Conference Program

Educational poverty and socio-economic, linguistic and cultural disadvantage are multidimensional concepts and refer to numerous areas of deprivation concerning the individual and his/her socio-economic context (Sen, 2000; Giancola & Salmieri, 2023; Save the Children, 2024). Exclusion from educational experiences deepens intergenerational inequalities, hinders social mobility and prevents, especially children, from acquiring knowledge and basic critical thinking skills to plan the future with respect to socio-relational, professional and political-cultural dimensions. Acting as soon as possible is essential to be able to create the conditions for the recovery of socio-cultural disadvantage in school contexts.

To address this educational emergency, a 2-year project (Agrusti et al., 2024) funded by Italian Ministry of University and Research aimed to design empirically grounded strategic models of teachers’ development intervention in Italian lower secondary schools, with specific reference to urban and suburban areas and their territorial contexts of cities in Northern, Central and Southern Italy, in order to counter socio-cultural disadvantage and school failure through tailored Research-Based Professional Development interventions (RBPD - Ricerca-Formazione; Dodman et al., 2025; Asquini, 2018), that helped removing possible obstacles in implementing active learning strategies for the development of key competences.

The research project – characterised by a collective multiple case study – was carried out in two specific phases:

- an initial investigation phase to highlight risk and protective factors at the meso and micro levels of the system in school contexts;

- a second phase of RBPD intervention within the eight case-study schools. The school contexts considered generally displayed mature and structured professional capital. Training interventions had to enhance already established skills, focusing on advanced professional development rather than basic training. The variability in initial students’ results was significant: students with good levels of competence coexisted with others with significant weaknesses. The implicit dropout (students with insufficient skills yet remaining in the system) appeared to be structural and not episodic.

The first year’s research enabled a detailed analysis of schools' needs: it highlighted main obstacles to equitable and high-quality development of all students' learning. Based on these findings, RBPD interventions were developed with teachers of a class council for each school, tailored specifically to the needs of each specific class-context.

In this first phase, it was very interesting to focus on the teaching practices carried out in the various school contexts. These practices were studied both as “practices declared” by teachers and as “practices perceived” by students (Cecalupo, 2021; Guasconi et al., 2025; Moè et al., 2010). The discrepancies between these perspectives, observed before and after the RBPD interventions, generated new research questions.

Although direct matching between students' voices with those of their specific teachers, triangulated data analysis opened up further possibilities for discussion with teachers and for planning professional development paths, especially considering students' learning outcomes and identified gaps.

Reflecting on the data raises questions about the importance and sustainability of evidence-based teaching practices, geared towards individualisation and recovery. These practices are designed to engage and motivate students, as well as providing them with specific support for developing transversal skills

This paper presents research conducted within the Doctoral Program in "Educación y Comunicación Social" at the University of Malaga, carried out in cotutelle with the Doctoral Program in "Theory and Research in Education and Social Sciences" at Roma Tre University. The study aims to investigate the role of university internships in shaping the professional identity of future teachers, focusing on the relationship between university tutor and student in the Bachelor's Degree Program in Primary Education Sciences. Specifically, drawing from a comparison with the Malaga model, the research sought to understand whether and how the internship experience influences the narrative construction of teacher identity, to identify the elements that characterize an effective educational relationship with the tutor, and to analyze the processes that promote engagement, reflexivity, and professional development.

The methodology adopted was a case study with a narrative approach involving three third-year students enrolled in the Primary Education Sciences Degree Program. Data collection instruments included a field journal, observations, and semi-structured and narrative interviews, aimed at exploring in depth the subjectivity of the participants and the reflective processes activated during the internship.

Preliminary findings highlight how the relational dialogue with the tutor, understood as a "significant other," fosters conscious growth by supporting the ability to plan, act, and reflect in an integrated manner. The internship experience emerges as a dynamic space of care for oneself and others, within which the ethical and reflective dimension assumes centrality in the construction of professional identity. This leads to a reflection on the need to strengthen tutoring models based on authentic and reflective relationships, valuing narrative as a formative tool, and promoting university pathways capable of integrating theory, practice, and personal development within a perspective of lifelong learning.

