencies,” but rather to bring forth each learner’s creative potential, to develop attitudes that highlight strengths and talents.

In Sguardi oltre le solite prospettive, I insisted precisely on this need to break free from training-oriented teaching, often rigidified by procedures and transmissive methods that flatten the richness of lived experience. Looking beyond means adopting the artisan’s perspective: a gaze that does not seek immediate and uniform results, but that recognizes differences as value, and allows itself to be surprised by the living matter that is the student.

“School is a craft profession: we tailor a garment for each child. For this reason, I have never relied on textbooks nor allowed myself to be conditioned by teaching guides that train trainers. Instead, I have sought to heuristically grasp the essence of disciplinary concepts in order to present them adapted, contextualized, and always diversified—never standardized (since standardized teaching feeds inequalities and disparities).

The artisanal preparation of learning content goes hand in hand with systematic observation and in-depth analysis of each child’s needs, oriented toward progressive growth and the habitus of the class.

Experience always shows the way when coupled with care and meticulous attention to detail, avoiding the construction of something merely to impose it, but rather seeking to engage through stimuli that arise from real, vivid interests—entertaining and stimulating according to an approach that brings students closer to learning, rescuing them from the oblivion in which they struggle, within a deafening context of information overload.” (Sguardi)

---

Methodologically, some key principles emerge:

HABITUS: School must be the best possible environment, a place where one feeds on beauty. This requires attention to learning spaces—for example, classroom walls that await children’s work to become clothed in lived experience. Space for creativity unleashes students’ inspiration, especially when they feel free and empowered to make choices without constant adult validation.

SHARING: Sharing with parents and colleagues allows for the creation of truly educational communities. Today’s school has built a wall separating it from the world. Let us tear it down.

DESIGNING: Shared planning encourages the exchange of teaching methods and past experiences, fostering coherent approaches and collaborative observation of the class.

DEMOCRATIC CLASSROOM (with shared rules): Living together begins with constituent rules (the “zero rules” of Institutional Pedagogy), supported by collective choices that foster awareness and self-regulation, without coercively imposing discipline through punishments and sanctions.

OBSERVATION (systematic and diverse): To monitor planning and adjust strategies, careful and appropriate observation is indispensable. Sharing multiple perspectives ensures greater objectivity, encourages a common vision within the teaching team, and enables a multidimensional assessment of difficulties, talents, and potential—transforming limits into opportunities.

OPEN CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS: Every activity can be channeled through workshops, which act as forges of ideas and creativity. One of my most successful workshops was in ceramics: after an initially difficult approach, children produced everything from pottery to magnets, ceramics to jewelry. Pesaro continually offers cultural opportunities, encounters, and dialogues—even for children—and we have always seized them, especially when they concerned the environment and nature, alongside a great naturalist and friend (Andrea Fazi).

---

Teaching as a Workshop Against the Risk of Educational Managerialism

Some reminders of the need to build teaching:

• John Dewey reminds us that “education is not preparation for life; education is life itself” (Democracy and Education, 1916). The artisanal school is thus a living workshop: a place where one learns by doing, reflecting, and creating together.
• Maria Montessori understood that every child possesses unique potential and that it is the educator’s responsibility to prepare an “environment” that allows it to unfold freely (The Discovery of the Child, 1909). The craft of teaching lies precisely in this ability to provide tools suited to each learner’s uniqueness.
• Howard Gardner, with his theory of multiple intelligences, invites us to recognize that there is not a single way of learning, but multiple cognitive languages (Frames of Mind, 1983). The artisan-teacher is the one who knows how to identify and value these differences by offering differentiated pathways.
• Lev Vygotsky, with the concept of the Zone of Proximal Development, showed that learning is always a social process, where the teacher acts as a master artisan who guides and supports (Thought and Language, 1934).
• Célestin Freinet described the school as an “educational cooperative,” rooted in practice, inquiry, and collective creation (The Modern School, 1969).
• Mario Lodi, in Il paese sbagliato (1970), demonstrated the power of the classroom as a democratic community, while Gianni Rodari, with his Grammar of Fantasy (1973), reminded us that “all children are poets”: the task of the school is to preserve and nurture that creative spark, not extinguish it.

Opposed to this artisan vision is the managerial model, which in recent decades has invaded schools with the language of efficiency and standardization: compulsive summative tests, quantifiable outcomes, standardized assessments, uniform protocols—these transform schools into factories of notions disguised as competencies.

In La Mate Ribaltata, I showed how this approach reduces mathematics to mechanical drill, stripping it of its exploratory and creative appeal. To overturn mathematics means to restore its true essence as a craft: a laboratory of invention, a language to read and interpret reality, a tool to develop critical thinking.

Ken Robinson likewise emphasized that the greatest mistake of contemporary schools is adopting the industrial model, while education should instead be conceived as an “organic process, more akin to cultivation than to assembly-line production” (Out of Our Minds, 2001).

If school is to be emancipatory, a training ground for citizenship and freedom, it must rediscover its artisanal soul: individualizing and personalizing pathways, recognizing differences as richness; stimulating attitudes, dedication, and sensitivity; uncovering hidden talents; fostering creativity and critical thought; weaving together theory and practice, for knowledge only lives through experience and through reflection on one’s practices; and cultivating educational communities that are not sites of competition but of collaboration.

Craftmanship became a global hallmark of excellence because it fused tradition and innovation, craftsmanship and imagination. Similarly, schools can regain dignity and effectiveness only if they once again become living workshops—laboratories of talent, spaces of creative freedom.

To free ourselves from the slavery of empty routines requires courage: sapere aude!