The including school: some reflections

Carlo Trombetta

This article is a critical review of some concepts that today seem to be generally accepted. The author, starting from the historical analysis of the concept of well-being, accomplished primarily during the age of Enlightenment, and especially through the reflections of Dörner and Foucault, puts the emphasis on the ambiguity of the concept of health as it is defined in international documents; in the end, he critically examines the concepts of special needs and of school inclusion.

 

 

 

Temperament and academic achievement: the mediating role of bullying and peer rejection 

Gaetana Affuso, Concetta Esposito, Serena Aquilar, Grazia De Angelis, Maria Concetta Miranda e Dario Bacchini

This study aimed at analyzing the relationship between temperamental effortful control and negative emotionality, peer relationships and academic achievement in adolescence, hypothesizing that temperament affected academic achievement both directly and indirectly via its effects on bullying and peer rejection. The sample consisted of 433 sixthgrade students. A multi-informant procedure was used to collect measures: temperament (self-report), bullyingand peer rejection (peer-report), academic achievement (teacher-report). Multi-group Structural Equation Modeling by gender was used to test our hypotheses. Analysis showed that: all measures, but negative emotionality, were significantly and directly associated with academic achievement; only in the males sample, effortful control was negatively associated with bullying, whilst negative emotionality was positively associated with victimization; victimization and bullying were positively associated with peer rejection; peer rejection was associated with academic achievement. 

 

 

 

New technologies as effective agents of change: an explanatory case study

Raffaella Carro e Sara Mori

INDIRE supports innovation processes centered on the diffusion and use of new technologies and believes that the introduction of ICT without a radical transformation of teaching, cannot guarantee significant results. This study investigates indicators of process and outcome in secondary schools where there is a widespread introduction of mobile devices in classroom activities (at least 80% of students with tablets/laptops. The assumption is that a widespread adoption of new technologies can be agent of school effectiveness when is supported by a strategic debate about the role of the school and the teaching practices.

 

 

 

From social competence to learning: an ecological approach to knowledge building processes

Giuliana Pinto ed Ersilia Menesini

Adopting a person-process-context” approach (Bronfrenbrenner, 1999), the present study aims to analyse the role of learning variables and social-relational factors in predicting school success, and to detect the influence of specific school contexts. This longitudinal study involved 281 and 295 italian students respectively attending the 3rd grade of experimental vs. teacher-centered primary school classes, enrolled at T1 at the beginning of 3rd grade and at T2 at the end of the same year. Participants were given school performances test on reading, writing, arithmetical abilities and their specific subjects grades were collected, along with instruments aimed to measure their social competences (academic self-efficacy, teacher perception, quality of peer relationships). Path analyses were performed. The results enlight the role of some social and cognitive abilities (namely autonomous participation and perspective-taking abilities) in mediate the link with school success, and stress the relevance of the adopting teaching approach centered on cooperative and autonomous practices. Results are discussed in terms of practical implications.

 

 

 

 

For a culture of differences: sexuality and suffering in adolescence

An experience of psychodynamic counseling groupin a school context

Anna Lisa Amodeo, Cristiano Scandurra e Simona Picariello

The essay describes an action-research realized in a high-school in Naples and aimed at preventing homo-transphobic bullying. This represents a specific form of bullying, which can affect mental health of students involved and cause school drop-off. Thus, the project presented hereinafter constitutes an intervention for health prevention and promotion, through an empowerment- and peer education- based methodology. It aimed at empowering inner skills of the school system itself, rather than at solving, in the place of the school system, the complex emotional dynamics characterizing homo-transphobic bullying. Thanks to a preliminary context analysis, it has been possible to understand the characteristics of the phenomenon in the specific context and to develop a focused intervention. They are described in the essay the experiential workshops and the sessions of psychodynamic group counselling, which allowed homosexual prejudices to emerge and ideological change to start. Finally, they are presented reflections about the linkage between homo-transphobic bullying and the dynamics underpinning sexual identity formation in adolescence. 

 

 

 

Predictors of burnout among special education teachers in primary and secondary schools

Simona De Stasio, Caterina Fiorilli, Greta Chiarito e Lotta Uusitalo-Malmivaara

The current study addressed the relative contributions of socio-demographic variables, personal resources and work well-being factors to teachers' burnout in an integrative predictive model. Specifically, the study analysed risk and protective factors in a sample of 180 by a cross-sectional survey-based study (primary versus secondary school teachers). Results showed that teachers’ happiness at school and their job satisfaction incrementally predicted variance of personal, work-related and student-related burnout, even when controlling for the effect of socio-demographic factors and personal resources. Furthermore, the final integrative predictive model was similar for kindergarten as well as primary teachers group.

 

 

 

Feeling good at school: the role of reading and writing abilities

Valentina Rita Andolfi, Emanuela Confalonieri, Francesca Nardò e Daniela Traficante

Research in measuring and monitoring children’s wellbeing has been growing in recent decades (Ben-Arieh, Goerge, 2001; Land et al., 2001). Positive psychology (Seligman, Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) recognizes school as one of the main educational agencies. Researches are focused on the conditions that contribute to the optimal functioning (flourishing) of people, groups and institutions, even in the school context (Oades et al., 2011; Seligman, 2011). The present research explores the relations between school and global well-being in children specifically to their reading and writing abilities. 87 children, aged from 7 to 10 years, who are attending primary school, took part to the study. A quantitative methodology (questionnaires) was used to investigate the children's global well-being (Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving: Su, Tay, Diener, 2014), the well-being in school (Questionario sul Benessere Scolastico:Tobia, Marzocchi, 2015) and further tasks to assess children’s reading and writing abilities (MT: Cornoldi, Colpo, 2007; CEO: Bozzo et al., 2003); the draw and write technique (Williams et al., 1989) was used to investigate the experience of well-being in order to allow children to freely represent their experience compaired to self-report measures. The results show interesting relations between: global well-being, school well-being and reading and writing abilities, according to the research hypotheses.

 

 

 

Find your way... to guide: the role of parents in the choice of secondary school

Gianluca Gualdi e Maria Assunta Zanetti

The directives issued by MIURon new policy guidance emphasize the need to propose paths to support the life skills of students with a perspective of career management and life span. The directives emphasize the centrality of the school and the family, life contexts next to each student, which are crucial in structuring paths of guidance and support to the choice. During the transition between different schools, the student has to make a choice that can strongly influence the future; this feature is crucial for the development of the person and personal fulfillment. The student must have an active role, but at the same time he needs to pay attention to the directions of parents and teachers; often having different ideas can lead the student to a state of indecision and concern that reduces the ability of decision-makers. In order to analyze the role of the parent in the educational choices of the students we have used two instruments: Con.D.Or. questionnaire for students and Con.D.Or. Parents, which investigates the parental role, beliefs and opinions about the future. Parents and children are in a two-way relationship and influence each other, even in the school choice. We present the results of the study involving 581 parents and their children, who filled out questionnaires and participated in the study. The analysis highlight the need to think of a specific guidance actions for parents of students in secondary school degree.