Conference Program

This contribution investigates the inseparable and fundamental link between education and democracy through the analysis of the experimental outdoor learning project "FuoriClasse", implemented in a public primary school in Genoa. In an era characterised by exclusionary technicalism and normative pressures toward authoritarian and standardised models, the "FuoriClasse" project presents itself as a form of pedagogical resistance aimed at restoring the school's role as a permanent laboratory for active participation and critical thinking. It embraces the idea of a "school without borders", where childhood is seen as a privileged phase for the formation of the political subject through exploration, dialogue, research and authentic direct experience. The project serves as a paradigm capable of overcoming the dualism between theory and praxis by placing experience at the heart of the educational process. Its roots lie in the vision of scholars such as Freire (1968) and Dewey (1938), conceiving education not as preparation for life, but as life itself: a social process through which the classroom, the street, and the city are transformed into laboratories of genuine democracy. In line with Morin’s teaching (1999), the objective is the formation of "well-made heads," capable of inhabiting the complexity of the present and deconstructing the fragmentation of knowledge. In this view, "FuoriClasse" implements a radical departure from frontal teaching, adopting a research methodology and an alternative to standard textbooks, overcoming disciplinary divisions. This approach allows students to live the territory in its totality: parks, libraries, museums and shops, transforming it into the "living book" of the community. It prioritises learning mediated by the body in motion as the pivot of an authentic experience that educates toward choice, autonomy, empathy, and responsibility toward the world. Through direct experience and flow learning (Cornel, 2015), the techniques of Institutional Pedagogy proposed by Freinet (1994) emerge as the project's methodological core. One of the key tools is the Individual Work Plan: in a framework of self-organisation and constant self-assessment, each child chooses which tasks to engage in, defining personal short-, medium-, and long-term goals. Thus, learning becomes a responsible choice where each individual is the builder of their own growth path. This autonomy intertwines with the collective dimension in the Class Assembly, a sovereign body governed by specific roles and the consensus method: the negotiation of rules and decision-making occurs through counter-proposals aimed at unanimity. This practice transforms the class into an anti-authoritarian community where individuality finds space in collective fulfilment, exemplified by the Class Magazine. This quarterly publication, created by the editorial collective and sold to the public, self-finances printing and supports childhood in Palestine. This contribution demonstrates how cooperation, dialogue, listening, and free expression are the essence of democratic education. Students feel like citizens of the world, fostering a reflective, critical, and engaged mindset capable of critically inhabiting the complexity of reality. Through active participation in the shared construction of knowledge and the assumption of individual and collective responsibility, "FuoriClasse" describes an open and inclusive school that lays the foundations for a more just, cohesive, and resilient society.