The educational poverties are widespread in compulsory education in terms of both poor learnings and socio-cultural disadvantages; they affect students with disability, students with learning difficulties and those with an immigrant, poor and deprived background (SEN students). During the pandemic crisis, when the ordinary in-presence teaching was suspended, these students mostly suffered for the risk of exclusion, intensifying their deprivation and pauperization.

This paper aims at debating around the capacity of public schools to take care of the most vulnerable students in the “emergency” and “post-emergency” framework: how and how much they acted in this direction and which was the role of 1) teachers and 2) principals. The research questions are:

- (for both) to what extent did they realize the existence of a risk of poverty or educational deprivation? Which were the guiding principles (strong activation; monitoring; precaution) in the different phase of the emergency (lockdown; introduction of a mixed regime distance/presence learning; return to the ordinary schooling) to face educational poverty?

- (For teachers) which practices do they adopt to include SEN students? Did they develop specific attitudes towards the caring of SEN students? What different were the attitudes between curricular and support teachers?

I assume that at the beginning of the emergency the principals were more aware than teachers about the educational deprivation risk, even if during the second and third phases teachers became more able to put into practice the “activation” principle. I also verify if teachers’ attitudes were differentiated on the basis of 5 cultural dimensions (auto/etero-referencing; vision of remote teaching; relationship with bureaucracy, relationships with students; teaching as performance or relation), and of their function in teaching (classroom teachers/ support teachers). Finally I analyse principals’ and teachers’ opinion about the efficacy of specific measures adopted in their schools to combat educational deprivation.

I will use data from the enquiry Educational deprivation and systemic responses (carried out by Università Cattolica) on 6 lower secondary state schools with high rates of SEN students and students with an immigrant background, located in three areas of Northern Italy (Milan, Brescia and Piacenza). Data were collected and compared about 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22 s.y. The hypothesis was explored with a semi-structured guide to 7 witnesses for each school (42 interviews in total among teachers, principals and parents), focused on organizational, didactic and relational aspects of the school response to the SEN students’ needs during and after the pandemic.

Results seem to confirm that – whereas the school directors agreed with the Ministry line - not all teachers did the same. These latter adopted a range of responses to the challenge of maintaining inclusivity, from the inert/impatient to the creative/active ones. Their attitudes changed during the post-pandemic period from atomistic to more collaborative, and their preoccupation for the fragile “uncertified students” increased.

The educational poverty of migrant youth, especially when alone and unaccompanied by adult figures, is one of the main challenges that school systems in receiving countries must face in order to provide opportunities to learn, experiment, develop skills and talents. Reflecting on school interventions, practices and governance to be implemented in this logic is strategic to act in order to reduce the risk of educational poverty on unaccompanied foreign minors.

This research explores the school-formative integration of Unaccompanied Migrant Minors (UAMs) through the lens of key institutional actors, namely teachers and reception professionals. The study focuses on delineating a governance model for the integration of UAMs between educational institutions and private welfare organizations. Conducted within the framework of the ALI 2 project, the research employed a qualitative methodology, including 9 online focus groups conducted across various regions of Northern, Central, and Southern Italy.

The 60 participants, comprising teachers, educational professionals, and representatives from reception organizations, engaged in collective reflections on UAMs access to the Italian educational system. The research aimed to gather diverse opinions on practices, devices, and strategies that facilitate the school enrollment of UAMs. The focus group discussions, structured around four thematic areas, including common school governance practices, relevant formative devices, the development and implementation of Personalized Educational Plans (PDP), and collaborative efforts between schools and reception facilities, sought to identify key elements of an effective integration model.

The results also highlight the importance of a structured PDP, emphasizing the involvement of a broad spectrum of teachers and the UAMs in its formulation. The PDP becomes a dynamic tool, incorporating compensatory and dispensatory measures, evaluated regularly throughout the academic year in collaboration with the class council.

Addressing language barriers, the study advocates for enhanced Italian language learning through various approaches, including intensive courses during regular school hours, participation in CPIA courses, and self-directed learning through tailored e-learning platforms. The research also underscores the significance of immersive linguistic experiences in pre-professional contexts to sustain motivation.

