Conference Program

If educational poverty is a widespread phenomenon closely linked to social inequality, it is clear that one of its main repercussions has political implications in a broader or narrower sense. On the one hand, this can be investigated in terms of politics as a circumscribed field, whose boundaries, according to Bourdieu (1996, 2000), are subject to possible and continuous reconfigurations. On the other hand, there is a broader meaning of politics that informs active citizenship, expressing itself and manifesting itself in different areas and which, with Dewey (2020), we could define as a democratic lifestyle based both on a democratic faith (Dewey 1966) and on the constant experimental monitoring that it requires and presupposes for further innovation (Dewey 1971, 2018, 2023). With regard to the first aspect, if we focus our attention, for example, on the Italian case, the de-democratising nature in terms of the over-representation of the upper-middle classes in elected office alone was already evident in the early 1990s (Mastropaolo 1993), not coincidentally corresponding to the decline of mass parties, which in turn nevertheless had an impact on the political alienation of the subordinate classes (Bourdieu 2001; Girometti 2020). On the other hand, if we take as a relevant criterion of political participation its expression in terms of active citizenship, it cuts across different areas and calls into play a series of constantly redefined knowledge, skills and competences, whose (at least) tendency towards universalisation is the stakes of an effective democratic politics in progress. In this sense, from a more strictly theoretical point of view, it becomes crucial to try to shed light on the different modes of action and reaction that social actors are able to activate in their confrontation with the (not only) social environment. Precisely for this reason, a comparison between Dewey’s and Bourdieu’s proposals, focusing mainly on the similarities, not ignored by Bourdieu (Bourdieu and Waquant 1992), between the concepts of habit and habitus (Dewey 2025; Bourdieu 1979; Colapietro 2004; Bogusz 2012; Crossely 2013; Piroddi 2018) could be useful for understanding the processes of differentiation and the related forms of social domination that are established between social groups. By retracing the common and divergent features of the two perspectives, primarily in terms of socialisation and interested life (Santarelli 2019), we will attempt to restore the richness of the two paths and suggest a possible integration. This could prove fruitful both as an analytical tool and as a means for political intervention in the sense of a democratisation of democracy.

Educational poverty cannot be reduced to insufficient schooling or low achievement scores. It designates a structural condition that limits access to the forms of knowledge required for critical participation in democratic life and democratic deliberation. Rather than representing merely an educational deficit, it can be interpreted as a mechanism of cultural domination operating through institutional arrangements, curricular choices, and embodied dispositions shaped by unequal access to cultural capital (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977).

From a Gramscian perspective, education plays a decisive role in the production of consent and in the consolidation of hegemonic projects (Gramsci, 1971; Thomas, 2009). When curricula are progressively simplified and intellectual ambition is lowered in the name of efficiency or performativity, the issue is not merely pedagogical adjustment but the potential erosion of the cultural capacities necessary for active citizenship. Educational poverty thus becomes a terrain where struggles over cultural leadership, knowledge hierarchies, and the role of intellectuals unfold. Teachers and professors can be understood as potential organic intellectuals whose practices contribute either to the reproduction of dominant cultural hierarchies or to the development of critical reflexivity capable of challenging symbolic domination (Baldacci, 2017).

Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic violence deepens this analysis by illuminating how inequalities are reproduced through the internalization of objective structures and through processes of misrecognition that transform structural limits into perceived personal inadequacies (Bourdieu, 1977; Bourdieu, 1991). The unequal distribution of cultural capital and the normalization of modest educational expectations may reinforce democratic fragility by constraining individuals’ capacity to critically interpret information circulating across traditional media, digital environments, and AI-mediated systems.

Bringing Gramsci’s theory of hegemony into dialogue with Bourdieu’s relational sociology enables a multi-level understanding of educational poverty that connects macro-level power relations with micro-level dispositions and practices. Such a synthesis highlights the political responsibility of educators and public intellectuals in resisting the narrowing of knowledge and in fostering reflexive capacities among socially disadvantaged students, thereby counteracting processes of symbolic domination and contributing to the renewal of democratic participation (Burawoy, 2012; Wacquant, 2004).

This paper analyzes the phenomenon of educational inequalities in the province of Chieti, located in Central-Southern Italy. The focus is on the active role that schools and educational staff can play in implementing strategies aimed at reducing educational poverty and school dropout.

