Conference Program

Teacher training represents an essential challenge for building truly inclusive contexts which, to be effective, requires a radical and transversal change in teaching practices, considered not only from a pragmatic point of view, but also from a socio-symbolic-cultural perspective (Baldacci, 2023; Bocci, Guerini & Travaglini, 2021; Mura, 2019). This is a challenging process, requiring the joint investment of all professionals involved in educational processes, and in relation to which there are still various types of critical issues (Fedeli & Munaro, 2022). Indeed, perplexity emerges among teachers regarding the possibility of applying methodologies and approaches based on co-education, as well as a widespread resistance – especially in secondary school – to perceiving educational contexts as “naturally” habitable by everyone, regardless of the recognized and observed skills (Canevaro & Ianes, 2024). To stem the separation between educational professionals, especially between curricular and support teachers, it is necessary to implement training courses that allow all participants to feel authentically part of a process of shared growth and collaboration (Lombardi, 2024): in this way it is possible to establish a research community (Mezirow, 2003), in which the different members, supporting each other within a process of change, are called to analyze the strengths and criticalities of what has been undertaken. In this sense, the synergy between university and educational institution is a key element capable of ensuring innovation and a push towards change (Di Donato, 2025).

Based on these premises, the aim is to present the results of a research-based training program, still ongoing, involving 16 teachers from a comprehensive institute in Rome focused on the design and implementation of authentic inclusive tasks (Travaglini, 2025) in the classes entrusted to them. Specifically, the researchers’ objective was twofold: a) to investigate the effectiveness of the inclusive authentic task in relation to some variables observed in the classes involved in the learning path. In this sense, particular attention was paid to observing the social and prosocial skills of the students; b) observing the impact of the training program on the quality of collaboration between teachers, as well as on the increase in educational practices inspired by coeducation.

Specifically, the training process is marked by three different phases: ex ante, aimed at identifying the most relevant training needs; ongoing, focused on the design and implementation of interventions; ex post, aimed at sharing the experiences of teachers, as well as identifying the strengths and critical issues identified both in relation to the training path, both in relation to a possible revisitation of the research tools proposed by the researchers.

To achieve these goals, the research-based training process is configured as an idiographic study aimed at detecting the changes observed in the participants: for this reason, it involves the use of questionnaires and focus groups, to be applied at the different phases of the process, according to a perspective that aims to consider the outcomes of the intervention in light of the trajectories of professional change of the teachers involved (Passalacqua et al., 2025).