Recent contributions (Purdy et al., 2023; Goodwin et al., 2023; Persico, 2024; Baldacci, 2024) highlight a dichotomous tension between two prevailing paradigms of initial teacher education: managerial professionalism and democratic professionalism. Within the former, teachers’ professional identity is framed within a technical–administrative perspective, characterized by top-down orientations in which evaluation assumes a controlling function through standardized procedures and balance-report logics (Giovannini & Santanicchia, 2022). In this framework, teachers’ professional practice is constrained by standards and competences primarily defined in technical and procedural terms.

By contrast, the second paradigm emphasizes the importance of constructing a professional profile capable of actively and responsibly participating in school decision-making processes and learning from experience. From this perspective, teacher competence involves professional choices that require the orchestration of action schemes applicable to a range of situations of both technical and ethical-social nature.

To navigate this impasse, the concept of professional competence and assessment require more detailed investigation. Drawing from Haywood and Lidz (2006) while the chief cognitive developmental task of childhood is acquisition and elaboration of fundamental cognitive processes (structures, functions, operations), by adulthood the primary cognitive task has gradually shifted to one of selection, application, and metacognitive control of these processes, as well as the management of ethical and relational dimensions connected with a specific task (Margiotta 2018). This shift is particularly relevant in the case of professional competence, understood both as the orchestration of action schemes and as an ethical–practical disposition.

Consequently, the task of assessment often consists in identifying the presence or absence of structured habits of action and estimating the level of investment required to strengthen these habits in terms of cognitive, relational, and ethical resources. This idea focuses on the concepet of dynamic evaluation (Piacenza, 2023).

From this perspective the research question addressed: How can an evaluation model capture teachers’ professional practice into observable indicators through observable indicators without reducing it to technical functions or abstract ethical principles?

To address this issue, the paper proposes an “identity-based evaluation framework” (Zavatta & Lazzari, 2026). At the theoretical level, this approach moves evaluation beyond its exclusively bureaucratic and certification-oriented function, repositioning it as a process of sense-making and qualification of professional experience (Karimi & Mansouri, 2025). From a research perspective, evaluation is articulated across four dimensions: cognitive–metacognitive, affective–motivational, interactive–relational, and existential (Pellerey, 2006).

The contribution therefore focuses on perspectives of evaluation rather than specific tools, paying particular attention to three key dimensions of professional identity: the subjective, the social-collective, and the professional-agentive.

This study is situated within the field of Teacher Professional Development (TPD) and investigates the use of pedagogical-didactic documentation as a tool to support teachers’ professional reflection and learning. The training approach integrates theory and practice and moves beyond deficit-oriented models of teacher education (Kennedy, 2005). The study examines the outcomes of a professional development programme addressed to primary school teachers and centred on the use of pedagogical documentation and descriptive assessment as tools for reflective practice.

The literature review pursued two main objectives: (i) to conceptualise pedagogical documentation from a didactic perspective, acknowledging the complexity of this construct; and (ii) to identify the main factors and dimensions of impact associated with professional development and the effectiveness of training interventions. In this perspective, pedagogical-didactic documentation aims both to make students’ learning processes visible and to support teachers’ reflection on their instructional practices and pedagogical choices. It can also function as a mediating tool between teachers and researchers within inquiry-oriented professional learning processes.

The training programme was designed drawing on research on effective professional development (Kennedy, 2016; Sims, 2021). The study adopts an ecological perspective and follows a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design (QUAN → qual; Creswell & Clark, 2017) to explore the outcomes of a 16-hour professional development programme involving 200 primary school teachers and focused on formative descriptive assessment. The evaluation process was conducted through a participatory “fourth-generation evaluation” approach (Guba & Lincoln, 1989), aimed at capturing teachers’ perspectives and experiences.

