Citizenship Education: Reflections on an Experience Carried Out in an Italian Primary School

Valentina Grion; Giuliana De Vecchi

doi:10.14516/fde.2016.014.020.016

Authors

Valentina Grion Università degli studi di Padova. Italia Author
Giuliana De Vecchi Istituto Comprensivo di Soligo (TV). Italia Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14516/fde.2016.014.020.016

Keywords:

primary school, students’participation, students’responsibility, implicit curriculum, community

Abstract

In Italian schools, Citizenship education is based on practices of constructing a democratic space in order to develop students’ sense of belonging to their community and sensitivity to the problems that affect this community. These conditions are necessary to allow students to internalize the structure and dynamics of cohabitation and to ensure that daily life can be organised in such a way that everyone can be a protagonist and participate in the creation and regulation of rules, be they social in nature, or linked to teaching and education. Taking the perspective that Citizenship is an implicit part of the curriculum and school ethos (Bloomfield 2003; Gearon, 2003), rather than as a specific school subject, this article proposes some reflections on an experience on Citizenship education – intended as instruction on cohabitation and democracy – carried out at an Italian primary school. This experiment, which is the result of a continuous process of «action-reflection-action» conducted by teaches over five school years, has allowed the implementation of a «framework of guiding principles» for Citizenship education. In conclusion, the article puts forward some reflections on the teaching abilities necessary for creating educational communities within which Citizenship education work as an integral background of all proposed activities.

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