Open Access Volumes
Over the years, the Association “Per Scuola Democratica” has promoted the publication of open access study and research volumes. These ten volumes gather analyses and reflections aimed at stimulating critical and multidisciplinary discussion on topics of interest for educational studies.
Through this editorial initiative, the Association aims to offer a freely accessible body of knowledge, so that students, teachers, researchers, and policymakers can draw inspiration and tools for their work.
The ten open access volumes currently published by the Association “Per Scuola Democratica” are described below, along with links for downloading.
| Title | Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of the Journal Scuola Democratica. Education and Post-Democracy. Vol. 1: Politics, Citizenship, Diversity and Inclusion |
| Author | Associazione Per Scuola Democratica (Editor) |
| Publication date | 15/11/2019 |
| Country of publication | Italia |
| ISBN | 9788894488807 |
| Abstract | This volume contains papers presented at the First International Conference of the Journal “Scuola Democratica,” which took place at the University of Cagliari on June 5-8, 2019. The Conference aimed to bring together researchers, decision makers, and educators from around the world to investigate the concepts of “education” in a “post-democracy” era. This era represents a set of conditions under which scholars are called to face and counteract new forms of authoritarian democracy. Populism, racism, discrimination, and nationalism have erupted and spread on the international scene, translated and mobilized by sovereigntist political movements. Fueled by neoliberalism and inflated by technocratic governance systems, these regressive forms of post-democracy are shaping historical challenges to the fields of education and culture. It is on this ground, not only in the political and economic spheres, that decisive issues are at stake. |
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| Download | Open access volume in PDF format |
| Title of the Volume | Proceedings of the 1st international Conference of the journal Scuola Democratica. Education and post-democracy. Vol. 2: Teaching, learning, evaluation and technology |
| Author | Associazione Per Scuola Democratica (Editor) |
| Publication date | 15/11/2019 |
| Country of publication | Italia |
| ISBN | 9788894488814 |
| Abstract | This volume contains papers presented in the First International Conference of the Journal “Scuola Democratica” which took place at the University of Cagliari on 5-8 June 2019. The aim of the Conference was to bring together researchers, decision makers and educators from all around the world to investigate the concepts of “education” in a “post-democracy” era, the latter being a set of conditions under which scholars are called to face and counteract new forms of authoritarian democracy. Populisms, racisms, discriminations and nationalisms have burst and spread on the international scene, translated and mobilized by sovereigntist political movements. Nourished by neo-liberalism and inflated by technocratic systems of governance these regressive forms of post-democracy are shaping historical challenges to the realms of education and culture: it is on this ground, and not only on the political and economic spheres, that decisive issues are at stake. |
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| Download | Open access volume in PDF format |
| Title | Proceedings of the 1st international Conference of the journal Scuola Democratica. Education and post-democracy. Vol. 3: Governance, values, work and future |
| Author | Associazione Per Scuola Democratica (Editor) |
| Publication date | 15/11/2019 |
| Country of publication | Italia |
| ISBN | 9788894488821 |
| Abstract | This volume contains papers presented in the First International Conference of the Journal “Scuola Democratica” which took place at the University of Cagliari on 5-8 June 2019. The aim of the Conference was to bring together researchers, decision makers and educators from all around the world to investigate the concepts of “education” in a “post-democracy” era, the latter being a set of conditions under which scholars are called to face and counteract new forms of authoritarian democracy. Populisms, racisms, discriminations and nationalisms have burst and spread on the international scene, translated and mobilized by sovereigntist political movements. Nourished by neo-liberalism and inflated by technocratic systems of governance these regressive forms of post-democracy are shaping historical challenges to the realms of education and culture: it is on this ground, and not only on the political and economic spheres, that decisive issues are at stake. |
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| Download | Open access volume in PDF format |
| Title | Reinventing education. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of the Journal Scuola Democratica. Vol. 1: Citizenship, work and the global age |
| Author | Associazione Per Scuola Democratica (Editor) |
| Publication date | 02/11/2021 |
| Country of publication | Italia |
| ISBN | 9788894488869 |
| Abstract | What is education for? This philosophical question cannot be answered ignoring contributions from social and educational sciences. The growing focus on learning outcomes should have prompted discussion on the values and aims in defining policy objectives and developing accountability systems and evidence-based approaches. Whereas for years public discourse on education has most frequently been confined to a merely sector-based perspective, without addressing the relationship (i.e., interdependency and/or autonomy) with globalized societies or to face the new challenges of contemporary’s world. The relationship between education and society and the issue of aims can be observed in a new context which has seen the weakening of the society-nation equation and the strengthening of global dimensions. The crisis born of the pandemic is more and more global and multidimensional. It inevitably obliges to ask what the post-pandemic socio-economic scenarios could be and what challenges might emerge from the transformations of education and training systems and policies. |
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| Download | Open access volume in PDF format |
| Title | Reinventing education. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of the Journal Scuola Democratica. Vol. 2: Learning with New Technologies, Equality and Inclusion |
| Author | Associazione Per Scuola Democratica (Editor) |
| Publication date | 24/11/2021 |
| Country of publication | Italia |
| ISBN | 9788894488883 |
