HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY AND CHILDHOOD EDUCATION WITH LABORATORY

Module HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY AND CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

The course aims to focus on the development, throughout the contemporary era, of a specific pedagogical culture serving childhood. Particular attention will be devoted to the analysis of educational and training models related to childhood education, while keeping in view the evolutionary developments of Italian and international pedagogy between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The expected learning outcomes, articulated according to the Dublin Descriptors, are as follows:

Knowledge and understanding (DD1)

• To know theories and models of pedagogical knowledge in order to interpret educational and training events from a historical-developmental and political-economic perspective.

• To know and use the basic terminology of the discipline.

Applying knowledge and understanding (DD2)

• To connect the theoretical and methodological content acquired with the interpretation of past, present, and future events and processes.

• To promote integration among educational, social, cultural, and healthcare services.

• To be able to identify connections between educational theories, policies, and the contexts in which people develop within organizations.

Making judgements – Synthesizing and evaluating (DD3)

• To be able to synthesize the different approaches found in theories of education and training.

Communication skills (DD4)

• To be able to justify objectives, procedures, and methodologies in different forms.

• To be able to recognize and enhance the value of the different perspectives involved.

Learning skills (DD5)

• To be able to promote processes of change in the contexts in which educators/trainers operate through the production of situated knowledge.

ectures.

Critical reading of texts on early childhood education from the period under study.

Viewing and critical engagement with multimedia materials related to the course content.

The texts included in the study programme will also be used as materials for analysis during the examination.

Should the course be delivered in blended or distance-learning mode, the necessary adjustments may be made to the arrangements described above in order to ensure that the programme outlined in the syllabus is fully covered.

Basic knowledge of the main cultural orientations that were most widespread in European culture between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (basic knowledge of positivism, idealism, spiritualism, personalism, pragmatism, liberalism, and the culture of fundamental human rights). 

The key concepts identified above can, if necessary, be reviewed by consulting upper-secondary school textbooks in pedagogical and philosophical disciplines, or by consulting a dictionary of the human sciences and/or pedagogy.

Attendance is not compulsory, but it is strongly recommended. The lectures are designed to encourage students’ active participation.

Attending classes is an important means of promoting mastery of the subject content, peer discussion and interaction with the instructor, as well as facilitating the self-assessment of learning processes.

During classroom activities, students will have the opportunity to reflect on and contribute to discussions of the course content.

• The Copernican revolution in education and the “discovery of childhood” at the beginning of the twentieth century

• The New Education and Active School movements

• Deweyan theories and progressive education

• Biology, evolution, and the pedagogy of childhood: Ferrière and the Geneva milieu

• The Montessori model

• Childhood pedagogy and the “educational sciences” in the second half of the twentieth century

• The hundred languages of children and the Reggio Emilia Approach

Testi di riferimento

1.   E. Scaglia, La scoperta della prima infanzia: per una storia della pedagogia 0-3, vol.II. Da Locke alla contemporaneità; Roma, Edizioni Studium, 2020. (Limitatamente alle pp. 145-161; pp.180-198; pp. 229-239);

2.   M. Gilsoul, Maria Montessori. Una vita per i bambini, Milano, Giunti, 2022.

3.   M. Montessori, Nella mente del bambino. (a cura di S. Coluccelli, M. Gilsoul, C. Pavan) Milano, Giunti, 2023 (escluso capitolo 4);

4.   L. Todaro (a cura di), La costruzione dell’uomo interiore. Sguardi sulla pedagogia Montessori, Santarcangelo di Romagna, Maggioli – Apogeo Education, 2022

The examination will take the form of an oral interview on the course content.

The assessment will take into account:

• the ability to re-elaborate information and disciplinary content, placing them within appropriate historical frameworks and coherent periodizations;

• the ability to use terminology appropriate to the conceptual categories and specific references of the discipline;

• the ability to develop a coherent and relevant analysis of the texts used as “sources” and “classics” of pedagogy;

• the ability to develop an appropriate and well-structured argument, demonstrating a solid command of the concepts and specific terminology of the discipline.

• What were the main pedagogical expressions and figures that represented the emergence and establishment of the Active School movement as an educational revolution in the early twentieth century?

• Give examples of places, situations, or figures that marked a significant turning point during the period of educational activism, particularly in relation to early childhood education.

• Give examples of the figures who contributed to opening new paths for research and educational theory in the second half of the twentieth century, particularly in the field of early childhood education.