Search

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were several women in Italy, who gave pedagogy a new impulse. Among those women, two educationalists, Maria Montessori and Giuseppina Pizzigoni introduced new visions of the school by designing strategies that overcame the barriers to education. The first, with the structuring of a method, arose in Rome and has now spread throughout the world. The second was the creation of the Pizzigoni Renewed School in Milan. The Ministry of Education validated their proposals as innovative methods for all schools. In 1911, Pizzigoni's experimental method received official approval and, since then, teacher training courses were promoted. The enlightened spirits of these two pioneers led the Italian school towards a new deal. The search for a method was at the basis of the scientific and experimental turning point; the method also had to taken advantage of medicine and psychology, both relevant in the preparation of all teachers. This article focuses attention on the value of the scientific research conducted by Pizzigoni, less known internationally. Pizzigoni thought, built and defined the school and the method as a unique pedagogical act. She structured the curriculum for kindergarten and decidedly wished to turn the direction of elementary studies upside down: from Idealism to Positivism, from passivity to activity, from rigidity to creativity. In her mind children must be removed from the unhealthy places of the Milan suburbs and, instead, must be educated in a school open to the world. Hence the pedagogical elaboration of the concept of objective teaching as the keyword of the experimental method.

Living alongside one another in a spirit of acceptance evokes the concept of tolerance that, from Erasmus da Rotterdam to Voltaire to Primo Mazzolari, calls upon us to understand that the only possible choice for mankind, from time immemorial, has been to educate towards coexistence within milieus that increasingly differ by culture, customs, ways of thinking and behaviours. Beliefs and concepts sometimes refer to values that may also be quite remote from and unlike ours and, as a result, our capacity to find points of contact with other persons becomes the condition, not only for survival, but for growth itself as a human person. To know how to interpret and yet keep one's own points of reference is a constant challenge to our intelligence guided by the will to do good. The concept of free will is based precisely on the strength of the human will, driven to dedicate itself to whatever safeguards, or to turn away from the search for salvation. Freedom cannot exist if we replace it with new absolutisms and mental blocks that hinder the realisation of that growing humanisation plan, founded on responsibility and care. This paper broaches the subject of the relevance of education to tolerance: on one hand, a plan for detecting the limits within us and, on the other, the need for creating a human community, with the purpose of defining a common interest to live for and commit ourselves. So, it is a matter of choosing whether to live through another cold war or shift towards much more promising horizons of encounter and solidarity.

The mortality of university students requires actions in order to contrast this phenomenon and increase the attractiveness of the higher study. Pedagogy is one of the subject under siege in the sense that a considerable number of students tend to avoid or postpone the exam. After an empirical study conducted in 2006, contents and methodology of teaching were changed with the intend to meet the cultural expectations of the students. The article is critical report of this new experience of teaching in that subject in the context of university education of teachers. The main purpose is to demonstrate why and how the permanent and positive communication between teacher and students is the most important factor to implement the right to study and to divulgate knowledge. The structure of the teaching and learning process includes study of classics and scientific research with the aim to link theory and praxis. Conclusion underlines the urgency of modernisation of teaching as pivotal to lead young people to be responsible persons in the design of their future, in tune with the most recent European recommendations.

Giuseppina Pizzigoni (1870-1947), fondatrice de la Scuola Rinnovata Pizzigoni à Milan, est l'une des plus grandes figures de la pédagogie du XXe siècle en Italie. Le plan éducatif de 1907 a commencé avec une nouvelle structure de bâtiment selon la méthode expérimentale, qui fonctionne encore aujourd'hui. La Rinnovata faisait partie du mouvement des nouvelles écoles et présentait les caractéristiques d'une école active. L'idée ingénieuse de l'enseignante et directrice a bouleversé l'organigramme et la méthode de l'école publique et gratuite pour donner accès à l'éducation à tous les enfants de zéro à quatorze ans. Elle a anticipé l'éducation en plein air et théorisé l'environnement d'apprentissage spécial, riche en sujets éducatifs. L'école est conçue comme une réponse aux besoins sociaux nés par l'industrialisation, l'urbanisation, les migrations internes. Le malaise de l'enfance exigeait une nouvelle conscience sociale et civique, la formation d'une culture démocratique. Le Fondo Pizzigoni, une collection créée au sein du département des sciences de l'éducation de l'université de Roma Tre, rassemble des documents qui témoignent de la pédagogie et de la méthode. Privilégiant la perspective de l'ethnométhodologie, nous discutons de la validité de la méthode expérimentale pour enseigner selon la nature, la vérité et l'expérience pour une école inclusive et durable caractérisée par des processus de socialisation démocratique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Italian Journal of Health Education, Sport & Inclusive Didactics is the property of Edizioni Universitarie Romane and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This comparative qualitative study was conducted in four countries: Cyprus (central scientific coordinator), Italy, Romania, Slovakia. Research priorities are domestic violence and children's rights. I present the results of the Italian portion of the study and report some of the themes drawn from testimonies (n = 58) from focus group interviews of women-mothers (n = 31) who were victims of domestic violence. The participants described their awareness of the effect of violence on children and themselves. The documents collected confirm international and national evidence about: typology and reasons for the violence, violence reported to the police, and societal tolerance of violence against women and children. From the research results it is possible to think of new strategies for the teaching and learning of active citizenship that could help to uncover the hidden issues surrounding domestic violence.

An international team of experts from Belgium, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey and the USA employed a questionnaire to identify the deontology of teachers from infant to secondary school in eight countries. The survey was implemented between 2004 and 2007. The socio-cultural concept of "Verstehen" (understanding) as described in the work of Max Weber, points to the clear significance of being a teacher at this time in history. Qualitative and quantitative analysis allow for an understanding that "the teacher" is exactly that, in any context. The ideal typology of the teacher is the result of training at a university level and working in the school system. Phenomenal differentiations characterise the various situations and broaden the perspective of the study, including an identification of the shared features of the profession. The strong, common core is the responsibility towards fellow teachers balanced out by a weak, yet common note of regret regarding the scant social prestige of being a teacher. There seems to be a lack of communication between the personal and social aspects involved in shaping the professional identity. The social image of teachers weighs heavily on their professional status due to the inevitable political implications it results in and the considerable effect on institutional behaviour. Teachers listen, but they are not heard; teachers are committed, but remain unrecognised; teachers evaluate, but are evaluated in turn. The issue of the social importance of the profession of teachers in our societies emerges as a crucial point in the perspective of educating young generations.

Copyright of Italian Journal of Health Education, Sport & Inclusive Didactics is the property of Edizioni Universitarie Romane and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Pedagogía y Saberes is the property of Universidad Pedaggica Nacional and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)