| Abstract | In recent years, an important debate has developed on the role that digital technologies are playing and can play in the transformation of education and its institutions. Digital platforms, distance learning, blended learning, online training technologies are part of a significant restructuring and reculturing of the educational worlds. Digital technologies have restructured learning practices, educational content and the forms of educational governance which are immersed in public spaces and global markets. On the one hand, the digital governance of education contributes to changing and reconfiguring educational practices and the management of education on a local, national, international and transnational scale. On the other hand, technologies make possible the interconnection of multiple modes and shapes of formal, informal and non-formal education and training, producing forms of re-spatialization of education, locating the classroom within a digital learning ecosystem and favouring the emergence of different models of blended or hybrid learning. |
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| Download | Open access volume in PDF format |
| Title | Reinventing education. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of the Journal Scuola Democratica. Vol. 3: Pandemic and post-pandemic space and time |
| Author | Associazione Per Scuola Democratica (Editor) |
| Publication date | 21/12/2021 |
| Country of publication | Italia |
| ISBN | 9788894488890 |
| Abstract | Papers in this third volume deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, which is having an enormous impact on education systems worldwide. Policy makers, teachers, school managers, parents, and students have been called to reinvent their way of ‘doing school’. At the same time, the governance of the education system and schools’ organizations have been exposed to unprecedented tensions. The pandemic emergency has been a lens revealing intersections and structural tensions among various levels and actors of the education system, but also allowing opportunities for change thanks to the exogenous shock. At the same time, it must be considered that the emergency is interacting with pre-existing inequalities and contradictions. Higher education systems have been affected too: in constant evolution due to ongoing societal transformations and changed functions of knowledge, universities have undergone a structural change along with pandemic times. Simultaneously, the growing relevance of knowledge for the economic development of the capitalistic system has profoundly affected higher education systems, which are characterized by the neo-liberal approach that is subject to increasing critical analysis. |
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| Download | Open access volume in PDF format |
| Title | Book of Abstracts of the International Conference of the Journal Scuola Democratica. Reinventing Education (2-5 June 2021) |
| Author | Associazione Per Scuola Democratica (Editor) |
| Published by | Associazione Per Scuola Democratica |
| Publication date | 23/05/2021 |
| ISBN | 9788894488845 |
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| Download | Open access volume in PDF format |
| Title | The Education of Gender. The Gender of Education. Sociological Research in Italy |
| Authors | Maddalena Colombo, Luca Salmieri |
| Published by | Associazione Per Scuola Democratica |
| Publication date | 05/12/2020 |
| Country of publication | Italia |
| ISBN | 9788894488838 |
| Abstract | The volume focuses on several topics regarding gender and education in Italy such as cognitive development and the impact of gender stereotypes; playing, games, and learning experiences during socialization; gender inequalities in education and training; peer groups, digital devices and lines of gender differentiation; coding, robotics, STEM and web-based skills; gender and teaching at schools and universities; graduate women’s effective opportunities to secure high-profile jobs; and the overwhelming presence of female teachers in primary and secondary schools as well as the contributions made by the few male teachers. |
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| Title | Alternanza scuola-lavoro. Rapporto di ricerca |
| Authors | Orazio Giancola, Luca Salmieri |
| Published by | Associazione Per Scuola Democratica |
| Publication date | 30/09/2021 |
| Country of publication | Italia |
| ISBN | 9788894488876 |
| Abstract | Dall’anno scolastico 2015-2016 l’Alternanza Scuola-Lavoro è stata resa obbligatoria nel secondo biennio e nell’ultimo anno della scuola secondaria di secondo grado, per 400 ore negli istituti tecnici e professionali e per 200 ore nei licei. La progettazione dei percorsi ha assunto un’articolazione triennale per meglio contribuire a sviluppare le competenze richieste dal profilo educativo, culturale e professionale dei corsi di studi. Il presente Rapporto di ricerca illustra i risultati e un primo bilancio di attuazione di questa riforma, focalizzandosi sui punti di forza e di debolezza, sulle buone pratiche come sulle criticità emerse nei primi anni di applicazione della Legge 107 del 2015, cosiddetta “Buona scuola”. Così come riformato il sistema dell’Alternanza rappresenta un unicum in Europa: in nessun paese europeo è prevista l’obbligatorietà didattica e curriculare dell’apprendimento in contesti lavorativi per tutti i tipi e gli indirizzi di scuola superiore, compresi i licei (§ Allegato “Modelli ed esperienze in Europa”). |
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| Download | Open access volime in PDF format |
| Title | Education as commons. Selected paper from AIS Education international mid-term conference 2023. Ediz. multilingue |
| Authors | Orazio Giancola, Francesca Lagomarsino, Marianna Siino (Editors) |
| Published by | Associazione Per Scuola Democratica |
| Publication date | 01/11/2024 |
| Publication country | Italia |
| ISBN | 9791298501607 |
| Abstract | This volume stems from papers presented at the mid-term conference of the Education Section of the AIS (Italian Association of Sociology), held in Palermo, Italy, on April 12-14, 2023. Under the theme Education as Commons: Democratic Values, Social Justice, and Inclusion in Education, the conference inspired a call for extended contributions to capture key insights shared there. Reflecting the conference’s pluralistic approach, the volume includes sociological and interdisciplinary perspectives, with both theoretical and empirical contributions that employ a range of methods—from qualitative to quantitative and mixed—and languages. |
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| Download | Open access volume in PDF format |