Early childhood education has always experienced a creative tension between tradition and innovation, between the deep roots of a pedagogy attentive to body language, imagination and relationships, and the challenges posed by a rapidly changing society that increasingly hybridises spaces, times and…

In a time marked by ecological crisis and digital transformations, new educational challenges are emerging from early childhood, particularly regarding children’s relationship with technology and the need to foster an Emergent Ocean Literacy (Ødegaard et al., 2024). In this context, outdoor play…

This article describes a theoretical and practical reflection on the use of games, gamification, serious games and simulations with nursery school children. These tools develop skills and competences, convey educational content, and promote learning, interest and engagement, especially from an…

The recent Universal Design of Learning (UDL) 3.0 Guidelines highlight the value of cultivating joy and play through “Consideration 7.3.” Drawing on neuroscientific research on the importance of play, this paper begins by examining its fundamental role in child development, where it nurtures…

In the context of the post-digital society, educators working with children aged 0–6 are required to develop advanced design skills to devise multimodal play experiences that integrate analogue and digital languages. This paper presents a training model for the 0–6 age group, which was developed…

Pretend play has been a central theme for many developmental scholars: for Freud, for example, imaginary playful scenarios allow the child to rework traumatic experiences; Winnicott considers play as the transitional space between internal and external reality; Erikson focused on the role of play in…

Open-ended play emerges as a profoundly democratic educational practice: it fosters active participation, stimulates critical and divergent thinking, and enables children and adults to construct meanings of the world in a free, subjective, and shared way. In a cultural context marked by the…

The creation of inclusive play environments represents a fundamental challenge for contemporary pedagogy, especially with a view to an intersectional education that recognizes and values differences in gender, ability, culture and socioeconomic background. In this context, outdoor play is configured…

In recent years, following the Covid-19 pandemic, Early Childhood Education and Care services for children aged 0–6 have undergone a profound digital transformation, leading to the emergence of hybrid learning environments. This contribution offers a theoretical reinterpretation of children’s…

The training of early childhood educators requires approaches that integrate solid theoretical foundations with formative methodologies capable of developing a playful, reflective, and inclusive educational professionalism, recognizing the bodily, emotional, and relational dimensions as fundamental…

This contribution presents a systematic review of the scientific literature, conducted in accordance with the PRISMA protocol, on the integration of Artificial Intelligence into the initial and in-service training of educators and teachers working in the 0–6 age group. Particular attention is…

The paper develops a methodological inquiry into the assessment of play within early childhood education services, focusing on how this educational dimension can be effectively recognised and documented in self-evaluation frameworks for educational quality. Based on experience from nursery centers…

From a neurophysiological perspective, play contributes to children's cognitive development, allowing them to connect with themselves and the environment (Casolo, Frattini, 2023). Movement games engage children in the execution of basic motor patterns (Sibilio, D'Elia, 2015) and not only exercise…

Learning through play is essential in early childhood and primary education. Digital games employ motivational strategies and create ludic spaces. One example is ActiveFloor, an educational technology (EdTech), which allows children to physically interact with projected learning games. In a pilot…

Playing is an all-children’s right, and preschool education has a fundamental role in ensuring that playing is guaranteed in its pedagogical and curricular proposal. This article addresses the importance children attribute to play and do it in the school environment, also seeks to reflect on the…

This article explores inclusive play in early childhood, placing particular emphasis on the integration of analogic and digital solutions. It is based on key regulatory documents such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and ICF-CY (WHO), as well as on the latest research on play as a…

This article interrogates an ongoing initiative, launched in 2017, within the framework of “Artoo – Art as Told by Children”, a project explicitly oriented to fostering the authorial agency of preschool-aged children. The programme interweaves the dramaturgical play dimension inherent in…

The digital environment is conceptualized as an educational space to be inhabited, according to a socio-constructivist perspective, in which learning develops through interaction with meaningful contexts. Playful learning, based on play experience and active participation, represents a pedagogical…

The article, based on the findings of PRIN Di.Co.Each (Digital Competence in Early Childhood), seeks to promote reflection on the tasks of educational services for children aged 0-6, in order to create educational contexts that can foster a balance between analogue and digital environments for…

For children, play is the preferred way to learn and interact with the world. Thus, play is one of the pillars of preschool education. Education professionals must therefore be able to create stimulating and varied contexts in order to support children's play. To do this, they can play around with…

