To understand the world, to tell it:individual and joint narrative at school

Giuliana Pinto

Different schools apply different educational approaches, and different learning concepts interpret knowledge in different ways. The two dominant perspectives classify learning as the individual acquisition of knowledge, or as participation in school practices. In order to support teachers in choosing the educational method that best fits the aim to develop mentalization in the school context, it is important to get to grips with underlying interactional processes. This study addresses this question, by analyzing children’s language of mind as assessed by mental state talk in oral narratives under two conditions: individual narrative and dyadic narrative.

80 Italian students participated in this study: students worked both by themselves and in pairs. Each session was video-recorded and transcribed. Narratives were anlyzed in terms of students’ narrative competence and mentalization. Students’ interactions were subject to micro-level analysis in terms of discourse moves, communicative functions and interaction sequence. Mentalization was shown to be partially dependent on context. Data confirmed that the educational environment influences students’ use of psychological terms from the early grades onwards. The practical implications for teachers are discussed.

Theory of Mind and language in atypical populations

Mirella Zanobini, Silvano Solari and Davide Carattino

The main aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between theory of mind and language, with particular attention to individuals with autism spectrum disorders and deafness.

These topics are introduced theoretically with reference to classic and recent studies.

As far as autism is concerned, we report some results of a pilot study with a small sample of seven participants with autism related symptoms, about the use of mental terms during theatre-therapy sessions. Children tended to use more mental terms, especially referred to cognition and desires, during the theatre-therapy condition than in the control one. Moreover, in the experimental condition mental terms were used in a more spontaneous way.

As regards deafness, we outline the role of experience in promoting Theory of mind further showing how to stimulate this competence through the Drežančić Method strategies.

Supporting talent development and the potential of individuals in schools: an inclusive educational model

Lara Milan and Maria Assunta Zanetti

This paper presents some talent development models and programs in the school context. It is widely recognized that the individual potential is dynamic and requires adequate stimuli to prevent talent dispersion. In the international context, starting from the 80’s, several intervention programs have been proposed that have proved their effectiveness. The Schoolwide Enrichment Model (sem: Renzulli & Reis) is presented in detail, as it is widely recognized as an inclusive teaching model based on 40 years research studies and implementation. sem aims at providing all students with the opportunity to realize and fully develop their academic and creative potential, involving students in an engaging and self-motivated learning that fosters not only academic success but also their well-being.

Maria Schipor, Petruta Rusu, Liliana Bujor, Otilia Clipa and Corin Gheorghiu enrete: Enhancing Resilience Through Teacher Education

Gianluca Gualdi, Elena Carelli, Alice Lizzori, Maria Assunta Zanetti, Carmel Cefai, Paul A. Bartolo, Natalie Galea, Rachel Spiteri, Anastassios Matsopoulos, Mariza Gavogiannaki, Darko Rovis, Gordana Šimunkovi_ć, Vanja Vasiljev Marchesi, Josipa Baši_ć, Lovorka Bilajac, Celeste Simões, Paula Lebre, Anabela Caetano Santos, Ana Fonseca, Aurora Adina Colomeischi, Doina

In Europe, 20% of school-age children experience social, emotional and behavioural problems within educational contexts. There is an urgent need to propose contexts capable of promoting wellness, through teachers. The theme of resilience and skills development in children plays a central role as intervention and support for disadvantaged children, but also for prevention at the universal level. Actions are available in schools, but not specific training for teachers on the topic. The work presents the Erasmus project enrete involving six European countries in creating online study units for teachers in order to provide a basis for promoting resilience in the classroom. The project involves ten learning modules, experimenting with teachers in each country in order to create a course on educational resilience.

Education and training to become a school psychologist in Italy

Maria Cristina Matteucci

In Italy, psychologists are present in the majority of schools, supporting students’, teachers’ and families’ well-being. Italian universities offer diversified bachelor’s and master’s programs in Psychology, but a specific common core curriculum and training guidelines to prepare school psychologists still needs to be developed. The aim of the present study is to describe the tertiary education of school psychologists in Italy, in the light of international standards and experiences.

Fostering flexible thinking skills and self-efficacy in searching for a job: an adult education intervention

Valentina Rita Andolfi and Alessandro Antonietti

The study illustrates an adult education intervention aimed at acquiring skills, attitudes and values linked to the work context, from which the participants were expelled. Discouraged persons are individuals who have lost confidence in their abilities and believe they do not have resources to deal with the new labor market. An intervention aimed to motivate active job search is reported. Two focus groups led to identify the reasons which induce unemployed people to abandon the search for a job: loss of the sense of self-efficacy, scarcity of cognitive flexibility, and distrust of atypical work. Hence, the training which was devised aimed to enhance self-efficacy and cognitive flexibility and improve the perception of the labor market. Questionnaires measuring general self-efficacy, positivity, self-efficacy in the job search, perception of the labor market, and flexible thinking were administered to 28 participants attending the training sessions and 28 adults belonging to the control group. In the post-training assessment the experimental group showed increased self-efficacy and cognitive flexibility, as well as a more positive perception of the labor market, compared to the control group.

Entrepreneurship education for adults: the case-study of _aba Master in University of Parma

Francesca Cavallini, Adele Carpitelli and Paola Corsano

The International Labor Organization (ilo) shows that in the last ten years we are witnessing a weakening of the global economy, with a consequent decrease in employment rates. Scientific research has focused on the theme of entrepreneurship education, as an instrument in response to the crisis. In this paper the impact of University Masters Courses has been analyzed, in addition to specific contents, proposes an integrated path of entrepreneurship education in the social field through focus group activities, specific consultations with the entrepreneur and an intense period of project work in the company. The effects on employment of the first four editions of the Master are analyzed: the employment status of the 77 students at the time of enrollment, after one year, after due in 2017.