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…

The 2021 UNESCO Report refers to Service Learning (SL) as a pedagogy that integrates learning with a strong sense of purpose. SL is an educational approach that employs collaborative inquiry strategies to address real-world problems. This contribution presents the issues of a descriptive study…

After a historical reconstruction starting with Marshall McLuhan's contribution to the definition of a “city as a classroom” from lifelong education and the discourse on words and images in pedagogical media devices, the paper traces the pedagogical-educational foundations by which the…

The learning city model proposed by UNESCO (UNESCO, 2015 e 2017) and the urban paradigm commonly known as smart city (Vianello, 2013), represent models whose coexistence, in a logic of mutual integrability, It can foster the development of cross-cutting skills in favour of citizenship (Andone et…

This paper investigates the theme of Learning Cities in relation to university life, physical and sports activities and the management of university students' free time. The main objective is to highlight the role of universities as learning and relationship communities that promote well-being. To…

Urban regeneration cannot be limited to the physical transformation of spaces, but must translate into an authentic collective learning process. In the Learning Cities perspective, the cultural heritage and the educating community become strategic resources for lifelong, inclusive and sustainable…

The article frames the theme of Learning Cities by taking as an example the way in which the Open-Air Lab research group, within the MUSA project, has worked on the construction of a participatory culture of sustainability in the city of Milan. After outlining the theoretical framework of the…

This contribution explores the findings of a phenomenological research investigating the trajectories of European youth engaged in public decision-making. Through in-depth interviews conducted with 26 representatives of European youth organisations, the study highlights how these young people…

The following study aims to analyze the effectiveness of four-year and five-year high school educational pathways within the context of Southern Italy. In this sense, the research aims to verify whether both paths can maintain the same qualitative standards regardless of their duration. Therefore, a…

For some time now, the prospects of the “learning city” paradigm have been discussed both in academia and within the policy-making communities. Speeches, publications, conferences and international congresses follow one another at short intervals, disseminating research results, interpretations…

The Learning City recognises the need to ensure the learning and well-being of its entire population, consistent with an inclusive approach according to the principle of ‘Leaving No One Behind’. It is precisely in the area of learning and wellbeing that culture plays a fundamental role, thus…

In recent years, growing attention has been directed toward the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support the development of metacognitive skills in students, particularly in the formulation of effective questions. This research examines studies published between 2019 and 2025 on the concept of…

Five years later, primary school teachers found themselves in the midst of the 2024/2025 academic year applying Ministerial Ordinance No. 3 of January 9, 2025, which regulates the changes introduced by Law No. 150 of October 1, 2024. Specifically, the previous levels (beginning, basic, intermediate,…

This paper explores the complex dynamics involving university lecturers, particularly professional lecturers, within the contemporary academic context. Using a theoretical framework that incorporates the concepts of communities of practice, social worlds and social fields, the case study presented…

This paper examines the role of practicum and tutoring in the initial training of teachers, with particular attention to the development of professional identity and the mediation between theoretical knowledge and educational practice. By comparing the models adopted at Roma Tre University and the…

This study investigates the potential of a Toolkit for the design of Outdoor Education paths for infant, primary and first-level secondary schools. The tool has been designed by a research group consisting of experts from different backgrounds (Indire, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Rete delle…

This study explores the affordances of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in teacher education, in light of recent policy changes expanding English instruction in early childhood education across the Region of Madrid. Specifically, the language needs of a group of 25 preprimary student teachers at…

Il secondo numero del 2025 di questa rivista è dedicato alle Progettualità educative, accoglienza e inclusione dei Rifugiati e Richiedenti protezione internazionale. Sono almeno due le piste interpretative che vengono sollecitate come cornice epistemologica che dà forma all’attuale situazione…

The professionalism of the educator and pedagogue in reception and inclusion services for asylum seekers and protection holders is measured by the knowledge, skills, and the competence possessed and by an ongoing field training. Embracing the integrated approach to the inclusion of migrants,…

The paper intends to reflect on the parameters that define/re-define identity in the perspective of doing and undoing gender (Butler, 2004), through a decolonial methodology that wants to promote a worldview that embraces the plurality of differences (Burgio, 2022), questioning the western…