The quantitative phase involved a pre- and post-questionnaire (N = 99), analysed through t-tests and exploratory factor analysis. Results show positive variations across all analysed items and reveal the emergence of a new factor related to student involvement in assessment practices, suggesting increased attention to students’ active participation. A shift was also observed within the “didactic” dimension, with a stronger focus on learning-oriented assessment practices rather than administrative aspects.

The qualitative phase included six focus groups (N = 72) and three follow-up focus groups (N = 31), analysed through Template Analysis (King & Brooks, 2017). Findings indicate that the training fostered teachers’ awareness of the relationship between instructional design and assessment processes, particularly in relation to feedback practices and descriptive judgments. Teachers reported a more reflective use of self-assessment tools and metacognitive questioning strategies. While quantitative data showed limited change in the dimension related to learning objectives, qualitative findings revealed deeper reflection on the coherence between learning goals and classroom tasks.

Additional results highlight the role of school leadership and the importance of communication tools capable of supporting dialogue with families through the sharing of pedagogical documentation. Finally, a descriptive analysis of teachers’ documentation (N = 15) shows a more advanced use of qualitative assessment tools, greater student involvement in evaluation processes, and improved coherence between objectives and learning activities. Overall, the study suggests that pedagogical-didactic documentation can function as a powerful device for supporting teachers’ professional reflection and fostering meaningful professional learning within teacher professional development.

The work carried out by the INDIRE research groups has often positioned itself along a continuum “between academic research on the one hand and practitioners’ research on the other” (Asquini, ed., 2018). In particular, the activities developed within the “Laboratori del Sapere” project (Anichini et al., 2022) fully take the form of Research–Training (Asquini, ed., 2018; Dodman et al., 2025). Launched in 2020, the project aims to design laboratory-based learning pathways in several curriculum areas (science, mathematics, Italian, geography, art) following a phenomenological‑inductive approach (Fiorentini, 2018; Piscitelli et al. 2007). It is addressed to in‑service teachers across the national territory and has progressively expanded, involving approximately 600 teachers in the 2025–26 school year. Since its inception, the project has represented a meaningful example of deep collaboration between schools and disciplinary educational research, generating positive outcomes in participating schools, such as strengthened continuity of professional development, increased teacher engagement, collaborative planning within disciplinary departments, and the development of vertical curricula in several school clusters.

The definition and shared negotiation of the project’s goals, the establishment and sustained facilitation of working groups, and the validation of didactic proposals by a scientific committee constitute the foundation of the research–training pathways. These involve regular online meetings throughout the school year dedicated to study, planning, sharing, analysis, and reflection on teaching practices (Laurillard, 2015). A substantial component of the work is the implementation of the designed pathways in classrooms and the documentation of activities through reflective teaching journals (Goracci et al., 2023). These narratives become the object of collective analysis and reflection, oscillating between theoretical deepening and practice-based inquiry (Altet, 2003; Rossi, 2011; Laneve, 2005). In this way, the project fosters “professional learning as a process of agentic and constructive change, emerging from the ways teachers act and reflect on their professional practice, renewing, enriching, and expanding their competences, spheres of action, and professional identities” (Dodman et al., 2025).

This contribution presents the work conducted over the past six years with groups of teachers from different school levels and disciplinary fields (Anichini et al., 2023; Goracci et al., 2023), with a specific focus on the current year (2025–26), during which the pathway has been articulated into progressively deepened modules, moving from training to research.

We illustrate the model and tools used across the various modules and present several significant examples of how the proposed pathways have produced transformative impacts within participating schools—enhancing teachers’ awareness of educational processes, strengthening collegial organization, and supporting professional development. We also highlight the limits and critical issues encountered in disseminating this research–training model, which profoundly engages with the core professional stance of teachers (Schön, 1993).