Drawing on Bourdieu's concept of symbolic violence (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977) and Freire's critical pedagogy (1970), the research examines how schools and educational staff can positively influence the reduction of educational inequalities. The research posits that this can be achieved through a reinterpretation of their role according to new criteria of authoritativeness (Freire, 1970) and methodological awareness. It is argued that educational communities can function as agents of democratic emancipation, rather than merely as transmitters of dominant cultural codes (Haberman, 1991; Bernstein, 2000; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977). This assertion is supported by the implementation of inclusive policies aimed at mitigating the socioeconomic gap that affects students' academic success and at fostering the critical capacities necessary for informed democratic citizenship. This approach is in line with recent evidence highlighting the urgent need for multidimensional interventions to reduce social exclusion (ISTAT, 2025).

The research adopts a mixed-methods case study approach, drawing on the experience of the "Teate Solidale" project promoted by the Convitto Nazionale "G. B. Vico" in Chieti in collaboration with partner organizations. The project stems from an analysis of the needs, learning difficulties and socioeconomically disadvantaged family backgrounds found in the local catchment area, reflecting the most recent critical issues regarding school dropout in peripheral Italian areas (9.8% in 2024; Openpolis & Con i Bambini, 2025). The intervention was structured around the provision of targeted study support activities for students at risk of dropping out and the development of training programs aimed both at career guidance for students and the enhancement of the pedagogical skills of educational staff.

The findings draw on quantitative data regarding student outcomes, families supported and staff involved, as well as qualitative interviews with staff. Analysis of these data illustrates how the application of such community-based educational models and new pedagogical approaches, when adopted in contexts of democratic deficit, not only improves academic outcomes but also leads to significant benefits in terms of perceived relational well-being. It further enables students to develop collective competencies and critical consciousness (Sen, 1999; Biesta, 2007; Nussbaum, 2010). These findings confirm the effectiveness of 'community education' models, as highlighted by research on extracurricular interventions (Durlak et al., 2010; Save the Children, 2025).

In conclusion, the "Teate Solidale" experience offers a potentially replicable model for other peripheral contexts characterized by limited institutional resources and high socioeconomic inequality, demonstrating that elements such as collaboration between schools and local partner institutions, training educators in critical pedagogy and developing family involvement protocols can be adapted to different socio-territorial conditions. This experience highlights the importance of a systemic approach to ensure the right to education and to counteract social exclusion in vulnerable local contexts, in line with the European goal of reducing early school leaving to below 9% by 2030 (Openpolis, 2025).

In recent years, the concept of educational poverty, understood as the condition in which individuals and social groups lack the cognitive and cultural resources to critically interpret social reality, has entered sociological and pedagogical debate as a key to interpreting contemporary inequalities. From this perspective, educational poverty does not only concern school education, but also affects participation in community life and the exercise of citizenship. The issue takes particular relevance in the current context, characterized by the growing centrality of digital platforms, social media, and algorithmic systems in the production and circulation of information.

Participation in the public sphere requires increasingly complex interpretative skills: navigating heterogeneous sources, assessing the reliability of information, recognizing persuasive discursive strategies, and understanding the logic of digital platforms are fundamental dimensions of civic competence. In this context, the lack of adequate cognitive tools can translate into difficulty understanding complex political content, greater exposure to disinformation and, more generally, reduced opportunities for participation in public debate.

This is the context for the reflection proposed in this contribution. The paper starts from the hypothesis that digital educational poverty can be interpreted as a specific form of civic inequality in contemporary societies and aims to discuss how the unequal distribution of the skills needed to understand and interpret digital information ecosystems affects opportunities for participation in the public sphere and political debate. The aim is therefore to relate three closely connected dimensions: educational inequalities, the transformation of digital information environments, and the cognitive conditions of democratic participation.

The available empirical evidence shows that these skills are distributed in a highly unequal manner. Surveys conducted by the OECD emphasize that socioeconomic background is one of the main factors associated with levels of proficiency in reading, numeracy, and problem solving. The results of the PISA and PIAAC surveys show that students and adults from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are more frequently placed at the lower levels of the competency scales (OECD, 2019; OECD, 2023). The unequal distribution of cognitive skills affects academic achievement and the ability to access interpretative resources necessary to understand how contemporary information environments work.

These findings can be interpreted in light of a well-established tradition of sociological studies that have analyzed the role of cultural capital in the reproduction of educational inequalities. Studies by Bourdieu and Passeron (1970) have shown how the unequal distribution of cultural resources contributes to structuring opportunities for learning and social participation. In contexts characterized by the growing centrality of digital technologies, these dynamics intertwine with new forms of inequality linked to the skills needed to inhabit the digital environment. As Van Dijk (2020) observes, the contemporary digital divide concerns less material access to technologies and increasingly differences in skills and ways of using digital resources.