Play is recognised as the privileged language of childhood and a driving force in cognitive, linguistic, motor, and socio-relational development. Early childhood education is called upon to restore its centrality, making it the core of the educational proposal. In this perspective, the contribution…

This paper aims to reflect on the essential value of play as a vehicle for the cognitive, psycho-affective, and linguistic development of infants. Preschool is one of the main educational institutions in a child's life and is called upon, daily, to make the important choice of directing and guiding…

This paper explores the transformation of play in early childhood education services, bringing together theoretical perspectives, historical sources, and contemporary evidence. Starting from a pedagogical framework inspired by Maria Montessori, the research investigates the value of play, developing…

In the field of 0-6 education, play is the epistemological cornerstone of learning, understood not only as an experience of discovery, but as a symbolic, physical and relational practice. The emergence of hybrid educational environments, in which digital and material intertwine, challenges pedagogy…

The integration of digital technologies into the play dimension of kindergarten raises profound questions about the role of play in learning and the pedagogical and ethical responsibilities of the teacher. This contribution critically examines the transformations of children's play in the digital…

Play, in its different forms, is recognized as a key component of children's growth and learning processes. In early childhood education, play is a basic foundation that helps children explore, socialize, be creative, as well as engage in care activities. These benefits, generated through the…

This contribution explores the formative value of video analysis as a reflective and participatory methodology within early childhood education services, with a specific focus on the observation of children's play. Drawing on a field-based training experience, it highlights how the use of video…

Play experiences are essential for children's cognitive, social, emotional, and psychological development. As evidenced by 93% of teachers (from a sample of 137 participants) who completed a specific questionnaire during the research project "A che giochi giochiamo in Molise? L’importanza del…

Aren’t kids having fun today? This adult-centric perception masks a very different reality: contemporary childhood has redefined its playful languages through digital media that often elude traditional pedagogical understanding. This research proposes a review of the international literature on…

The use of board games in educational settings is increasingly emerging as a practice capable of combining inclusive aims, cognitive development, and active learning. This contribution presents the development and testing of an evaluation grid for board games, aimed at analyzing their effectiveness…

This paper compares the formulation of the role of play in early childhood education for children aged 0-6 in Italy and Spain, across both digital and analogue experiences. Literature, applied research, and case studies from these countries, as perused hereinafter, poignantly unravel how play…

This experimental study investigates the risks and developmental potential of digital educational technologies in early childhood play (ages 3 to 6). Using a comparative pre–post test design, it explores the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional outcomes of three play conditions: guided digital…

The topic of assessment has always been central to pedagogical debate and internal discussions within educational institutions, as well as being a recurring subject of regulatory interventions and ministerial documents which, over time, have highlighted different aspects of it. In light of the…

As part of a broader research project aimed at investigating and defining the contribution that assistive technologies (AT) can offer to improving the quality of life, self-determination, and autonomy of people with rare neuromuscular diseases (NMD), this paper presents the phases and findings of a…

Every city, whatever its history, its diversity in real situations, proposes its own tracks for a possible instructive use of places; among the various tracks there is the one that sees it as a privileged place to give birth to exchanges between cultures and past histories, thus becoming an…

This study explores the potential of tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) as tools for developing social skills and strengthening interpersonal relationships within group settings. It focuses on Dungeons & Dragons, the pioneering game of the genre, where the goal is not to win but to co-create a…

This article introduces the concept of digital self-perception or of a “digital sense” as a "new human sense" emerging during the digital era. A study involving 100 participants demonstrated how digital interactions can activate a distinct perceptual faculty, expanding and integrating…

The phrase ‘They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds’, attributed to the Greek poet Christianopoulos and subsequently adopted by the Zapatista movement in Mexico, re-emerged in the global public sphere in 2024, appearing on banners at international demonstrations calling for a…

Roma Tre University, which I have the honour of leading, has joined the UNICORE (University COrridors for REfugees) project for the third consecutive year. This initiative, promoted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has enabled four refugee students to come to Rome to fulfil…

The article explores the principle of nonviolence as a pedagogical perspective, necessary in a present marked by the intertwining of war, exploitation and inequality. The link between nonviolence and education is then developed starting from the classical authors who formulated and practised this…

In a time like the present, once again marked by widespread recourse to war, by genocides, by the killing of tens of thousands of civilians – most of whom are children –, a time characterized by the undermining of international law and the re-armament race, in which discourses on peace and for…

The word genocide, in addition to its legal meaning, also has a symbolic value. The legal notion of genocide, which as such is general and abstract, is often identified with a specific genocide, the Holocaust. These two elements have influenced the highly polarized public debate concerning the…

