School and civic coexistence:

how to talk with children about wealth and poverty

Anna Silvia Bombi

In this paper I have summarized the data from various studies about elementary school children’s representation of economic inequalities, conducted by means of drawings of rich and poor persons, as well as interviews about the emotions associated with wealth and poverty. Instead of introducing socio-economic notions as an extra load of notions, I suggest to use the areas of visual education, italian language, and scientific observation to help students to reflect about social inequalities, in a way which is not ideological, but has its basis in children’s own ideas and sensitivity.

New technologies as effective agents of change:

an exploratory case study

 Sara Mori and Silvia Panzavolta

This paper describes a research activity aiming at investigating the role that ICT has on learning, in particular on memory styles and study strategies in a group of Italian upper secondary students. The sample was set up within the one taking part in a previous INDIRE study, carried out in 2015, considering the schools whose use of ICT in everyday classroom activities was at least 80% of the time. The control group, derived from the same population, was formed by classes whose ICT use was rare or absent. The research tools used to compare the two groups performances are standardised tests measuring dimensions that psychology of education research affirms to correlate with academic success, such as memory styles and study strategies. The research activity described hereof is then a sort of completion of the previous research considering organizational dimensions whilst this one takes into account the student-related ones. 

“What is respect? Say it with a Tweet”

Representations of respect in adolescence

Eloisa Cianci, Eleonora Reverberi and Chiara Corvino

In this article, we present an explorative study about the representation of the concept of respect in young adolescents. We ask to a sample of 717 young Italian adolescents to answer the question “What is respect for me?” with a brief message (like a “Tweet”). From our analysis, it emerges that respect has lot of different meanings, thus there is not a unique interpretation. Moreover, it’s seen a way to set a relationship with others, by which the person can be open up, accept the other and nonjudgmental. It seems that the effort the relationship brings with is not considered: this reflexion opens to some ideas useful for teachers and psychologists.

Teachers’ wellbeing and malaise:

what are protections and expures?

Caterina Gozzoli, Chiara D’Angelo, Daniela Frascaroli and Diletta Gazzaroli

The social and productive background has changed rapidly generating both new opportunities and challenges for individuals, groups, and organizations. The school-world is affected by these changes and it is also subject to constant and specific pressure (e.g. reforms, precariousness, increasingly complex demands). Teachers play a crucial role in this scenario. The research aims at investigating which are resources and efforts perceived by teachers and how these influence their wellbeing or malaise. We explored teachers’ professional histories and their perception of their relationships (e.g. with students, colleagues, management) and in general of their work context(s). A phenomenological approach was adopted. 60 high-school teachers working in Lombardy (an Italian Region) were involved; semi-structured interviews and the Professional Life-Space Drawing (DSSVP) were used. Content analysis and a descriptive-phenomenological analysis of the DSSVPs were conducted. Results allowed to explore and better understand different professional situations and to draw some directions for intervention.

Teachers’ well-being: a comparison among school levels

Federica Eboli and Ilaria Buonomo

This study aimed to: 1. verify the differences among teachers from different educational levels in terms of job satisfaction, burnout, positive and negative emotions, self-efficacy and growth mindset; 2. verify if correlational patterns in each educational level differ one another; 3. verify the effect of emotions on professional burnout. Participants were 120 teachers (F=100) aged 28 to 66 years old (M=47.5; DS=8.3). Three self-report measures were administered: Copenhagen Burn-out Inventory; Batteria Motivazioni. Emozioni. Strategie e Insegnamento and Scala di Autoefficacia collettiva. Differences among teachers from different educational levels were found. Personal and collective self-efficacy were significantly associated with job satisfaction and burnout. Emotions showed a different pattern of associations depending on each burnout level. Finally, positive emotion related to practice and negative emotions related to professional role explained nearly 25% of professional burnout.

The challenge of participation in adolescence

The relation between having voice in family and school and Civic Identity

Sara Alfieri, Daniela Marzana, Elena Marta and Maria Luisa Vecina

The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between adolescents’ participation – understood as the possibility of having a voice in school or the family – and Civic Identity, analyzed in terms of social capital, civic values, and trust in institutions. A multiple scale questionnaire was administered to 1173 17 to 19 year-old adolescents (M=18.13, SD=.78; 49.6% male). Four typologies were created on the basis of the combination of the young people’s participation in school and family. The Anova showed statistically significant differences between the typologies for all the considered components of Civic Identity, revealing, on the one hand, that if the family and school give adolescents the opportunity to participate (to have a voice), it is more likely that they will have high levels of Civic Identity, and, on the other hand, it is important that adolescents find opportunities to have a voice in both of these contexts conjointly.

Specific arithmetic difficulties: incidence, comorbidity, and role of sociodemographic variables

Edoardo Virgili and Claudio Tonzar

The main goal of the present work was to determine the frequency of the specific arithmetic difficulties, a specific learning disorder associated with arithmetic abilities and numerical processing. In this study, the diagnosis has been based on the evaluation of both accuracy and speed. The present study also aimed at investigating the level of comorbidity of the specific arithmetic difficulties with reading difficulties, orthographic difficulties, attentional difficulties, and the influence of some sociodemographic variables on the arithmetic ability. The study has been organized in two phases: the first one was devoted to collectively assess the arithmetic ability of 954 fourth grade children; in the second phase, the children who were identified as having arithmetic difficulties were tested individually. The study allowed us to identify four different types of arithmetic difficulties and to assess that this specific disorder amounts to about 6% of the population.