Conference Program

In psychological research, national and international ethical guidelines emphasize the importance of returning research findings as an integral part of the researcher's responsibility to participants. The American Psychological Association (APA, 2017) states that researchers should consider returning results as part of the informed consent process and their ethical responsibility (Standard 8.10). Similarly, the National Board of Italian Psychologists Code of Ethics for the Psychologist (CNOP, 2018) recommends ensuring transparency and respect toward participants, promoting practices that encourage informed participation.

However, in the field of educational psychology, the return of findings to teachers remains relatively uncommon, often resulting in research models that limit transparency and active participation, reinforcing the idea of an asymmetry of power between psychologist-researchers and teachers (Fine, 1994; Minkler & Wallerstein, 2008). Conversely, the literature highlights how the feedback process can recognize the active role of participants, enhance trust, promote epistemic justice, and acknowledge the value of collectively produced knowledge (Mertens, 2009; Israel et al., 2013; Fricker, 2007). It is not merely a matter of protecting participants’ rights, but of ensuring that research becomes generative of all possible results, allowing actors to contribute fairly, beginning with the community that made the research possible (Paglieri, 2021). In particular, the school context requires spaces and time in which adults can enact democratic and nonviolent values (Freire, 2004).

Within the research project "Mapping Social Emotional Learning and School Climate in Italian Lower Secondary Schools: advancing understanding and participation to inform intervention" conducted under the PRIN Call 2022 PNRR, quantitative and qualitative findings were shared directly with the teachers of the 36 Italian schools involved in the project. The feedback sessions were designed following an approach inspired by Teacher Participatory Action Research (T-PAR), which enables researchers to focus on teacher involvement, reflective practices, and the contextualized return of results (McNiff & Whitehead, 2002). Several studies also underline that T-PAR is closely intertwined with the personal and professional growth of teachers (Efron, 2013).

The outcomes of the participatory restitution process have been collected in a "Guide of good practices", entitled "Cultivating well-being at school" published on the www.perstarebeneascuola.com website. It is a collection of suggestions for lower secondary school, developed by teachers for teachers and structured around different areas by the research unit. The sections are organized into three parts: student-teacher relationship, positive teaching, student support, classroom management, respect for rules, teacher-teacher relationship, student-student relationship, justice, involvement, encouragement, social awareness and student self-awareness. Each section is divided into in-class activities, out-of-class activities, and interaction strategies, which outlines approaches teachers may adopt to foster trust and collaboration.

The present contribution therefore aims to highlight the importance of the generative return of research results as a methodological practice relevant for research in school psychology, consistent with the principles of nonviolent education and the demilitarization of educational imaginaries. From this perspective, returning research data becomes an opportunity to build relationships of trust and dialogue, also between school psychologists and teachers, to generate further knowledge that supports the development of schools as spaces of authentic democracy.