Conference Program

This paper advances a theoretical-conceptual reflection on teachers’ professional identity by positioning middle leadership (Lambert, 2003; Lieberman & Miller, 2011; Lipscombe et al., 2023; Murphy, 2005) as a structural and constitutive dimension of contemporary teaching in decentralised and autonomous school systems (Altrichter, 2015; Cheng et al., 2016; Keddie, 2015), with particular attention to its implications for equity and social justice. Moving beyond managerial and hierarchical understandings, middle leadership is conceptualised as a constellation of situated professional practices through which teachers connect classroom pedagogy, organisational processes and institutional responsibility (Frost, 2008; Hunzicker, 2022). Thus, it becomes an integral component of teachers’ professional work, contributing to the educational project and public responsibility of the school.

The Italian context provides a revealing lens: school autonomy has deeply reshaped governance while leaving teachers’ leadership roles largely informal, fragmented and weakly recognised (Marsili et al., 2021). Within this configuration, teachers’ engagement in coordination, curriculum development, inclusion policies, professional learning and relationships with local communities marks an expansion of professional practice beyond the classroom. This expansion is not interpreted as a functional add-on, but as a distinctive mediation through which autonomy is translated into everyday organisational choices and pedagogical priorities consequential for students’ educational opportunities. Thus, middle leadership is interpreted as distributed leadership (Gronn, 2008; Harris, 2009), enabling teachers to negotiate the interplay between pedagogical intentions, organisational constraints and policy demands (Bufalino & Barattucci, 2020; Lupoli, 2017).

Such mediation is consequential for professional quality and for how schools address educational inequalities. Middle leadership can strengthen agency, self-efficacy and motivation by opening spaces for responsibility, professional learning and influence over institutional processes (Farchi & Tubin, 2019; Mincu, 2022). At the same time, it can produce tensions, such as workload intensification, role ambiguity and limited recognition, especially where organisational cultures are weak and contractual frameworks fail to sustain these forms of engagement (Di Martino, 2024). These ambivalences are treated as constitutive features of teachers’ lived working conditions in autonomous school systems.

A further step is to reframe middle leadership beyond organisational effectiveness alone. It is approached as a pedagogical and civic practice (Cong-Lem, 2021) through which teachers participate in governance and contribute to shared educational orientations. In doing so, they influence how inclusion, curriculum coherence and student support are enacted in everyday school life, with direct implications for the reproduction or reduction of educational inequalities: leadership practices may consolidate existing asymmetries or foster more equitable learning conditions (Priestley et al., 2015).

From this perspective, teaching appears as an inherently political profession, in which leadership practices express responsibility toward both the institution and the broader social context. Middle leadership emerges as a crucial space where professional practice, ethical commitment and institutional engagement intersect, enabling teachers to act as agents of social transformation rather than mere implementers of externally defined policies. Thus, middle leadership can be recognised and sustained as a collective, equity-oriented dimension of teachers’ professional identity within decentralised school systems, provided that organisational conditions, professional recognition and pedagogical understandings of leadership support teachers’ agency beyond the classroom.

The issue of enhancing the teaching profession, through the introduction of an evaluation and career system, has been at the centre of academic and political debate for several years without, to date, any significant achievements having been made. In the meantime, however, the social recognition of the role of teachers has undergone a major downsizing. If we add to this the progressive ageing of the teaching body (among the oldest internationally), a strong process of feminisation of the profession and the low attractiveness of teaching – according to the required course of study – for the brightest new graduates, a critical picture emerges for the future of the education system in our country. With the study presented in this Thesis intends to develop a novel approach that, starting from the analysis of the sector's literature and thanks to the contribution of renowned experts, can give voice to those directly concerned (questioned through the administration of an online questionnaire) in order to find out the point of view of Italian teachers on the social recognition of the category, professional development, the evaluation of their work and career, thus providing important elements for evaluation and decision-making to policy makers in order to a change of the legal status of teaching staff, for which there is an increasing sense of urgency and need. A change that could start a virtuous path to restore prestige to the profession and also improve school organisation and teaching-learning processes.

This contribution engages with the socio-pedagogical debate on educational inequalities by focusing on teachers’ professional cultures and narratives as central elements in the co-construction of differences between students and in the differentiation of educational trajectories. In particular, the paper investigates how teachers’ professional narratives, expectations, and discursive practices may contribute, in the absence of intentionality, to the reproduction or interruption of educational inequalities affecting students with migratory backgrounds. Teachers’ narratives represent a privileged lens through which to understand how inclusion policies and discourses on equality are translated into everyday educational practices. Through these narratives, processes of recognition, evaluation, and orientation are shaped, influencing students’ opportunities.

