Conference Program

The Italian model of school inclusion represents a unique case on the international stage, the product of a historical period characterized by exceptional civil, political, and pedagogical ferment. Despite the awareness of implementation limits—often linked to resource shortages, discontinuity in teaching support, and sometimes fragmented practices—the Italian system remains a unicum, maintaining a continuity and coherence unparalleled in European and global educational contexts. From a regulatory perspective, the genesis of this model can be traced back to the 1975 Falcucci Commission’s final report (Caprino & Consegnati, 2026) and the subsequent Law 517/1977 (Pavone, 2017). These documents constitute fundamental historical turning points that sanctioned a radical paradigm shift, redefining the school as a stronghold of universal citizenship.

To reconstruct the origins and scope of the inclusive model, it is necessary to frame these phenomena within the cultural ethos of the time, marked by the profound social changes of the 1960s that culminated in the 1968 uprisings. In this context, the educational institution—whose classist and selective nature had already been masterfully analysed by Don Lorenzo Milani—was radically called into question. Similarly, the segregative practices towards the "other," typical of "total institutions," were dismantled during those same years by the Basaglian revolution. This ferment transformed the rejection of exclusionary logics into a project for the transformation of the civil fabric. Thus, the abolition of differential classes and special schools responded to the need to remove obstacles to democratic participation, in full harmony with the constitutional mandate.

The contemporary landscape appears profoundly altered. Following the decline of great collective ideologies and the crisis of social solidarity, a technocratic-corporate model has emerged, dominated by individualism and an often obsessive pursuit of performance (Arena, 2025). Schools are increasingly pressured by rhetorics oriented towards competitiveness and a misunderstood notion of merit—a phenomenon reflected in growing scepticism towards inclusion (Ianes & Augello, 2019), which risks reintroducing exclusionary logics. This trend is mirrored in a renewed public debate that fluctuates between a nostalgic yearning for the school of the past—supported by certain institutional and intellectual figures—and a rising hostility, particularly visible in the informal contexts of social networks. Here, school inclusion is often derided as a mere exercise in 'political correctness,' in a climate that frequently disqualifies the entire pedagogical discipline. Conversely, conflicting cultural elements can be found, such as the international rise since the 1990s of the social model of disability (Schianchi, 2021), reflected in more recent guidelines (UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006) and the emergence of Disability Studies (Medeghini, 2015).

With this contribution, we intend to propose a critical comparison between the historical and social background that led to the Italian model of school inclusion and the current one. The aim is to reflect on the democratic resilience of school inclusion and to understand which elements can safeguard, in a rapidly transforming social context, a pluralistic and solidary vision of school and society.