Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica. Journal of Theories and Research in Education

Book review of: George A. Morgan, Hua-Fang Liao and Krisztián Józsa (Eds.), Assessing Mastery Motivation in Children Using the Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaire (DMQ), Szent István University, 2020

Listiani Listiani — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Managing work-related stress through corporate theatre methodology: A pedagogical research-training pathway

Fabrizio Manuel Sirignano, Maria Buccolo, Valerio Ferro Allodola — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Traditional training methods – mostly used in informational and awareness-raising interventions – fail to significantly affect processes of socialization and organizational change and the management/prevention of work-related stress risk. Corporate Theatre, can represent a training methodology capable of interconnecting work practices and training processes, promoting the emergence of professionals’ emotional experiences, and encouraging processes of deconstructing/restructuring mental representations with a transformative function. Against this backdrop, the article presents, analyses, and discusses a research-training course on work-related stress management in five organizations in the Roman territory. The results confirm that an experiential training such as Corporate Theatre may promote changes in habitual behaviours and produce lasting effects over time, particularly by stimulating the creation of shared languages to identify the situations that may generate stress as well as the development of collaborative forms of organizational wellbeing.

Grading: Supporter or enemy of the learning process? Evidence from the literature

Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

This contribution aims to provide a reflection based on an exploration of the extensive international literature on the factors influencing students’ learning and performance in the educational process. A particular emphasis is given to the effects produced by the different feedback modes and strategies used by instructors, with specific reference to the role of grading and its impact on learners. Specific attention is paid to the effect that the grade, in comparison to other types of feedback, triggers in those who receive it, reflecting on its function in relation to the emotional aspect linked to the learning process. Finally, the theoretical framework is interpreted and related to the Italian context, offering food for thought on this theme in today's school and university system.

Montessori in Italian primary schools today: Some issues raised by an empirical study

Stefano Scippo — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

This study aims to contribute to the evaluation of Montessori education in Italian primary schools, examining a) its impact on academic and socio-affective outcomes; b) teacher profiles and the fidelity of their implementation. The results show that Montessori students, depending on grade and cohort, achieve similar or significantly higher scores than other students. Additionally, in some cases the distributions of math scores have a significantly higher standard deviation. Regarding socio-affective characteristics, Montessori students score significantly higher on the empathy scale. These results, combined with the fact that only half of Montessori teachers have a more orthodox profile, highlight how the Montessori model conflicts with some features of the Italian primary school system. This raises some questions concerning evaluation, limits to children’s freedom of choice and movement, individualization, organization of work time, and multi-age classrooms.

The invalid effort. Analysis of notions about humanity that trivialize the education of students with disabilities

Martha Garín — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Education for people with disabilities has become a priority in Mexico, where despite the abundance of inclusion policies, the percentage of population with disabilities attending school is minimal, not to mention the higher chances of dropout and the economic adversities they have to face. This research aims to understand the causes of their exclusion from elementary schools in the Mexican context. Through the analysis of interviews with subjects from three different categories of schools: public, special education and private, that receive students with disabilities, was found that notions of humanity and normality have implicit premises about functionality and economic utilitarianism, and that exists an unsustainable optimism about student achievement. This work reveals the influence of the utilitarian logic underlying the contractarian political tradition over education, and raise questions about its convenience in a human world, not exclusively rational and whose inhabitants are not permanently functional or ‘normal’.

Outdoor Education and the LAI project: A conceptual framework for an educational experience

Stefano Dati, Elena Escolano Pérez, Maura Striano, Conrad Izquierdo — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

For several years, pedagogical research is reflecting on innovative epistemological and methodological questions, and experimented with new forms and opportunities to enhance the quality of educational experiences with special attention to the role played by the environment.

The current contribution seeks to provide a conceptual framework so as to justify the pedagogical premises supporting the holistic LAI (Laboratorio Ambientale Interattivo) project – IEL (Interactive Environmental Laboratory).

Developed out of a web of initiatives contingent upon the educational needs of learners, LAI/IEL promotes observable learning activities that can be designed in combination with the training of kinesthetic and relaxation (body awareness) skills in a vertical arboreal space built in the playground of schools with or without a natural environment.

The article focuses on two significant conceptual dimensions: Embodied Cognition and Outdoor Education. An articulated and contextualized description of the LAI is approached as a holistic educational commitment within the programmatic framework of a sustainable didactics.

Adriano Olivetti: A pedagogical approach to work

Sabrina Fava — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

During an itinerant journey in the United States in 1925, Adriano Olivetti (1901-1960) – the well-known intellectual and entrepreneur of the factory producing the iconic typewriters and calculators beacons of efficiency around the world – started to think about strategic choices in business organization and human resources training (Olivetti, 2016). On this journey, he studied American production systems to find effective solutions against the alienation of personnel, contrasting Taylor’s productive system that prioritised profit.

This paper wishes to investigate the thoughts and choices of Olivetti about the scientific management of work (Novara, 1973), about training professionals in the brand-new Centro Formazione Meccanici (CFM, 1936) and the training of managers at IPSOA (1952). All these practical initiatives were meant to provide a generative support to business profit.

Gender discrimination and good practices to combat it in Academia: The results of an exploratory research conducted in three Italian universities within the framework of the European project FREASCO

Irene Biemmi, Tiziana Chiappelli, Sara Guirado — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

The article presents the results of a survey conducted within the framework of the European project FREASCO, Free from sexism and sexual harassment at school (EU Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme) which involved seven research institutes located in four European countries (Italy, Estonia, France and Greece) and of which the Department of Education, Languages, Interculture, Literature and Psychology of the University of Florence is the lead partner. The project aimed to facilitate the early detection and reporting of incidents of discrimination (such as sexism and sexual harassment) that may occur within school and university contexts. In this paper, we focus on the results of the exploratory research conducted through focus groups with researchers, teaching and technical-administrative staff, scholarship holders, research fellows and PhD students from three Italian universities who were involved in capacity building activities.

Breaking barriers: Fostering social inclusion in Italian schools for same-sex families

Valeria Quaglia, Margherita Graglia — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Educational settings are increasingly encountering new family configurations, including same-sex families, which are becoming more and more common in the last decades. The widespread homonegativity that still characterizes attitudes towards LGBT+ individuals in Italy, coupled with the absence of specific laws safeguarding and recognizing the role of the non-biological parent, leaves pedagogists, teachers, and educators to grapple with new demands and new responsibilities. This article provides an overview of same-sex families in Italy and offers operational tools and best practices to promote inclusivity of offspring from same-sex families within the educational system. The aim is to overcome discrimination that this segment of the population still faces.

Barriers and effectiveness to counselling careers with Artificial Intelligence: A systematic literature review

Rifqi Muhammad — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

AI career counselling barriers and effectiveness have not been reviewed empirically. This report reviews empirical data on career counselling with AI in two areas: barriers and effectiveness. This systematic review examines empirical evidence on AI career counselling barriers and effectiveness. SLR examined Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, Crossref databases. Scopus had 70, PubMed 7, Google Scholar 78, and Crossref 2000. The review comprised 10 PRISMA-analyzed studies. The manuscripts were published between 1992 and 2023. Namibia, India, South Korea, Finland, USA, UK, and Sri Lanka are included in the study. Two studies examined barriers (Suresh et al., 2021; Westman et al., 2021) and ten studied the effectiveness of career counselling with artificial intelligence (Carson et al., 1999; Crowley, 1992; Guleria & Sood, 2023; Hendahewa et al., 2006; José-García et al., 2022; Lee et al., 2018; Rao et al., 2020; Sodhi et al., 2016; Suresh et al., 2021; Westman et al., 2021).