Conference Program

Dominant epistemological conceptions such as realism, pragmatism, or constructivism broadly inform school curricula, their aims, and their methodologies (Gramigna 2024; Osberg & Biesta, 2021; Osberg, Biesta, & Cilliers, 2008). This study examines how different epistemological models support competences for democratic culture and identifies the model most coherent with them. To achieve this objective, the study adopts as its theoretical frameworks the construct of paradigm (De Conti, 2016; Lincoln, Lynham & Guba, 2018; Kuhn, 1969) and, more specifically, that of personal epistemologies (Chiusaroli, 2022; Hofer, 2001; Yang & Tsai, 2012).

The concept of paradigm is currently employed in the literature to denote the set of laws, theories, and methodologies shared by the scientific community. Beyond being an abstract schema, a paradigm grounds scientificity and the orientations through which teaching and school curricula are structured (Cf. Kuhn, 1969; Osberg, Biesta, & Cilliers, 2008). Personal epistemologies, by contrast, concern the beliefs held by individuals about the nature of knowledge, the processes of knowing, and the nature of learning (Schommer-Aikins, 2002), and may be considered an individual manifestation of paradigms. Personal epistemologies exert a systemic influence on the various dimensions of the person, from cognitive to behavioral and cultural aspects (Schommer-Aikins, 2004), and orient approaches to learning, relationality, critical thinking, argumentation, reflexivity, and metacognition, predisposing individuals toward lifelong learning (Aytaç, Özbilen & Genç, 2022; Bath & Smith, 2009; Dewey, 1933; Kuhn, 1991; King & Kitchener, 2002). Personal epistemologies therefore constitute an element of the cognitive framework that educational processes must consciously and appropriately structure (De Conti, 2025; Gramigna, 2021, 2024) in order to ensure both the achievement of pedagogical and social objectives and the coherence between teaching methodologies and such objectives (Gramigna, 2015). In this sense, personal epistemologies function as a regulatory principle of school curricula, fostering their overall alignment (De Conti, 2025; Osberg, Biesta, & Cilliers, 2008).

However, the development of personal epistemologies is not regulated exclusively by biological processes. Although supported by developmental cognitive processes, their development is culturally mediated. This underscores the importance of education in the development of the individual and, circularly, of society (Cf. Dewey, 1916), and raises a foundational question: which epistemological model best fosters the development of competences for democratic culture?

Methodologically, the contribution compares epistemological models and personal epistemologies considered in the literature to be evolutionarily more sophisticated, with competences for democratic culture. By employing the method of comparative conceptual analysis with dimensional extraction, a matrix of epistemological models and personal epistemologies will be produced on the basis of the relevant literature (Cf. Bigge, 1982; De Conti, 2016; Lincoln, Lynham & Guba, 2018). The comparison will be conducted according to the criterion of greater coherence with the competences for democratic culture drawn from the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture developed by the Council of Europe (CoE, 2018a; CoE, 2018b). The outcome of this methodologically guided reflection may serve as a foundation for the theoretical and empirical evaluation and design of school curricula and teaching methodologies, in order to ensure their alignment with democratic culture.

Democratic backsliding, growing inequalities, and an infosphere saturated by polarization make the relationship between schooling and democracy a renewed educational urgency. If democracy is not only a set of principles but a way of living together, then schools must offer children opportunities to experience participation, deliberation, and responsibility as early as possible. Creating civic “micro-projects” in childhood matters because it nurtures habits of listening, justification, and care for the common world, rather than treating citizenship as a distant future status.

Methodologically, dialogic and collaborative practices are particularly promising to enact democracy for learning while cultivating learning for democracy (Biesta, 2011; Dewey 1916, 1938). Philosophy for Children (P4C) operationalizes this ambition through the Community of Inquiry: children collectively generate questions, argue with reasons, and co-construct provisional answers (Lipman, 2003). P4C therefore works as an exploratory pedagogy that simultaneously supports critical thinking (concept clarification, reasons, counterexamples) and democratic competence (turn-taking, inclusion, shared norms, collective decisions), foregrounding subjectification as the formation of agents able to speak and act in a plural world (M.R.Gregory, J. Haynes, K. Murris, 2017).

We present MiniGiunta (Rovereto, Italy), a civic education project implemented in a 4th-grade primary class in collaboration with the Municipality and classroom teachers (December 2025–January 2026). Across three meetings, children engaged in: (1) a P4C inquiry on perspective and “seeing differently”, followed by an “urban explorers” mission to photograph hidden beauties and areas needing improvement; (2) a P4C inquiry on beauty/neglect and a gallery-based discussion of the photos, producing situated proposals for the neighbourhood and the city; (3) a metareflective P4C dialogue on participation and preparation for a simulated municipal council (role assignment and peer-education on civic roles). Continuous co-design with teachers led to substantive adaptations (e.g., simplifying community rules, reallocating time from planned activities to sustained inquiry, and shifting some written work to classroom follow-up) in order to respond to classroom dynamics and maximize children’s agency (Biesta 2017).