Starting from these theoretical considerations, the paper discusses how digital educational poverty can contribute to producing socially stratified forms of political participation. The literature on democratic citizenship has shown how education level and cognitive skills significantly influence civic engagement and the ability to navigate complex political positions.

In this presentation we discuss our critical documentary analysis of the training documents, and inspection reports of Ofsted regarding cultural capital in early years education and care provision in England. In 2019 Ofsted, the organisation who inspect and regulate educational provision in England, introduced cultural capital as a new and key aspect of judgements on early years provision. Ofsted (2019) define cultural capital as ‘the essential knowledge needed to be educated citizens’, and provide vague references to examples. Cultural capital in the Bourdieusian (1984) sense could be utilised to identify and destabilize cultural and societal hierarchies through education however, Ofsted have included and defined cultural capital from a deficit perspective. In previous papers we have argued, and demonstrated that the inclusion of cultural capital represents symbolic violence particularly towards the early years workforce as the way Ofsted defines it diminishes non-elite forms of knowledge and culture (Wilson-Thomas & Brooks, 2024). Using a Freedom of Information Request we have accessed the training materials used by Ofsted to train inspectors on cultural capital, and we have examined the publicly available Ofsted inspection reports and any references to cultural capital. One of the main problems of the way this sociological concept has been used is that it is poorly and vaguely defined so as to become almost meaningless. However, the implication that there is an essential knowledge that determines future success/education status/ valued citizen status remains a symbolically violent undercurrent to its usage. We therefore argue that the current deployment of cultural capital within Ofsted’s framework requires urgent reconsideration, as its deficit‑oriented framing risks undermining inclusive pedagogical practice and obscuring the diverse cultural assets children and practitioners already bring to early years settings. The imprecise yet elitist deployment of cultural capital represents a narrowing of educational provision, and follows a contemporary trend within educational institutions and regulation to simplify forms of knowledge thus offering impoverished and standardized content. Our findings show that cultural capital is inconsistently applied and conceptually hollow, yet its evaluative force narrows curricula toward standardised, impoverished content. Ofsted risks deepening educational poverty by denying children access to diverse cultural resources and the conceptual tools needed for critical engagement with the world, which is essential for active citizenship. There are wider implications for this trend, and our research can be used to critically explore other countries where implicit and explicit references to cultural capital are embedded in educational policy and practice.

Due to inappropriate use, the term ignorance has progressively acquired a semantic aura so broad that it has become difficult to define its conceptual limits and attribute a single characterisation to it. In colloquial language, as well as in some media and educational simplifications, the term is often conflated with notions that do not belong to it either linguistically or scientifically.

It is no accident that, since the early 2000s (Proctor, 2004; Proctor & Schiebinger, 2025), agnotology has become established in the humanities sciences, as a field of study dedicated to analysing the historical, cultural, political and educational conditions that determine not only “the things” we do not know, but also “why” we do not know them, “what” – or even “who” – impedes access to knowledge, and “how” ignorance tends to consolidate and reproduce itself over time (Occhini, 2026, in press).

This contribution fits into this theoretical framework and analyses the issue of ignorance on the basis of the most recent data on the level of preparation of Italian students provided by ISTAT (2025), OPENPOLIS (2025), OECD (2025) and INVALSI (2024), relating them to the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2015). Comparative analysis shows that the Italian education system is marked by persistent and interconnected phenomena such as implicit early school leaving, educational segregation, a high percentage of ELET, familily’s educational carelessness, implicit tracking, and the progressive simplification and narrowing of school and university curricula (Occhini, 2022; Occhini and Giampaolo, 2021). These phenomena are interpreted not only as critical outcomes of the structural system, but also as both the cause and effect of a progressive increase in levels of ignorance among the general population. Here, the attention to the relationship between these processes and the increase in acquired illiteracy, functional and relapse into illiteracy, which transforms ignorance into a cognitive and behavioural dimension that permeates large sections of the population, influencing individuals' interpretative, critical and decision-making skills.

However, it is in the field of democracy that the effects of ignorance and illiteracy take on a particularly alarming significance. A population in which epistemic vices and forms of cognitive obstructionism extend from the individual and psychological to the collective and institutional levels is a fragile population, less able to distinguish between slogans and political programmes, impulsive choices and political consensus, and simply didactic knowledge and the effective internalisation of knowledge. From this perspective, ignorance is not only an educational question, but also a factor of democratic vulnerability, which can compromise the quality of participation, judgement and civic responsibility.