The research is guided by the following question: how do teachers’ narratives and expectations contribute to shaping the educational trajectories of students with migratory backgrounds, particularly in institutional moments such as school orientation? The analysis adopts the concepts of structural and cultural violence as its theoretical lens, highlighting how educational inequalities may be produced and legitimized through institutional practices, expectations, and seemingly neutral representations. From this perspective, teachers’ agency represents a crucial space in which such dynamics may either be reproduced or challenged.

The contribution also emphasizes the researcher’s dual positioning as both a school principal working in educational contexts characterized by high social complexity and a doctoral researcher in Peace Studies. This positioning makes it possible to combine an insider perspective on organizational processes of schools with a critical approach attentive to issues of justice and recognition in educational contexts. The research is situated in the province of Parma, a territory characterized by a significant presence of students with migratory backgrounds and by a tradition of inclusive educational policies that coexist with persistent dynamics of school stratification.

From a methodological perspective, the study adopts a qualitative research design combining sources of data. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with teachers and school staff to explore narratives, representations, and expectations toward students with migratory backgrounds. The research also collects biographical narratives from university students with migratory backgrounds who reconstruct their school trajectories, highlighting experiences of discrimination or downward orientation. Data collection is further complemented by a territorial focus group conceived as a space for professional reflexivity. Specific attention is devoted to comparing teachers’ narratives across different segments of the school system, particularly between primary school and lower secondary school. Preliminary analyses suggest that primary schools tend to value students’ personal stories more strongly, whereas in lower secondary school teachers’ discourses interpret a presumed reluctance among students to share their stories. Particular attention is also devoted to the institutional moment of school orientation at the end of lower secondary education, where expectations, evaluative judgments, and representations of students’ potential assume a performative role in shaping their future trajectories.

The contribution invites reflection on whether teachers’ professional cultures constitute a decisive terrain for advancing democratic education and how transforming the narrative frameworks through which educators interpret students’ migratory experiences might contribute to more equitable education systems.

This contribution examines pathways into the teaching profession, focusing on the trajectories teachers follow before and during their entry into the school system as workers. Pathways into teaching are shaped by broader labour market dynamics and socio-cultural contexts, which define both opportunities and constraints, as access to professional jurisdictions is institutionally regulated and socially negotiated (Abbott, 1988). From this perspective, the institutional features of the profession – particularly recruitment rules and training requirements – play a decisive role in structuring individual careers (Santiago, 2004).
In Italy, teacher recruitment has undergone repeated reforms and has been widely debated for its peculiar institutional configuration and continuous transformation (Gremigni, 2013; Magni, 2019). The coexistence of overlapping entry mechanisms over time (Carbone & Gargiulo, 2022) has influenced not only formal selection procedures but also the timing, stages, and conditions through which individuals move from training to stable employment. Overall, the combination of heterogeneous recruitment logics and extraordinary measures has fostered structural precariousness within the school system (Argentin, 2018): at the systemic level, it affects educational stability and school organization (Barbieri & Sestito, 2017; Argentin & Pavolini, 2020; Abbiati et al., 2021); at the individual level, it has consequences for teachers’ professional and personal lives (Berton et al., 2009; Colucci & Gallo, 2017; D’Onofrio, 2017).
Drawing on recent data from the Quarta Indagine sulle Condizioni di Vita e di Lavoro degli Insegnanti Italiani, this study investigates both the trajectories and the timing of access to teaching, examining how they have evolved over time in relation to broader systemic transformations. The findings show that entry into teaching generally takes the form of a long and multifaceted pathway, with first appointments occurring at increasingly later stages of working life. Moreover, a teaching career often follows prior work experiences rather than serving as a first occupational destination; many teachers enter the profession after accumulating substantial experience in other sectors.
At the same time, initial school appointments rarely coincide with immediate tenure; instead, they are followed by extended periods of temporary or fixed-term employment, during which teachers often face several years of contractual uncertainty before achieving stability. The analysis also shows that different professional trajectories are associated with distinct patterns of declared motivations for entering teaching, suggesting that pathways into the profession are linked not only to objective career sequences but also to the meanings individuals attribute to their occupational choice.
Overall, these results portray a system in which entry into the profession and subsequent stabilization unfold through prolonged and differentiated trajectories, with significant implications for the composition of the teaching workforce and the integration of new cohorts into schools. Furthermore, the heterogeneity of access pathways is associated with differences in how teachers experience their professional role: for example, teachers with distinct entry trajectories report varying levels of job satisfaction, as well as different ways of interpreting and practicing school life. These findings suggest that recruitment patterns shape not only structural career opportunities but also teachers’ motivations, professional orientations, and their subjective relationship to their work.

