Conference Program

Operating within the context of open knowledge is an essential prerequisite for transformative education, once we accept that the function of education is to combat common sense (Gramsci, 1975, Q. 12, p. 1535), as well as to transform the self, the external world and a truth that is often accepted passively (Bertoni Jovine, 1979). On these assumptions, the participation of each individual in the construction, sharing and questioning of knowledge, as a “membre producteur de l'humanité pensante”, to quote Paul Otlet (van Binsbergen, 1995, p. 153), becomes an essential condition.

Openness can be understood as the drive to make the knowledge produced and stored by publishing systems and major digital platforms widely accessible. This meaning of accessibility can take on various meanings in terms of technology, language and cognition, in line with the principles of understandability, perceivability, operability and robustness, without, however, capturing the complexity and breadth of the concept of open knowledge. From our point of view, the dimension of open knowledge should go further and be intended as a frame aimed at allowing the widest possible participation not only in the use but also in the creation of “collective memories” (Valente, 2002, p. 152), recognising and expanding the base of subjects legitimised to intervene in the dynamics of knowledge construction and management. This meaning is closely linked to the frame of Post-Normal Science.

The concept of openness is also taken up by Leonelli (2025) who, in comparing Popper's rational approach to openness, centered on the exchange of ideas and goods, with Berson's approach, focused on both intellectual and emotional connections between living beings, means the realisation of a fully open society as what makes inclusive morality possible, capable of promoting a creative imagination of the future, aspects that are central to a transformative conception of education. We can see elements of Arendt, Morin and Funtowicz in Leonelli's statement that “Openness pushes humans to go beyond their own experiences and perceptions, consider different ways of life, and foster the capacity to challenge and change one’s worldview, thus encouraging indeterminacy, instability, dynamism” (Leonelli 2025, p.7).

With particular reference to educational contexts, these reflections can lead in different directions, from the identification of thematic and interdisciplinary in-depth study paths, to the promotion of participatory projects for the construction of open educational resources, to the analysis of the mechanisms that lead to a lack of or limited participation in the processes of knowledge construction and elaboration, as well as to the analysis of educational content, in terms of mainstream culture, disciplinary hegemony – in the various meanings in which Foucault speaks of discipline – dominant narrative frames, and stereotypical conceptions and representations.

Our analysis (Valente et al., 2022; Tudisca & Valente, 2024; Tudisca et al., 2024) starts from a particular cultural product, textbooks, with the aim of promoting transformative education (Valente & Tudisca, 2026) through the recognition of underlying power dynamics and the main narrative frames presented, as textbooks are both a medium and a device, according to Agamben (2006, p. 22).