Furthermore, the study emphasizes diverse and flexible teaching approaches, leveraging multimedia tools, multilingual and intercultural activities, and collaborative learning strategies. The incorporation of peer tutoring, group work, and expressive arts laboratories is deemed crucial for socio-emotional development, complementing cognitive aspects.

Beyond the school environment, it has been emphasized the importance of continuous monitoring and coordination between schools and reception facilities. This involves maintaining a network of adult stakeholders around the minor, facilitating constant communication, and addressing challenges or progress in a timely manner. The results conclude by highlighting the pivotal role of reception facilities in the integration process, emphasizing their responsibility in orienting, motivating, and supporting UAMs in their educational journey.

The practical implications of the research, categorized into orientation, support for educational participation, and assistance in extracurricular activities, underscore the necessity of a cohesive collaboration between schools, educational institutions, and reception facilities for the successful integration of UAMs. The findings contribute to the broader discourse on effective models for the educational inclusion of unaccompanied migrant minors and provide valuable insights for policymakers, educators and practitioners globally.

The significant migratory flows in our current society and the silent revolution they have brought about in social structures have given rise to a transnational social field in which the actors present play roles of great importance in managing the rapid changes that are occurring. Through work on the anthropology of complexity and migration, the intervention intends to define these changes. In particular, through field work, to give an account of the action of the various educational and reception agencies responsible for integration (schools and social cooperatives) and how, alongside successful paths of transcultural integration, strong resistance, obstacles and widespread racism exist. The training, educational style and transcultural relationship of the subjects involved in the process, in particular teachers and trainers in the third sector, remain fundamental in the study of successful strategies of inclusiveness. The most recent studies on skills for work more generally highlight transcultural competence which does not only concern plurilingual knowledge but the approach to the different cultures with which one comes into contact and the flexibility necessary to share logics, habits, beliefs, styles life with which you have the ability to enter into a relationship. This enhances the capacity for cooperation between people of different cultures and for interaction defined as Cross-culturality in environments involving different cultures, in the context of work or study; the ability to work productively, generating involvement and demonstrating one's presence as a member of a team, be it a class group or any other work group. Educational anthropology can and must be an important reference for teacher training and for implementing democratic educational processes in a complex society. We are now faced with a complex society in which second generations of migrants are increasingly present and widespread and it is on these generations that the success of integration is measured. We are faced with multiple identities and new forms of glocal Italianness. The essay, on the basis of case studies relating in particular to the migration of unaccompanied minors and second generations, draws a map of the difficulties and resistance that prevent us from activating more widespread virtuous integration processes to make our society authentically transcultural.

Due to the insights provided by various studies and a legislative trajectory that was, in part, influenced by the advocacy initiatives of the Third Sector (Save the Children, 2014), the issue of educational poverty has gained prominence in recent scientific and political discussions. It is now integrated into public policy agendas, calling for a comprehensive, multi-level analysis to underscore its unique complexity.

Educational poverty is a concept with broad semantic boundaries, characterized by polysemy and multidimensionality (Agasisti et al., 2021; Battilocchi, 2020; Botezat, 2016). It exhibits a poly-prospective nature and takes on diverse forms whenever educational circumstances impede individual growth, thereby constraining the expansion of perspectives, opportunities, and the range of accessible experiences (Sottocorno, 2019).

This contribution addresses the issue of educational poverty among minors with a migratory background, with a particular focus on the use of leisure time and the role of the Third Sector in promoting inclusive educational practices.

Through a quantitative approach, as a part of a broader research, a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire hab been given to a statistically representative sample of 1761 students enrolled in the third year of lower secondary school in the academic year 2021/2022 in the municipality of Rome. The results reveal a statistically significant association between migratory background and engagement in certain educational or social activities during leisure time, mainly due to the characteristics of the territory of residence.

Therefore, on the one hand there is a need to counteract ecological poverty by promoting the expansion of coverage and access to educational facilities. On the other hand, the importance of promoting the empowering function of the territory and a pedagogical responsibility extended to the entire community is emphasized (Curti et al., 2020), recalling the importance of the Frabbonian concept of "integrated educational system" (Frabboni, 1989; Maia, 2018). In this context, the central role of the Third Sector emerges, whose active participation underscores the importance of a collaborative and synergistic approach to address this challenge, highlighting how combating educational poverty requires the joint and coordinated commitment of all stakeholders involved.

