Conference Program

Participatory research methods have grown in recent years across a range of disciplines, including education. This growing interest is linked to the challenges of urban and educational contexts that are increasingly characterized by social inequalities and processes of marginalization. Recognizing the need to involve stakeholders in the transformations that bear on their social life, participatory research designs have been adopted with the aim of empowering participants and giving prominence to their knowledge and ideas (Call-Cummings, 2018; Cammarota & Romero, 2011).

This study discusses data from a pilot action in a primary school in Northern Italy, exploring the challenges and opportunities of a participatory approach to the transformation of school spaces. The pilot action was part of the Horizon 2020 NEW ABC project, which involves academic institutions, non-profit associations, and public schools in nine European countries (newabc.eu). The project is based on the framework of participatory action research (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2005; Lawson et al., 2015), and aims to facilitate an effective process of co-creation and implementation of good practices for the inclusion of children and young people in formal, non-formal, and informal education.

The pilot action at the center of the analysis revolved around participants’ ‘ideal school’. The focus was on children’s and teachers’ ideas regarding the transformation of school spaces and everyday life. In one class, children insisted that an ‘ideal’ school would have more spaces for laboratories and everyday activities. Therefore, researchers, teachers, and children set out to renovate a room that was abandoned in the school basement. After having involved the headmaster, the local council, children’s parents and various local associations, this heterogeneous team renovated the room and decorated its walls according to children’s ideas. The room is now available to all classes for a wide range of activities.

The analysis of the co-creation process and of participants’ post hoc evaluations shows that the activity had a positive impact on everyday school life, facilitated participation and public engagement, and helped children and parents develop a feeling of belonging to the school community. However, we faced several challenges during the co-creation process. For instance, children’s ideas were at times misaligned to the institutional context of a public school and several teachers criticized our level of involvement in the co-creation process, maintaining that their workload was too heavy. Overall, our participatory approach was effective in involving all participants and promoting change, but it confronted us with numerous challenges and dilemmatic choices between equally relevant alternatives (see also Meyer Reimer & Bruce 1994, Ravitch & Wirth 2007, Zimmermann Nilson et al. 2018). Thus, we argue that the engagement of multiple participants and their different perspectives and expectations calls upon researchers’ sensitivity in navigating the dilemmatic and polyphonic social nexus that inevitably arises. The findings can help other researchers develop a greater awareness of their posture in the field and of the challenges and opportunities of participatory methods in education.

Non-formal education in youth policy traditionally have physical locations as “base camps”, e.g. the Youth Aggregation Centres (L. 285/1997) or the socio-educational centres for adolescents (L. 328/2000) in the Italian context. With the increasing role of the regions in youth policy, a new idea of “spaces created by young people for young people” has become particularly popular in Italy (Morciano, 2021). The growing attention of public policy for the culture-based regeneration of urban spaces also sees an important participation of youth and young adults.

In exploring such emerging 'public spaces' for young people, a number of factors should be considered that could jeopardise young people's effective participation in the political, cultural and economic arenas, such as the increasingly blurred boundaries between work and leisure, the pervasive influence of the entertainment industry, the mediatisation of social interaction and the growing influence of digital technology on individual and social life. Youth spaces are also at risk to depend on decisions and expectations of public institutions, based on a vision that focuses on “what young people should be” rather than “who young people are and want to become” (Rosina, 2013). Political narratives about youth participation may indeed conceal subtle forms of decorative or manipulative participation (Hart, 1992).

In the face of these risks, the following crucial questions arise: How do young people imagine such public, open-access spaces in the context of their lives? How should such spaces be designed in order to fulfil their needs, expectations, wishes and inner boost for action for themselves and the society?

To investigate young people's views on these questions panels of young people in five countries has been involved in the research project "Youth Participation - A Key to an Inclusive Society" (Finland, France, Iceland, Germany, Turkey and Italy). The study used the e-Delphi method, which involves several rounds of questioning, comments and interactions via an online platform The method is characterised by anonymity, iteration, controlled feedback and statistical “group responses” (Rowe & Wright, 2001).

The formulation of utopian or dystopian future scenarios was chosen to encourage participants to express themselves on different levels (cognitive, emotional and value-based) and to stimulate critical thinking about the issues related to each topic. In particular, the presentation will focus on the panellists’ reactions to the following utopian-dystopian scenario: In a society where Artificial Intelligence is widely used for mass control, the majority of young people will create spaces where they can meet in their free time and grow as individuals free from the conditioning of digital technology.

Research findings on other thematic scenarios will also be included in the presentation, particularly in connection with youth participation issues. Other future possible scenarios in the e-Delphi platform included, for example, a growing political power of young people, the crucial role of digital skills for youth agency (albeit the majority of young people will not have access to digital media) and a growing alliance between migrants and the host youth community for a more inclusive society.

The interest in the participation of adolescents in public space has experienced a substantial increase in recent years, as society progressively acknowledges the value of including the perspectives of young individuals in decisions that impact their everyday lives (Checkoway, 2011). This phenomenon reflects current social trends and acknowledges the significant impact that young people can have on shaping society. The involvement of adolescents in public spaces is essential for nurturing a sense of engaged and accountable citizenship (Biffi, Pippa & Montà, 2023). Engaging in decision-making at an early stage can foster a community of informed individuals who recognize the value of what they think in shaping a diverse and welcoming society.

The study included 559 adolescents, consisting of 66.5% males and 30.9% females, who were secondary school students in an urban area of Northern Italy. The average age of the participants was 16 years, with a standard deviation of 1.52 and a range of 14-19 years. 25% of students attend a linguistic high school, 27% attend a scientific high school, and the remaining 48% attend an industrial technical institute. The research design employed a mixed quantitative-qualitative matrix to gather information on the participation processes of minors. They were asked to recall a specific instance from their direct experience in which they felt they had participated in a decision that impacted them. The qualitative data were subjected to content analysis, as outlined by Krippendorff (2018), and lexical specificity analysis, as proposed by Brie and Hopp (2011). The study was carried out in compliance with the ethical guidelines for psychological research (AIP, 2022). The research was conceived within the MUSA – Multilayered Urban Sustainability Action – ecosystem, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) Mission 4, Component 2, Investment Line 1.5: Strenghtening of research structures and creation of R&D “innovation ecosystems”, set up of “territorial leaders in R&D”.

The analyses reveal that participation in decision-making processes is primarily limited to the private sphere, encompassing choices related to education, leisure activities, and food. Conversely, participation in the public sphere is only observed in a few instances. Within this context, the examination of linguistic features reveals a distinction in participation based on the age of boys and girls. Ultimately, the participation of young individuals in the arena of decision-making is an essential factor in generating resilient and all-encompassing communities. Fostering a culture that acknowledges and values the contribution of young individuals is a strategic investment in the future, as it contributes to the development of proactive, knowledgeable, and committed members of society.