Conference Program

The hospital school (S.i.O.) is one of the models of excellence in the national education system and is a true laboratory for research and innovation (Ministerial Decree 641/2019). The hospital school service was the first to experiment with and validate new pedagogical and teaching models, aimed at: organizational, methodological, and evaluation flexibility; the personalization of teaching and learning activities; the educational use of technology; and special attention to the educational relationship.

The S.i.O. operates in school sections dependent on state schools, for which its operation is authorized within the hospital based on specific agreements between the schools and the hospital trusts/foundations.

Educational and teaching activities are conducted in accordance with therapeutic and healthcare priorities, a complex "balance" to establish and maintain due to the concrete risks of discontinuity in educational and learning processes, resulting in a reduction/impoverishment of educational opportunities and social isolation.

Hospital schooling allows for the continuity of studies and guarantees the fundamental rights to education and health, enshrined in the Constitution, pursuant to Articles 3, 34, and 38.

The person-patient-student status is shared by all professionals, both healthcare professionals and teachers, with whom we come into contact according to the principle of the therapeutic alliance. This establishes a coordinated professional collaboration that places the patient-student at the center of healthcare and educational-teaching efforts.

From an educational-teaching perspective, it would be essential to optimize the opportunities offered by institutional school policies from the perspective of inclusive policies (Booth & Ainscow, 2014) in terms of psychological-relational assistance, educational-teaching approaches/practices geared toward personalization, and the use of modern technologies.

Of particular interest are the National Digital School Plan, experiences such as INDIRE's Educational Avant-garde, and, above all, the National Network of Hospital Schools, which share experiences and research gained over the years and propose customizable and individualized models for an inclusive learning curriculum. With regard to the latter (the curriculum), it is important to focus not only on teaching interventions, but also on the organization of space and time, materials, and resources, and ensure that it is monitored according to the needs of the individual-patient-student.

Within this context, teachers play a significant role (Faraoni & Melchiori, 2024). Indeed, they must be understood as agents/carriers of an inclusive approach that transcends the logic of "special" and medicalization (Bocci, 2021). With reference to this last consideration, teachers' professional development/learning, both initial and in-service, is characterized as an element to be strengthened through research-training programs (Pomponi, 2025; 2025) capable of providing quality-rich responses to educational, didactic, and social challenges.

In light of this overview, it is clear that hospital education is a difficult and highly challenging "reality," both for the school and the hospital. This requires investigation into inclusive policies related to organizational processes, understood at various levels and with different stakeholders, that highlight the quality of hospital and home-based education.