Workshop training for educational contexts

Immacolata Messuri is Associate Professor of General and Social Pedagogy at the IUL Telematic University. She is the Rector’s delegate for issues related to Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD). She is the President of the Course of Study in Sport Sciences, Practice and Management of Sporting Activities (L22 – Sports and Physical Education) and the Course of Study in Science and Technologies in Education and Childcare (L19 – Education and training).

Her main research interests are in the fields of vocational guidance and training, communicative-relational counselling, new models of pedagogical communication in the globalisation society, pedagogical issues in the history of utopia, and sports pedagogy.

She has already published three scientific books on these subjects and a number of contributions in specialist journals or collective volumes; others are being published.

TABLE AND DEFINITION OF CONTENTS

The course consists of 2 modules:

• Module 1 – Sowing in childhood to harvest in adulthood: the education of man;
• Module 2 – Denied and abused childhood.

In the first module the following thematic cruxes will be explored:

1. Designing an educational intervention through counselling (video lesson);
2. Designing an educational intervention through counselling (synchronous lesson);
3. Developing transversal competences (video lesson);
4. Developing transversal skills (synchronous lesson).

In the second module, the following thematic cruxes will be explored:

1. The role of social media (video lesson);
2. The role of social media (synchronous lesson);
3. The role of social networks (video lesson);
4. The role of social networks (synchronous lesson).

The training workshop for childhood educational contexts aims to initiate a practical, scientifically based reflection on knowing how to do and knowing how to be operators in childcare, read in the light of the most relevant themes of the pedagogical-educational debate. The proposed activities will aim at building up an adequate and methodologically grounded knowledge of basic research in relation to the condition of children in contemporary society in order to design adequate and customised educational activities.

The training workshop for childhood educational contexts aims to initiate a practical, scientifically based reflection on knowing how to do and knowing how to be operators in childcare, read in the light of the most relevant themes of the pedagogical-educational debate. The proposed activities will aim at building up an adequate and methodologically grounded knowledge of basic research in relation to the condition of children in contemporary society in order to design adequate and customised educational activities.

A. Knowledge and understanding

1. Basic concepts of the pedagogical-educational debate;
2. Basic concepts of childhood;
3. Design elements;
4. Competence building
5. Reflection on the connection between knowing, knowing how to do, knowing how to be.

B. Applied knowledge and understanding

The workshop aims to provide an adequate and methodologically grounded knowledge of basic research in relation to continuing education on childhood development themes. Students will be encouraged to apply the acquired knowledge through performance-based tests and to apply it in their own contexts.

C. Autonomy of judgement

The student will be able to move around in educational environments expressing original ideas, taking responsibility in decision-making processes and observing all the elements that constitute the system in which he/she is operating, in order to become able to make coherent choices and to design educational activities appropriate to childhood.

D. Communication skills

The student will be able to use the technical terms appropriate to the pedagogical-educational world of childhood. He/she will learn the specialised languages of the main reference  sectors and will be encouraged to show interest in various communication channels.

E. Learning ability

The students will be able to independently explore the main scientific-methodological issues concerning education and childhood. They will be able to apply the methods and tools they have learned and expand their knowledge in line with the progress of the current social context. They will develop a critical ability in dealing with the course topics.

A. Use of advanced textbooks, knowledge of some cutting-edge topics relating to the subject studied, development of adequate knowledge and skills in reading and interpreting texts related to childhood.

B. Professional approach to one’s own work and possession of adequate skills to conceive arguments, to support them and to solve problems within the subject studied. Improving one’s educational approach to the use of tools specific to the world of childhood.

C. Ability to collect and interpret data useful for making autonomous judgements, critically reading the stimuli coming from the surrounding world.

D. Ability to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialist and non-specialist interlocutors, promoting a conscious use of language in relation to the fields of childhood education.

E. Ability to undertake further studies with a high degree of autonomy through the development of management and self-management skills.

DIDACTICS PROVISION

• 4 recorded video lessons available on the platform (2 hours);
• 5 synchronous meetings on the platform (5 hours);
• Podcasts of all the above mentioned video lessons.

INTERACTIVE DIDACTICS

• 1 course orientation forum;
• 2 thematic follow-up forums (1 per module);
• Possibility to carry out assignments in groups.
• 2 structured e-activities (as described in the section “in itinere assessment methods”).

SELF-LEARNING

Teaching materials are provided for each module: in-depth thematic studies, articles and slides by the lecturer, open access readings, online resources, reference bibliography, etc.

Compulsory readings

• Messuri, L’orientamento pedagogico nella società globalizzata. I modelli operativi nelle Agenzie del Lazio, Franco Angeli, Milano 2009.
• Messuri, «Buone prassi. Orientamento alla scelta: un esempio di buona prassi educativa», MeTis. Mondi educativi. Temi, indagini, suggestioni: VII-2-12/2017, vol. 13, 709-723, ISSN 2240-9580.

Recommended reading

• D’Alessio, Posso guardare la tv? Come dare una risposta consapevole ai nostri bambini, Franco Angeli Le Comete, Milano 2003.
• F. Petruccelli, I. Messuri, M. Santilli, edited by, Bilancio di competenze e orientamento professionale e scolastico. Dalla pratica alla teoria: l’esperienza della provincia di Latina, Franco Angeli, Milano 2012.

Access to the final examination is subject to the following two e-activities:

1. Drafting of a shared document, through the WIKI tool, on a theme that emerged in the synchronous workshops of the first module;
2. Report (max. 3 pages) with the title: ‘How can the topics learnt in class be related to the current pedagogical debate? Suggest your own ideas, making sure to argue them critically and using scientific readings”.

The assessment of learning will take place through an oral interview on the course content and on the paper(s) presented. The grade (min 18, max 30 with possible honours) is determined by the level of performance for each of the following dimensions of the oral interview: mastery of content, appropriateness of definitions and theoretical references, clarity of argument, command of specialist language.

Italian