NARRATING EDUCATION : THE ROLE OF WRITING PRACTICES IN THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATORS

The professional development of those who work in the educational sector is a theme that is widely debated at the European level. It is related to the need to guarantee high standards of educational work and high quality educational services. This paper addresses the theme from the viewpoint of the writing practices and documenting of educational work carried out by educators. Independently of the specific educational context, these professionals are called on to narrate their work, especially in written form, both as an internal record, and to externally communicate the meaning of their actions in the area where the service is based and to other stakeholders. The theory explored by the current paper is that the act of writing up their own educational work is also a valuable means of enhancing educators’ professional development

NARRATIVE PRACTICES FOR COUNSELLING IN EDUCATIONAL CONTEXTS

Educational contexts have their own peculiar characteristics, such as that of being multi-professional contexts with a wide range of end users. Counsellors working with educational staff must take these specifics into account. In addition, counselling should be a process that, starting out from the “core issue” that led to the decision to initiate the counselling intervention, aims to promote the professional development of educational staff. In this sense, counsellors should design their interventions to encourage meta-reflection on the context, and should themselves adopt a reflective approach. On the basis of these key assumptions, this paper reflects on narrative practices as a resource for counselling in educational contexts, especially the practice of self-writing which also has the potential to act as a reflective tool for counsellors themselves

Jointly Building an Evaluation Culture: A Workshop Methodology for a European Project in the Field of Adult Education

This paper presents a reflection on the role of cooperative research in addressing the topic of evaluation within the field of adult education. To this end, the authors outline a specific cooperation initiative that involved academics and practitioners from the field of adult education in different European countries.The project presented here is based on the hypothesis that in order to enhance evaluation at the European level, it is necessary to build a European culture of evaluation, which may be developed by creating a concrete space for collaboration among practitioners and researchers from a range of European adult education contexts.Specifically, the project wasdesigned to promote an exchange of experiences, expertise and practices among academic researchers and “practitioners” (Schön, 1983)involved in the evaluation of adult education. A key role was played by a Mobility Workshop: viewed as the core of the collaborative approach proposed, the Workshop provided a concrete opportunity for collaboration amongevaluators and researchers from different countries within Europe.

Cosa può fare ed essere un bambino oggi? Riflessioni pedagogiche sul contributo dell’infanzia nella società contemporanea

Within the contemporary debate on social justice, there is a specific approach based on the concept of capability, in other words, revolving around the question "What can people be and do in a particular society?" (Saraceno, in Nussbaum, 2002, p. 9). This approach introduces a different point of view through reconsidering the concept of contribution: going beyond the concept of productivity contained in the market logic. This change of perspective entails critical implications on the political and social level.This perspective is also interesting for the debate it provokes around the role children play in our societies and around the spaces devoted (and granted) to them, in order to allow them to not only participate in our society but also to contribute to it.This paper offers a pedagogical reflection on the political and cultural strategies of our society concerning children (using the context of Italy, against the European backdrop) by considering specific elements of thesesocial justice theories. It will also highlight the importance of a pedagogical engagement that is capable of criticizing childhood (as a social category) in order to let children be active (as social actors).Una delle prospettive di analisi che anima il dibattito contemporaneo sulla giustizia sociale è fondata sull’approccio delle capacità come invito a “chiedersi che cosa le persone siano in grado di fare ed essere in quella particolare società” (Saraceno, in Nussbaum, 2002, p. 9). Tale approccio introduce una differente prospettiva sulla contribuzione che intende superare la produttività propria delle logiche di mercato. Questo non senza implicazioni sul piano politico e sociale.Si tratta di una prospettiva interessante anche per guidare una riflessione sul ruolo assunto dalle bambine e dai bambini nelle nostre società e sugli spazi loro dedicati (e concessi) non solo per partecipare ma anche per contribuire ad esse.Il presente articolo intende, pertanto, riprendere specifici tratti della giustizia sociale per proporre una riflessione pedagogica sulle strategie politiche e culturali che nella nostra società contemporanea riguardano i minorenni, mettendo in luce l’importanza di un impegno pedagogico che possa analizzarecriticamente l’infanzia (quale categoria sociale) per fare spazio ai/alle bambini/e (quali attori sociali)

Beyond the Rhetoric of Participation: Youth and New Forms of Political Acting

The importance of youth participation is underlined by international policies, which widely stress youth’s fundamental role in developing more just and sustainable societies. At the same time, disaffection from the more traditional democratic processes is registered by young people, who instead seem to be looking for forms of expression of a different nature. This paper aims to question the forms of participation of young people, offering to consider them as resources for the broader society within the perspective of public pedagogy (Biesta, 2012), suggesting that the institutions let themselves be informed by what is happening