The article examines the genocidal apparatus and the actions of the Global Sumūd Flotilla (GSF) in the face of the occupation of Gaza, situating them within a conceptual and ethical framework of pedagogical origin. To this end, we will draw upon the considerations of Stanton and the “Jo Cox”…

In July 2025, a small fleet of over 40 boats, with crews from 44 different countries, set sail from the ports of Barcelona, Genoa, Catania, and Tunisia with the aim of bringing food and medicine to the Palestinian population of Gaza. Although the convoy was boarded by the Israeli army once it…

This contribution examines the war in Gaza as an extreme case to explore the relationship between critical pedagogy and politics. Using the concept of educide, the essay interprets the destruction of schools, universities, and cultural infrastructure as an attack on the conditions necessary for…

The article analyzes Sumūd as an educational and political practice within the dehumanizing context of Palestine, particularly in the Gaza Strip. Framed by critical pedagogy and a decolonial perspective, the study interprets the ongoing genocide as a historical, political, and discursive process…

This article offers a reflection on the historical-educational processes related to the Jewish Holocaust and its memories, in relation to the current context, marked by ongoing conflicts and wars. The current situation also puts pressure on educational programs specifically related to the Jewish…

War (conceived and largely carried out by men), as well as forms of education aligned with the ideologies that usually sustain it, has encountered numerous opposing responses. What do figures - diverse also in their different historical, social, political, and cultural contexts - such as Maria…

From a critical, decolonial and intersectional feminist perspective, this contribution analyses the ways in which Palestinian resistance is conceptualised in postcolonial theories, queer practices and contemporary literary narratives. Particular attention is paid to the way in which feminised bodies…

This paper explores a possible third narrative in the Israel-Palestine context, focusing on spatial perspective and temporal axis. Drawing on the Joint Memorial Ceremony organized by Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle–Families Forum, as well as on the personal journey of Sulaiman Khatib,…

Is it possible to construct a narrative on Palestine that restores dignity and memory to the history of a people and projects it into the future? Is it possible to resist a sugar-coated and instrumental vision of peace education - one that denies conflict, privilege, and colonial violence - while…

This article investigates ṣumūd as an ethical, political, and pedagogical practice articulated through the movements of remaining, crossing, and remembering, placing it in dialogue with Leo Zanier’s border poetry and his depictions of European migrant lives. By examining the resonances between…

The essay provides an overview of the dynamics within the Palestinian art scene, suspended between native territories and diasporic experiences. In a context of structural occupation and violence, art emerges as a vital tool for memory, identity, and resistance. The study analyses how artistic…

In recent years, we have witnessed a substantial increase in the number of minors involved in war contexts, and the impact of armed conflicts on the education of children is well known. This article examines the progressive weakening of the education system, with particular reference to the Gaza…

This article analyzes the phenomenon of scholasticide in Palestine. Through dialogue with a Palestinian student and Operazione Colomba volunteers, it emerges how the right to education is systematically impeded by direct and cultural violence and widespread demolitions of educational facilities. The…

When we speak of Gaza, there is a before and after 7 October 2023. More than two years have passed since that terrible day, but the anguish remains the same; a tragedy is still unfolding, one which we describe, with shame and frustration, as ‘the genocide of the Palestinian people’. Faced with…

Two scholars in educational sciences engage in a dialogue with the Palestinian political philosopher Nadim Khoury on the relationship between the Holocaust and the Nakba and on the possibility of bringing these two memories into conversation within a perspective of peace and reconciliation, even in…

The contribution explores the transformative approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the analysis of a dyadic interview with two former students of Rondine Cittadella della Pace, who are now Rondini d’oro and collaborators of the association: one Israeli participant and one…

Come afferma lo stesso Traverso parafrasando Sartre, Gaza davanti alla storia è scritto en situation. Un testo che non può vantare di essere stato elaborato con sereno distacco “ma piuttosto nel tentativo di organizzare una prima riflessione senza nascondere i sentimenti di stupore,…

“La pace è l’unica strada” è un libro pubblicato nel 2024, nel quale Grossman, attraverso suoi diversi interventi, analizza il percorso politico di Israele. Ne evidenzia, più volte nel testo, la crescente vulnerabilità. Tale condizione di instabilità può essere connessa, a suo parere,…

