Teaching as a Revolutionary Habit

: In this chapter, Wahlström focuses on teaching as a continuous way of acting, although of course with variations. Continuous and repeated actions are developed into what we may call “habits” in terms of more or less unconscious actions that teachers develop when structuring their teaching content and organizing the teaching process. Central to the idea of teaching developed in this chapter is John Dewey’s understanding of habit in Human Nature and Conduct (1922). In order to capture Dewey’s understanding of the concept of habit in its relation to quality teaching, Wahlström analyzes the concept of habit in relation to four analytic aspects of routine developed by Anna Sfard (2023): the “task situation,” “recursive constructs,” “interconnected systems,” and “creativity.” The chapter shows that while routine is a recurrent repetition of already manifested patterns, habits, in Dewey’s sense, are open to the new and changing. Habits can be carried out in a novel way with unforeseen results that can make room for social change. Wahlström’s argument is that understanding teaching as a habit necessarily directs teachers’ attention to the everyday actions in the classroom and to the potential of their habits of teaching to support students’ self-realization.