Convenção das Nações Unidas sobre Direitos da Criança: marco para reflexão sobre infância e democracia

O presente artigo objetiva realizar uma reflexão pedagógica sobre os significados de infância e democracria ao longo dos tempos, considerando a Convenção das Nações Unidas sobre os Direitos da Criança (CNUDC) como um marco no pensamento destes conceitos, pensando-os, especificamente, como ponto culminante, ponto de virada e ponto de partida. A infância é uma construção sociocultural que se origina de um movimento duplo: a construção adulta da infância por meio de educação e política e a maneira como as crianças de carne e osso participam do cotidiano de suas famílias e comunidades, contribuindo para definir o que uma criança pode fazer. A primeira seção do artigo explora o movimento duplo mencionado da Idade Média ao século XX, preparando as bases para o desenvolvimento da Convenção das Nações Unidas sobre os Direitos da Criança em 1989, que liderou uma mudança no modo como a infância é concebida, uma mudança que tem suas raízes no reconhecimento do que as crianças de carne e osso estavam fazendo e sendo ‘silenciosamente’ por eras, por isso é um ponto culminante nesse sentido. O artigo, então, aprofunda a análise da CNUDC, concentrando-se especificamente em como os direitos de participação oferecem uma perspectiva específica sobre democracia, compreendida como um modo de vida que precisa ser aprendido também pelas crianças. O artigo finaliza com uma reflexão sobre o futuro da democracia visto na Agenda 2030 da Organização das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável, a qual se baseia na própria CNUDC.The present contribution offers a pedagogical reflection on the meanings of childhood and democracy through the ages, taking the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as a culmination point, a turning point and a starting point for considering these concepts. Childhood is a socio-cultural construct originating from a twofold movement: the adult construction of childhood through education and politics and the way children in flesh and bone participate in the everyday life of their families and communities, contributing to defining what a child can do and be in a certain society. The first section of the paper explores the mentioned twofold movement from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, preparing the foundations for the development of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989. The UNCRC led to a shift in the way childhood is conceived whose roots lie in recognizing what children in flesh and bone had “quietly” been doing and being for ages, so in this sense it is a culmination point. The paper then deepens the analysis of the UNCRC, specifically focusing on how the participation rights offer a particular perspective on democracy, understood as a way of life that needs to be learnt. The paper ends with a reflection on the future of democracy as can be seen in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which is based on the UNCRC itself

L’utilizzo di un software per l’analisi nella ricerca qualitativa. Potenziali e limiti di NVivo in un progetto fenomenologico-ermeneutico

Il contributo presenterà una riflessione critica relativa all’utilizzo del software NVivo all’interno progetto di ricerca qualitativa, finalizzata a indagare l’incontro nella pratica professionale tra il sapere pedagogico e quello medico/sanitario. Riferendosi a un approccio qualitativo, il progetto si è basato sul metodo fenomenologico-ermeneutico e sulla strategia dello studio di caso. Per raccogliere i dati sono stati utilizzati l’osservazione etnografica, l’intervista semi-strutturata, la pratica del collage-making, il diario di ricerca. L’analisi del materiale, effettuata seguendo il modello fenomenologico-ermeneutico, è stata supportata da NVivo. La conoscenza del software, approfondita prima del suo impiego, ha permesso di utilizzarlo come ausilio per accompagnare il lavoro di analisi, non in sostituzione all’interpretazione della ricercatrice. Riprendendo questa esperienza, il contributo presenterà aspetti positivi e difficoltà incontrati nell’utilizzo di NVivo, evidenziando come l’uso di un software per l’analisi qualitativa, e nello specifico nell’approccio fenomenologico-ermeneutico, passi inevitabilmente attraverso l’insostituibile pensiero del ricercatore

La casa come spazio educante. Riflessioni pedagogiche a partire da uno studio durante il lockdown

This contribution aims to explore and reflect, from a pedagogical perspective, on the home as a place of education for the children who live there, from the perspective offered by the current pandemic emergency. In early childhood, the family home is the place where children begin to become aware of themselves (Leccardi et al., 2011), and to exist precisely from the space of the home (Giordano, 1997). The COVID-19 emergency has forced a return to the home, leading us to rethink the role of the home. We therefore intend to share some pedagogical reflections based on the results of a qualitative research (part of the European project Erasmus + DEPCIP) conducted during the lockdown of March-May 2020 and aimed at understanding the impact that a prolonged period of confinement has had on the family environment. The contribution is based on qualitative-quantitative research (Teddlie, Tasshakori, 2006), conducted through the semi-structured Computer Assisted Web Interview (CAWI). The study reached, through written interviews, about 1000 parents in lockdown from the countries involved in the project, of which about 400 Italian parents. The study also investigated the relationships with domestic and public spaces, showing how isolation has caused a redefinition of the families' 'home geographies' (Blunt, Varley 2004). Starting from the results of the research, this paper will reflect on the complexity of the meanings of home that have been experienced during this emergency period and its repercussions on the educational level

