Theories of school and education [Edizione 4] (2017/2018)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the training course, students must be able to:
1. to know that the reality of school and teaching is highly complex, which requires the teacher to have an equally complex professionalism, that is multidimensional and stratified, but at the same time strongly unitary;
2. to understand that, in order to operate with competence and effectiveness, the decisive element of teaching professionalism consists in the ability to activate a virtuous circularity between apparently opposite elements, such as the "theoretical" and the "practical", thus creating an “inclusive” learning environment;
3. to know how to operate with the awareness that the teacher is professionally responsible, at the same time, towards the didactic task to be performed; towards the educational and training consequences that can ensue for students, families, society, the world of work, culture; towards oneself and one's way of being and of giving meaning to one's own existence even through the profession of teacher.

1. In relation to the first training objective (metacognitive aspect):
a) to know the essential elements of a "complex" vision of reality, against a "simple" or "reductionist" vision;
b) to understand that, in the last instance, the teacher is not asked to work by applying theories, but to work
a "reflective" way on his own experience, gradually developing his vision of the school and training, starting
from an increasingly wide dialectical synthesis between theories learned and lived experiences.
c) Operational concretization: the teacher as "professional": definition and basic characters.

2. In relation to the second educational objective (pedagogical aspect):
a) to know what it means to "teach", "educate" and "form" and the mutual conceptual and practical connections
present in every educational experience and therefore also in school life;
b) to understand the existential dynamism present in teachers and students, which obliges both to distinguish and
to integrate: the "role" that is exercised, the age of life in which we find ourselves (adolescence, adulthood), the
meaning, for each, of one's being a "person" in search of the meaning of one's existence;
c) operational concretization: the teacher as an "interpreter" of his own discipline; the teacher as an
adult "generator" of educational processes.

3. In relation to the third training objective (existential aspects: professional ethics and socio-cultural and political value):
a) what is the value of what I teach? The ethical and aesthetic dimension of one's work;
b) what contribution does it give to the community in which you work? The socio-cultural and political dimension of
one's work;
c) operational concretization: the teacher as a witness to the "symbolic" and "spiritual" dimension of human life.

3. Bibliography for the exam
• Text mandatory for all: The lecture of the course, by the teacher. The lecture will be available online at the time of the start of the lessons.
• Choice of text, among the following:
o G. Chiosso, Studying pedagogy. Introduction to the meanings of education, Milan, ed. Mondadori, 2018.
o F. Garelli, Education, Bologna, ed. il Mulino, 2017.
o E. Morin, Teaching to live. Manifest to change education, trad. from the French, Milan, ed. Raffaello Cortina, 2015.
o M. Recalcati, Lesson time. For an erotic teaching, Turin, ed. Einaudi, 2014.

4. Evaluation methods and criteria
• Exam mode.
o The exam will be in writing, lasting 2 hours and composed of 3 open questions, one for each of the three parts in which the course is divided and, with it, the dispensation.
o Each question will be formulated in such a way that the student can link, to the contents of the lecture, also what has been read from the chosen book and what emerged from the classroom activity and personal reflection.
o Therefore, for each question you will have to answer by dividing the answer into 3 parts:
─ 1st part: responding with reference to the contents of the dispensation related to the application;
─ 2nd part: refer to the contents of the text read, which are believed to be relevant to the topic presented by the application;
─ 3rd part: references to work in the classroom and to personal observations.
• Evaluation criteria.
o The score will be articulated as follows:
o 10 points overall for each of the three answers given;
o within the score assigned to each answer the score is distributed as follows:
─ up to 4 points for the 1st part of the answer;
─ up to 3 points for the 2nd part of the answer;
─ up to 3 points for the 3rd part of the answer.