In November 2024, the European Migration Network published a study on the Temporary Protection Directive: Challenges and Good Practices in 2023.This article intends to analyse the data and reflections of the study by following two approaches. On the one hand, the thought of Abdelmalek Sayad and his…

The contribution, from a critical pedagogy perspective, addresses the structural and contradictory tension (Althusser, 2008) that emerges in contexts of forced migration, particularly concerning individuals normatively defined as political refugees. This definition carries implicit meanings, as it…

The presented article takes the perspective of critical pedagogy, considering storytelling as a transformative tool to give voice to people who have lost the right to speak. This perspective guided the analysis of narratives from Palestine, particularly Gaza, in order to bring out the concept of…

This paper aims to offer, from a distinctly pedagogical perspective, an analysis of recent legislative changes concerning the admission of migrants in Italy. In particular, adopting critical pedagogy as its epistemological framework (Freire, 1970; Colicchi, 2009; Giroux, 2020), the study first…

The Italian language class can be a key space for newly arrived young migrants to reformulate their identity and build meaningful connections. A narrative, multimodal, and multilingual approach, aligned with active pedagogy, enables a holistic view of individuals—body, history, and languages.…

The recent migration policies have established a "natural" connection between social inclusion of the new citizens and the second language acquisition. This has reinforced the frontline role of Adult Education Centers (Cpia) in delivering and assessing linguistic education programs for migrant…

This contribution aims to reflect on the role of early childhood educational services (0-6 years) in the social inclusion pathways of mothers who are victims of trafficking in human beings and are hosted within projects for the reception and integration of migrants in Italy. These women, often alone…

The sea, and water more generally, symbolize purification and rebirth, but also death (Bachelard, 1942). In migration stories, the sea carries hopes and dreams but also grief and trauma. NGOs often rescue and welcome migrants at sea, along with all their experiences of travel, loss, separation, and…

European research reveals that migrants’ basic citizenship educational rights are disrespected, despite the declared attempt to recognize their former qualifications or to give them access to education and training opportunities. This paper presents rationale and methodology of the capacity…

Over the past two years, I have been engaged in a professional community development process, which involved about sixty professionals in the sector in the Metropolitan City of Bologna. The focus of the process has been the educational skills in migrant reception contexts. In the path has been used…

Italy, facing the migration emergency, must tackle the trafficking of young Nigerian women, often minors, who are enslaved for prostitution. Reception policies are hampered by the infiltration of criminal networks into reception centers. Learning Italian becomes crucial for these women's…

A community is a place and a time in which different people mutually transform each other. The delicate balance between the welcoming process of young unaccompanied foreign minors in a structured but flexible context, the community in the Italian SAI system, is exercised between double absences,…

The article reflects on the processes of entry into reception systems through the life story of Hayat, a female migrant who arrived irregularly from Morocco and landed in reception after a long series of vicissitudes. What happens on the threshold between marginality, migration and the political and…

This contribution aims to highlight how educational action in school contexts in which migrant pupils are inserted, at times, leads to inclusive rhetoric, generating the so-called "exclusive inclusions", since, instead of promoting equity and integral development, it ends up fueling discrimination…

The paper analyzes integration strategies for asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection, as suggested by the Integration Strategy Framework and the Guidelines developed within the European AMIF project “INTEgreat”. Based on research conducted in five European cities (Athens,…

As of 30 June 2024, the number of unaccompanied immigrant minors in Italy was 20.206 (Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali, 2024) a figure that has been steadily increasing since 2022. More frequently, these minors arrive close to the age of majority, with urgent needs related to housing,…

In the context of integrated reception – understood as a holistic and emancipatory approach to care – the central element remains the creation of meaningful interpersonal and social relationships, that allow refugees to feel like active protagonists of a community. This paper presents a case…

The contribution returns the results of a research on the issue of the reception of trafficked women, with regard to the importance that a gender perspective can guarantee in the design and implementation of educational interventions aimed for them. The research highlighted the difficulties that…

The Safe Space was born in 2023 as a place of first reception for unaccompanied foreign minors. It is a groundbreaking project, the first of its kind in Italy, funded by the FAMI “CapaCe” fund, sees the Prefecture of Rome as lead organization, in partnership with Programma Integra s.c.s., the…

