Conference Program

School inclusion (UNESCO, 2017) represents a founding principle of the Italian education system and is aligned with Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which promotes quality, equitable and inclusive education for all. Italy, a pioneer in Europe in the field of inclusion (Law 517/1977; Law 104/1992; Law 170/2010; Ministry of Education, University and Research, 2012), has consolidated the principle of integration, gradually extending legal and pedagogical protection to students with other Special Educational Needs (SEN). In continuity with the international framework that understands democratic education as a right enabling the participation and success of all students (Varsik, 2022), this study adopts the principle of human dignity as a pedagogical category that orients care, support and recognition of each learner’s needs and potential (Bruni, 2024).

From this perspective, the study addresses the educational challenge of promoting evidence-informed strategies that are genuinely inclusive of everyone and of each individual (Hattie, 2017) for teaching how to study, with the aim of fostering the development of a functional study method (Chiappetta Cajola & Traversetti, 2017). Such a method is conceived as a structured set of strategic, cognitive, metacognitive and motivational factors that can nurture an active attitude towards learning and enable students to exercise control over their own learning processes, thus enhancing each learner’s capacity to “learn how to learn” (Council of the European Union, 2018) within a lifelong learning perspective. In this sense, the study method is conceived as a primary compensatory measure (Cornoldi et al., 2010), within which other compensatory tools and dispensatory measures can be organised, shared and accepted.

Within this inclusive perspective, it is therefore crucial that teachers make systematic use of strategies with proven effectiveness (Mitchell & Sutherland, 2020), capable of supporting students with SEN throughout their entire school trajectory. Specifically, this contribution presents the results of a quasi-experimental study (Stanley & Campbell, 1996) involving seven upper secondary schools in the Lazio and Abruzzo regions, following a targeted teaching intervention designed according to the principles and methodological criteria of Evidence-Based (Informed) Education (Calvani, 2025). The intervention is oriented towards promoting the acquisition of an effective study method for all students, including those with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD).

The study led to the design and implementation of the Evidence-Based Inclusive Study Strategies- EbISS Programme, articulated in two main components: a specific training course for teachers of the experimental classes and, subsequently, the implementation in those classes of a didactic kit built around the core components of the study method. The evaluation of the EbISS Programme was conducted through the administration of standardised tools at pre-test and post-test in both the experimental and control groups. The analysis of the results aims to highlight the conditions, limits and potential through which inclusive, evidence-informed study strategies can contribute to making school a space of lived citizenship, dialogue, shared responsibility and recognition of the potential of all students.