Questo libro non racconta la storia così come lo fanno i mass-media o la maggioranza del discorso politico. Quella in questo libro sarebbe, se anche non volessimo intenderla come “la verità”, senz’altro la contronarrazione: l’altra storia, quella che effettivamente dovremmo sentire,…

I curatori del volume sono Bashir Bashir e Amos Goldberg: Bashir Bashir è docente di sociologia, scienze politiche e comunicazione presso la Open University of Israel ed è un cittadino palestinese con nazionalità israeliana; Amos Goldberg è uno tra i più eminenti esperti di Holocaust Studies e…

The concept of Learning City promoted by UNESCO represents an innovative political vision that places lifelong learning at the heart of sustainable, inclusive and democratic urban development. It is a structural response to educational and social inequalities, reaffirming the right to education as a…

Learning city concept is now one of the most significant outcomes of Unesco's thinking, in which education, rights, culture, and sustainability are intertwined in an integrated approach. Starting with the 2030 Agenda, the learning city becomes a laboratory for global citizenship, a place where…

Marginality can no more be read in terms of self-exclusion of the subject, since it is now clear that it corresponds to a process of marginalization also linked to the choices of society, favored by the proliferation of ghetto areas, in which the dominant culture does not pass and is replaced by the…

The principle inspiring this essay is rooted in the idea of city as a space marked by narratives, stories and personal experiences, shared tales and existential plots. At the same time, conceiving the human being as a symbolic animal tending to build his own self in a narrative way, as in the…

The city that learns, or Learning City, represents an emerging paradigm of sustainable urban development, based on lifelong learning, social inclusion and innovation. This paper explores how the concept of the Learning City intertwines with the Leaving No One Behind principle of the United Nations…

This paper aims to explore the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning within Learning Cities, examining ethical dimensions of AI-powered educational methodologies. It investigates how urban learning environments can leverage AI for personalized learning pathways while addressing…

The contribution analyzes the results of the action-research project “Widespread Educational Ecosystem: Innovative and Connective Networks Between School and City” aimed at defining a new model of educational ecosystem where the city itself becomes an extension of the classroom towards the…

Intercultural education and English language teaching play a key role in the development of inclusive societies, acting as cultural mediators and vehicles for European key competences. This study examines how the implementation of Learning Cities principles in EFL/ESL teaching can promote inclusion…

The essay proposed here aims to lay the theoretical foundations for an Archive of marginal cultures, with the valorization of the wise role of the elderly and taking as a sample an internal area of Calabria, including the Municipalities of Grecanic language, with Reggio Calabria as the leader. The…

The aim of this work is to highlight how prejudices and silence can be risk factors for an educational community capable of combating victimization, especially towards minorities, through the exemplification of a case study. Recent literature agrees in suggesting that bullying victimization not only…

This contribution aims to critically reconsider the notion of the Learning City, distancing it from technocratic and universalistic interpretations, and instead proposing it as a situated theoretical-practical configuration grounded in the interplay of spatial justice, urban pedagogy, and radical…

This article examines the integration of physical literacy within the Learning Cities paradigm, focusing on the role of structured movement education and community sport initiatives in promoting lifelong learning within urban environments. Drawing on established theoretical frameworks and empirical…

According to the Global Solidarity Report, in 2024 the world scored just 36 out of 100 on the Global Solidarity Scorecard, indicating a dangerously weak level of solidarity, far below what is required to build an effective trajectory toward a united world. This data invites us to rethink the…

Mathematics is commonly recognized as a fundamental area of development of human civilization. Since ancient times, its progress has been due to practical needs, from trade to state management, just think, for example, of the historical testimonies that have come down to us from the Babylonian…

The Piano delle Fosse Granarie can be seen as an open-air educational space, an example of situated learning rooted in historical memory and community identity. As an agricultural archive and civic resource, it offers opportunities for active citizenship, cultural ecology and social cohesion. The…

This paper is part of a more comprehensive theoretical and practical model of learning cities, viewed through the lens of lifelong learning and community learning, and it explores the role of popular education within these perspectives and practices. These experiences are situated in urban…

The article, therefore, proposes Learning Cities as a theoretical model for engineering sustainable and inclusive urban development, focusing on the use of lifelong learning. In other words, it addresses how cities, which are already facing rapid rates of urbanisation and increasingly complex social…

Starting from the 1970s, the field of historical studies showed an increasing interest in the theme of memory. This interest led, in the first decade of the 21st century, to the emergence of the so-called "Memory Studies," a multidisciplinary field focusing on memory and its making, transforming and…

The UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities promotes lifelong learning policies that recall the idea of the learning society found in the Faure Report and the Delors Report. However, in recent years, learning cities have also included in their programs economic objectives and above all objectives…

Today, the Smart Cities (SC) concept has quickly become popular in the debate on sustainable urban development. However, some critics argue that it has become a trendy buzzword. From a systemic view, cities are socio-ecological, complex, and adaptive systems addressed to integral wellbeing. Thus, SC…

This study aims to explore the development of a lifelong learning model focused on gender education and equal opportunities. The analysis will be grounded in a case study of the city of Prato, a complex context historically shaped by significant migratory flows, where for over twenty years the…

Contemporary cities often appear as places, or “non-places”, within which pluralism and cultural diversity, rather than becoming encounters and opportunities, become limits and obstacles, increasingly fueling prejudice and the social exclusion of those who – due to their multiple histories of…

This paper examines the role of continuous professional development in fostering the European Key Competences within formal, non-formal, and informal learning contexts, with a particular focus on the Learning Cities model. Conceived as inclusive and interconnected educational ecosystems, Learning…

The Municipality of Varese, in collaboration with the teaching and Learning Center at the University of Insubria, has developed projects inspired by the Learning Cities model, promoting inclusive and lifelong learning. The Change Laboratory has been applied to counter early school leaving and…

Almost a century ago, Gramsci argued that the educational relationship for the formation of the citizen necessarily involves extracurricular institutions. Today this educational perspective has a coherent formulation in the concept of learning cities. School museums play a central role among these…

In cities increasingly characterized by a desertification of social spaces (Mortari, 2008), this paper explores heritage education (De Nicola et al., 2022) as a generative field for rethinking the relationship between children and urban spaces. With a critical approach, heritage is considered as a…

The learning cities model is recognised for its perspectives on relational renewal, lifelong learning and social innovation. Emphasising its educational value for an intercultural, sustainable and glocal citizenship, this paper explores the paradigm’s link with Italo Calvino’s The Invisible…

Education in the penitentiary facilities plays a fundamental role in the fields of lifelong learning and inclusive education, both of which are priority purposes for a Learning City. In fact, in recent years, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning has intensified its commitment to support…

Learning Cities are a model that aims to respond to the difficulties faced by diverse and global communities. This article explores the role of Learning Cities as key tools for preventing and raising awareness of gender-based violence and inequalities. Urban and social spaces, such as Centri…

One of the key aspects in the design of ‘Learning Cities’ is “the construction of a sense of citizenship”, which is to be understood as “an evolutionary process intimately linked to the development of a sense of community” that takes root in people through their ability to “be…

The city, as a complex ecosystem, allows the acquisition of skills for the exercise of citizenship. Pedagogy, a science with many dimensions (Parricchi, 2020), through pedarchitettura conveys an idea of city-educational space, through the design of urban educational paths, playful and interactive…

Within the learning city - one whose walls are welcoming and inclusive - education must be reimagined, especially in places where walls are restrictive and punitive, such as prisons. If a learning city embraces a new, transformative justice and calls governance and political institutions to…

Access to learning is a crucial element in an inclusive learning city perspective. Homelessness is one of the most serious forms of exclusion. From the perspective of lifelong learning, a commitment is needed towards strengthening individual resources and, at the same time, recognising competences…

This article applies the construct of the 'learning city' to the context of territorial communities. These communities, facing difficulties resulting from marginalization processes—a consequence of globalization which has concentrated opportunities and wealth in predominantly urban hubs—seek to…

The concept of Learning City aims to promote inclusive learning for all, from basic to higher education, including marginalized social groups. In this context, persons in prison represent one such group, in spatial and symbolic terms (Goffman, 1961). Prisons are closed institutions (Verdolini,…

How can urban exploration function as a site of learning? What epistemological frameworks can drive innovation in teacher education? As part of the EU Green Week, the W.E.R.S.Um. project engaged 100 undergraduate students in Primary Education Studies in a critical re-examination of the city as an…

The Learning City concept highlights the role of local educational and cultural institutions, encouraging them to promote collaborative networks for the implementation of educational policies inspired by the principles of Lifelong Learning and Leave No One Behind. The article explores and comments…

Digital innovation is redefining the role of schools within the urban ecosystem, transforming them into distributed and participatory learning environments. Learning Cities are emerging as inclusive spaces where technology enhances access to education. However, their integration is hindered by…