Tutelarsi dall’emergenza: ripensare le pratiche educative nella tutela dei minorenni attraverso l’esperienza della pandemia

Child protection services represent a professional context in which emergency is a frequent dimension, being embedded in the need to prevent and address threats to personal integrity and freedom. This feature makes it a particularly interesting milieu for interrogating the effects of the pandemic crisis on educational practices that take place in specific institutional settings, thereby fostering a wider pedagogical reflection on the meaning and nature of educational interventions in critical situations. This article will present some considerations based on qualitative research – part of the project Education for Social Justice, Disuf, UNIMIB – realized through inter- views with professionals during the lockdown. The emerging themes offer interesting cues to re-think some fundamental dimensions of educational work, such as the challenges that flourish on the borderline between the personal and professional spheres, the relevance of networking and the need for a better awareness of those professional assumptions shaped – often unconsciously – by institutional frames of reference.La tutela dei minorenni è un contesto professionale in cui l’emergenza è orizzonte usuale, connaturato alla necessità di prevenire e affrontare tempestivamente minacce all’integrità personale e alla libertà di agire. Questo lo rende particolarmente interessante per interrogare gli effetti dell’emergenza pandemica sulle pratiche educative all’interno di precise cornici istituzionali, sostenendo una riflessione pedagogica sulla natura dell’intervento educativo all’in- terno delle situazioni di crisi. L’articolo proporrà alcune riflessioni basate su di una ricerca qualitativa – parte del progetto Education for Social Justice, UNIMIB – condotta tramite interviste a professionisti durante la fase di lockdown. I temi emergenti offrono spunti utili a ripensare alcune dimensioni costitutive del lavoro educativo, quali le criticità attinenti al confine tra sfera personale e professionale, all’importanza della rete e la necessità di maggiore consapevolezza circa le proprie premesse di fondo, orientate – anche inconsapevolmente – dalla cornice istituzionale

Arts-Based Research in the Social and Health Sciences: Pushing for Change with an Interdisciplinary Global Arts-Based Research Initiative

The impact of current trends in technology, digitalization and mass media on our global culture raises questions regarding the responsibility and ethics of research decisions in contemporary social and health sciences. Embedded in the dominant paradigms, these trends subtly affect our worldviews, our valuation of the human condition, and the nature of socio-political discourse. In such critical post normal times (SARDAR, 2009) radical imagination (HAIVEN & KHASNABISH, 2014) and epistemic activism, embracing non-dominant modes of knowledge production in the social and health sciences, becomes a necessity. Arts-based research (ABR) is resonant with the onto-epistemological perspectives and methodologies necessary to challenge and disrupt current unilateral and hegemonic paradigms underlying decaying societal and geo-political constructs. In this article, we advocate for the development of a global network of ABR scholars and stakeholders invoking a radical imaginative philosophy and arts-based research methodologies as an approach to social activism and epistemological change.Die Wichtigkeit aktueller Trends in Technologie, Digitalisierung und Massenmedien für die globale Kultur führt zu Fragen nach der Verantwortlichkeit und Ethik forscherischer Entscheidungen in den Sozial- und Gesundheitswissenschaften. Eingebettet in die jeweils dominanten Paradigmen affizieren diese Trends subtil unsere Weltsicht, unsere Werte und den Charakter sozio-politischer Diskurse. In diesen kritischen post-normalen Zeiten (SARDAR 2009) werden radikale Imagination (HAIVEN & KHASNABISH 2014) und epistemischer Aktivismus, verbunden mit nicht-dominanten Weisen der Wissensproduktion, zu einer Notwendigkeit. Kunstbasierte Forschung (KBF) beinhaltet onto-epistemologische Perspektiven und Methodologien, die erforderlich sind, um die gegenwärtigen unilateralen und hegemonialen Paradigmen herauszufordern und zu stören, die den überkommenen gesellschaftlichen und geo-politischen Konstrukten unterliegen. In diesem Beitrag vertreten wir die Etablierung eines globalen Netzwerks von KBF-Wissenschaftler*innen und Stakeholdern und die Nutzung einer radikal-imaginativen Philosophie und von kunstbasierten Verfahren als Ausgangspunkte für sozialen Aktivismus und einen epistemologischen Wechsel