Conference Program

The work carried out by the INDIRE research groups has often positioned itself along a continuum “between academic research on the one hand and practitioners’ research on the other” (Asquini, ed., 2018). In particular, the activities developed within the “Laboratori del Sapere” project (Anichini et al., 2022) fully take the form of Research–Training (Asquini, ed., 2018; Dodman et al., 2025). Launched in 2020, the project aims to design laboratory-based learning pathways in several curriculum areas (science, mathematics, Italian, geography, art) following a phenomenological‑inductive approach (Fiorentini, 2018; Piscitelli et al. 2007). It is addressed to in‑service teachers across the national territory and has progressively expanded, involving approximately 600 teachers in the 2025–26 school year. Since its inception, the project has represented a meaningful example of deep collaboration between schools and disciplinary educational research, generating positive outcomes in participating schools, such as strengthened continuity of professional development, increased teacher engagement, collaborative planning within disciplinary departments, and the development of vertical curricula in several school clusters.

The definition and shared negotiation of the project’s goals, the establishment and sustained facilitation of working groups, and the validation of didactic proposals by a scientific committee constitute the foundation of the research–training pathways. These involve regular online meetings throughout the school year dedicated to study, planning, sharing, analysis, and reflection on teaching practices (Laurillard, 2015). A substantial component of the work is the implementation of the designed pathways in classrooms and the documentation of activities through reflective teaching journals (Goracci et al., 2023). These narratives become the object of collective analysis and reflection, oscillating between theoretical deepening and practice-based inquiry (Altet, 2003; Rossi, 2011; Laneve, 2005). In this way, the project fosters “professional learning as a process of agentic and constructive change, emerging from the ways teachers act and reflect on their professional practice, renewing, enriching, and expanding their competences, spheres of action, and professional identities” (Dodman et al., 2025).

This contribution presents the work conducted over the past six years with groups of teachers from different school levels and disciplinary fields (Anichini et al., 2023; Goracci et al., 2023), with a specific focus on the current year (2025–26), during which the pathway has been articulated into progressively deepened modules, moving from training to research.

We illustrate the model and tools used across the various modules and present several significant examples of how the proposed pathways have produced transformative impacts within participating schools—enhancing teachers’ awareness of educational processes, strengthening collegial organization, and supporting professional development. We also highlight the limits and critical issues encountered in disseminating this research–training model, which profoundly engages with the core professional stance of teachers (Schön, 1993).