References:

Agasisti, T., Longobardi, S., Prete, V., & Russo, F. (2021). The relevance of educational poverty in Europe: Determinants and remedies. Journal of Policy Modeling, 43, 692–709.

Battilocchi, G. L. (2020). Educational poverty in Italy: concepts, measures and policies. Central European Journal of Educational Research, 2(1), 1-10.

Botezat, A. (2016). Educational poverty. NESET II ad hoc question No. 5/2016

Curti, S., Fornari, S., & Moroni, E. (2020). Educating communities as a protection network against educational poverty. QTimes webmagazine, 12(4), 332-344.

Frabboni, F. (1989). Il sistema formativo integrato: una nuova frontiera dell'educazione. EIT.

Maia, E. (2018). Povertà educativa e cultura condivisa dell’educazione: il sistema formativo integrato tra vecchie e nuove sfide. Ricerche pedagogiche, 52(208-209), 153-171.

Save the Children (2014). La lampada di Aladino. L’indice di Save the Children per misurare le povertà educative e illuminare il futuro dei bambini in Italia. Save the Children Italia.

Sottocorno, M. (2019). La Questione della Povertà Educativa. Prospettive Pedagogiche di Riflessione e Intervento. Attualità pedagogiche, 1(1), 145-151.

The aim of the proposal is a theoretical elaboration of a model for studying the BES category in Italian schools. In order to do so, a perspective from the Disability Studies in Education will be adopted.

Disability Studies are characterized by a range of theoretical definitions whose validity lies in accurate reflection of real-life experiences. An original problematization of the models for studying disability facing current immigrational policies in the Italian school system is proposed.

Disability has been described as an individual’s medical condition (Zola 1972); as an outcome of socio-cultural context which turns impairments into exclusion (UPIAS 1976; Oliver 1990); as the identity of an oppressed minority (Abberley 1987; Hahn 1996); and as the relation of medical and social conditions (WHO 2001). Recent work on critical realism (Shakespeare 2014) restated the importance of individual impairment for disability discourse.

These models entered the Italian context by examining the education system (Medeghini et al. 2013). Namely, Italian school system is being asked inclusivity, but challenges linked to disability and immigration are eschewed in Ministerial directives (MIUR 2012) and circulars (MIUR 2013) which label immigrant learners as in need of special attention (Migliarini et al. 2017). These policies disable immigrant learners based on their immigrational background, problematizing previous models of disability.

On a methodological level, a critical reading (Grue 2015) is proposed, comparing current ministerial documents with past models for studying disability. Specifically, the proposal explores how distributing ability along racial differences results in unequal treatments. This phenomenon, pointed out by Disability Critical Race Theory (Annamma et al. 2016), needs further theoretical elaboration to grasp the realities of immigrant disabled students.

The expected outcome is re-addressing the impairment/disability binary, from the standpint of italian schools' individuation of immigrant students as BES learners. A model for studying thier particular predicament will be proposed considering how impairment is in this case socially crafted through school policies, and disability is enforced as an organizational tool for school population.

Although national legislation provides equal treatment between Italian and foreign minors in accessing education, children with a migratory background encounter difficulty in effectively enjoying this right (Saraceno, Sartor, Sciortino, 2013; Borgna, 2021; Santero, 2021), which are also aggravated in relation to specific conditions of social disadvantage, especially if they lack a family network of care (Biondi Dal Monte, Frega, 2023). The contribution analyzes the right to education of unaccompanied foreign minors, focusing in particular on the condition of minors in the reception system and on the effective access to the school system (Tomasi, 2020; Valente, 2020). The strategies on the protection of minors' rights adopted by the Council of Europe, the EU and at national level are investigated together with the European Union and the Italian legislation. A specific attention will be paid to the transition to adulthood and, in the Italian system, to the relevance of the education courses started before the age of 18 for the purposes of converting the residence permit (pursuant to art. 32 of the consolidated law on immigration). In this regard, the data relating to the reception and integration system (SAI) and those provided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies relating to the integration paths of unaccompanied minors in the national territory will be investigated. These data will be compared with those relating to educational poverty in Italy, exploring the impact of the offer of educational services and opportunities to ensure both the inclusion of this category of minors and their permanence in Italy upon reaching adulthood.