Research consistently shows that positive and functional collaboration among teachers improves the quality of classroom practices and is associated with higher job satisfaction and well-being. These benefits extend to students, fostering participation, motivation, learning, and the development of social skills. In the Italian context, teacher collaboration is shaped by organisational features such as school structure, staff stability, and the overall quality of professional relationships (Aquario et al., 2017).

Studies highlight that teachers’ positions within professional networks influence key work-related attitudes, including self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Teachers who are more centrally connected tend to feel more confident and satisfied, benefitting from greater opportunities for exchange, feedback, and support (Uberti and Zanga, 2026). Moreover, the literature shows that students of well-integrated teachers often obtain better academic outcomes, indicating that collaboration can enhance both teaching quality and student achievement (Moolenaar, 2012; Siciliano, 2016; Daly et al., 2010).

For the first time in Italy, a large-scale survey explored how teachers perceive networking within their school environment. A total of 4,822 teachers answered questions on the perceived organisation of collaboration, their own position within working networks, the availability of trusted colleagues with whom to discuss work-related challenges, and the climate of cooperation or conflict within the school.

The study addresses the following research question: how is teachers’ job satisfaction linked to their perception of professional relationships with colleagues and the organisation of the school?

Preliminary findings confirm earlier evidence. Teachers who perceive their school networks as integrated, open, and non-hierarchical report the highest levels of job satisfaction. Those who instead perceive rigid hierarchies, fragmentation, and limited communication between organisational levels tend to report lower satisfaction. Regarding personal positioning, teachers who see themselves as part of cohesive groups show the greatest satisfaction, whereas isolated teachers report the lowest. The presence of at least one trusted colleague with whom to discuss professional issues is strongly associated with higher satisfaction.

These patterns remain robust after controlling for a wide range of individual and contextual characteristics. The analyses include controls for personal socio-demographic factors (gender, age, caregiving responsibilities), professional factors(career mobility, union membership, previous work experience, current and past roles, motivations, perceived job security, and subject area), and school-level characteristics (geographical location, infrastructural conditions of school buildings, and the availability of facilities). The study also replicates the analyses using measures of teachers’ self-efficacy, finding similar associations between perceived network integration and positive professional outcomes. These results underscore the importance of supportive professional environments and suggest that strengthening collaboration may contribute to improving both teacher experience and school functioning.

Studying teachers’ job satisfaction is crucial for understanding not only the quality of their work - an issue of increasing political and scientific concern - but also the broader quality of the education system. The way teachers perceive their work offers valuable indications about school functioning, organizational climate, and the sustainability of the profession itself. Since schools largely depend on those who inhabit and shape them on a daily basis, teachers’ job satisfaction becomes a strategic lens through which to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the system. Moreover, their well-being is closely intertwined with interpersonal dynamics within schools and with students’ learning experiences. More generally, job satisfaction represents the subjective dimension of job quality (Rose, 2003; de Bustillo Llorente & Macías, 2005). For this reason, it has gained increasing attention in public debate and policy agendas concerned with promoting individual well-being (Clark, 2015). The existing literature suggests that satisfaction is a multidimensional construct. Classic need-based approaches, such as the Two-factor theory (Herzberg et al., 1959), distinguish between extrinsic aspects of work (e.g., pay, job security, working conditions) and intrinsic or motivational dimensions (e.g., autonomy, recognition, responsibility). At the same time, interactionist perspectives (Edwards, 1991; Schneider, 2001) emphasize that job satisfaction results from the interplay between job characteristics and individuals’ values and socio-demographic traits. Together, these insights provide a framework for analysing how teachers interpret and evaluate their professional experience.
Drawing on recent data from the Quarta Indagine sulle Condizioni di Vita e di Lavoro degli Insegnanti Italiani, this study explores how teachers assess their job and the conditions under which it is carried out. The findings portray a professional group that, while operating within a context marked by structural constraints and limited external recognition, expresses an overall positive evaluation of its occupational position. Satisfaction appears to rest primarily on intrinsic dimensions of teaching – such as its perceived social usefulness, its relational component, and the opportunity to engage in meaningful work – whereas more strictly extrinsic aspects, including pay and career prospects, remain critical yet do not undermine the general assessment of the profession.
Importantly, teachers’ job satisfaction emerges as a relative and dynamic construct: it is shaped by comparison processes involving personal expectations, prior experiences, alternative career paths, and different stages of the life course, as well as by broader transformations in the labour market. This perspective highlights the importance of the interactionist approach in studying job satisfaction of Italian teachers.