Findings are being developed through qualitative analysis of the meeting transcripts and children’s artefacts (photos and written rationales), focusing on indicators of democratic participation and critical thinking (question quality, justificatory moves, perspective-taking, collective problem framing). We intend to present preliminary evidence, that highlights high engagement, rich argumentation, and the emergence of feasible, community-oriented proposals.

This paper addresses the pressing issue of the erosion of humanistic and aesthetic literacy in Czech grammar schools and examines its relationship to a broader cultural crisis. The analysis is based on a critical evaluation of the Framework Educational Programmes (2004/2025 – the basis of the Czech curricula), whose lack of substantive anchoring and conceptual clarity hinders the systematic and long-term development of pupils’ humanistic education.

The theoretical framework draws on the reflections of Hannah Arendt (2006/1961) and Alain Finkielkraut (1987; 1999; 2013; 2016) concerning the decline of scholastic knowledge and the weakening of cultural traditions—processes which, in their view, endanger the capacity of the younger generation to enter the world of shared meaning, interpretation, and critical judgement. Building on these insights, the paper argues that humanistic education constitutes a necessary condition of democratic culture, as it provides the horizon of understanding that enables orientation in the public sphere, the cultivation of values, and an appreciation of historical and cultural continuity (Steiner, 1974).

Failures in humanistic and aesthetic education therefore represent not merely didactic shortcomings but a threat to the very foundations of democratic life. The paper aims to initiate a discussion on the renewal of humanistic content in education, its normative grounding, and possible ways to respond to the current cultural and societal crisis (Kambouchner, 2018).

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.

In contemporary educational contexts marked by democratic fragility and accelerated digital transformation, the cultivation of critical thinking has become a central pedagogical priority for sustaining democratic agency. This paper presents the theoretical framework and pedagogical architecture of PATHS (A Philosophical Approach to Thinking Skills), an educational model designed to foster democratic competencies through structured engagement with ethical dilemmas. PATHS conceptualizes critical thinking not as an isolated cognitive skill but as a socially situated, deliberative practice enabling learners to navigate complexity, ambiguity, and value pluralism.

Democracy requires citizens capable of reflective judgment, moral evaluation, and reasoned participation in public discourse. Contemporary scholarship in democratic pedagogy emphasises that critical thinking entails interrogating assumptions, assessing evidence, detecting bias, and articulating justified positions in dialogical contexts. Within this framework, ethical dilemmas function as pedagogical devices that foreground the normative tensions inherent in collective decision-making. By confronting learners with competing yet defensible alternatives, dilemmas expose structural dynamics of democratic life: negotiation among plural values, recognition of legitimate disagreement, and reason-giving under conditions of uncertainty.

The PATHS model operationalises this nexus through structured engagement with ethically complex scenarios designed to generate cognitive conflict and activate analytic reasoning, evaluative judgment, and dialogic interaction. Students collaboratively examine cases, construct and challenge arguments, anticipate counter-arguments, and publicly defend their positions in regulated debates. These practices align with contemporary models of higher-order thinking, argumentation theory, and dialogic pedagogy, positioning ethical dilemmas as epistemic tools that scaffold reflective deliberation and cultivate democratic “habits of mind,” including intellectual humility, perspective-taking, justificatory reasoning, and respect for dissent. Evidence from the national initiative Olimpiadi dei Dilemmi Etici, implemented across secondary schools within PATHS, demonstrates the model’s capacity to strengthen deliberative competencies. To date, over 4,000 teachers have experimented with PATHS, and these dilemmas have given rise to the Ethical Dilemma Olympics, which this year reached 40 schools with over 100 teams: it is a remarkable exercise in democracy. In this structured yet participatory setting, student teams analyse dual-scenario dilemmas and engage in evidence-based public argumentation, consolidating recognition of plural viewpoints, commitment to reason-giving, and dialogical responsibility. Ethical deliberation thus becomes a pedagogically regulated microcosm of democratic practice.

The relevance of this approach is amplified within AI-mediated digital ecosystems, where algorithmic curation and generative systems reshape epistemic environments and public discourse. Educational research underscores the urgency of fostering “epistemic vigilance” and robust critical AI literacy — the capacity to interrogate sources, contextualise algorithmic outputs, and evaluate AI-generated content within explicit normative frameworks. PATHS integrates ethical deliberation with digital awareness, positioning critical thinking as a safeguard against misinformation and unreflective technological reliance. A key component is Platone 3.0 AI, a maieutic chatbot developed by the PATHS research group, designed to privilege epistemic process over outcome. Inspired by a neo-Platonic dialogical paradigm, it guides students through structured questioning and argumentative refinement, supporting dilemma analysis and reflection on complex real-life issues. By foregrounding inquiry and justificatory reasoning, the model fosters active, digital, and democratic citizenship.