Conference Program

Civic education has recently been reintroduced into the school curricula of all levels. Ministerial guidelines (MIM, 2024) outline a very broad framework covering various themes, leaving class councils the task of developing a specific curriculum for each class, involving students in 33 annual hours.

Some middle schools in Genoa and the surrounding areas have taken the opportunity provided by the project "Lo Spettacolo Siamo Noi" (LSSN, in English “We are the show”), supported by the Edoardo Garrone Foundation, to engage their students in a program that combines the production of a theatrical performance with philosophical reflections, according to the practice of Philosophy for Children (PFC; Bevilacqua e Casarini, 2021). The objective is to involve students in a journey of youth leadership that develops both critical and creative thinking while simultaneously strengthening teamwork skills. The idea of involving students in an intensive artistic program stems from an increasingly substantial body of literature highlighting the multiple benefits of various art forms in terms of health, support for social cohesion, and well-being (Fancourt D, Finn S., 2019).

The program consists of 15 sessions (11 theatre and 4 PFC) and is led by experts in PFC methodology alongside actors and directors from Teatro del Piccione. Since the 2024/25 school year, the project has involved 24 classes across 15 schools – most of which located in disadvantaged contexts – and is accompanied by an analysis aimed at estimating—using a counterfactual approach (Martini e Sisti, 2009)—the program's impact on ten dimensions of interest. These are measured through a questionnaire administered to students, covering: interpersonal behaviour, listening skills, the ability to ask questions, argumentation skills, emotional intelligence, self-determination, school well-being, creativity and curiosity, artistic aptitudes, and cultural engagement.

During the first year, research activities were dedicated to identifying outcome variables, developing the questionnaire, and testing the organizational framework. The 2025/26 school year is instead dedicated to the counterfactual analysis involving 24 "treatment" classes and 27 "control" classes using a difference-in-difference design; the questionnaire is administered to all students both before the start of activities and upon completion. The research design is completed by a questionnaire administered to teachers of the treatment classes—aimed at identifying satisfaction and critical issues of the proposed intervention—and a questionnaire for teachers of the control classes, designed to record the civic education program implemented in classes not involved in the intervention.

This contribution intends to describe the proposed program, the research design, and the preliminary results of the analysis.