In the context of the reception and integration of refugees and applicants for international protection, digital technologies are emerging as fundamental tools to support social and educational inclusion paths. The following contribution reflects on the role of e-learning platforms and digital tools…

The Social Desk for Human Rights at the Ospedale Civico Benfratelli in Palermo represents an innovative model of integrated reception, capable of responding to the multidimensional needs of foreigners in an urban context marked by socio-health inequalities. Through linguistic and cultural mediation…

The article explores the phenomenon of trafficking through a postcolonial pedagogical perspective (Burgio, 2022), focusing on the fact that women and girls represent the majority of trafficking victims worldwide. According to the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (2024), 60% of underage…

In the absence of a locally-based approach centred on human rights, the unsystematic model of the Italian education system risks to be fragile, incoherent, and devoid of substance. The practices of welcoming newly arrived students in schools represent a pivotal moment in the experience of young…

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Worlds in refugee education offers new opportunities for social inclusion, language learning, and digital empowerment. This study explores AI-powered digital storytelling as a pedagogical tool to support refugees in identity reconstruction…

This paper presents a case study on several associations dedicated to providing emergency assistance to both people on the move and asylum seekers in Italy. The analysis reveals that the high level of commitment and participation is intrinsically linked to the voluntary nature of the actions.…

Initial Teacher Education and Teachers’ Professional Development are considered strategic issues at a global level to ensure qualified teachers and high-quality education systems. The paper presents a model designed by the Erasmus+ Teacher Education for a Future in Flux (teff) Academy to provide…

In Italy, the problem of training the figure of the tutor essentially arose with the introduction of the internship in university teacher training. The identification of a “double setting”, primary - in schools - and secondary - in universities - with different accompanying figures, has led…

Il primo numero della rivista del 2025 è indirizzato a diffondere nella comunità scientifica le riflessioni e le ricerche di carattere teorico ed empirico che fanno emergere teorie, modelli e strategie che possono essere considerate efficaci per qualificare la formazione iniziale, in servizio e…

The induction phase for newly hired teachers is essential for their professional integration, but it sometimes presents several challenges in the relationship between tutor and tutee. Feedback, often perceived as evaluative rather than formative, limits the professional growth of new teachers…

The professionalism and competencies of teachers are essential for improving educational systems, making both initial and ongoing training key elements (Nirchi, 2022). The teacher’s profile encompasses multiple roles, ranging from designing learning paths in hybrid environments to facilitating…

A century ago, Celestin Freinet (1925) introduced the “school journal” and supported the idea of a school that knows how to tell stories and use “techniques” to communicate with the outside world. Today we have exceptional tools to communicate, but research shows that teaching rarely knows…

The challenge of teacher training is to prepare professionals who can adapt to a constantly changing educational environment. In addition to the disciplinary knowledge and teaching mediation skills, it is necessary to deepen the educational, communicative and reflective skills, which are essential…

This contribution explores the role and functions of the teacher-tutor in Italian schools, with particular attention to the tutoring actions dedicated to new recruits. Starting with a reflection about the initial and in-service teacher training, the paper then proceeds by exploring the peculiarities…

Teacher professionalism is characterized by a complex interaction between cultural, pedagogical, social, and specifically didactic competences, the result of an equally complex orchestration of knowledge, skills, beliefs and internal dispositions. Professional identity considered as a set of…

Since technological systems have been at the service of the teachers training, intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) have been used, often on an experimental basis, to support induction, that is the progressive entry of inexperienced teachers into the teaching profession. After recalling the…

The paper presents the outcomes of a Training-Research course initiated as part of the in-service training activities aimed at mentors of newly hired teachers in Lazio, designed and led by the Department of Education Sciences of the University of Roma Tre in agreement with the Regional School…

International literature has long argued that the most effective programs for initial and in-service teacher training are those that involve them in cyclical processes of action and reflection. This involves moving from a delivery-transmission type of training to forms that involve strong…

Since 2019, the Department of Educational Sciences of the Roma Tre University, in collaboration with the USR of Lazio, has designed and promoted a training course aimed at tutors of newly hired teachers in schools of different levels . Specifically, in this contribution, we report the opinions of…

The leadership style and soft skills of the tutor represent a determining factor during the induction phase of newly hired teachers. The exercise of good leadership allows the tutor to implement actions that combine the ability to meet the formative, methodological, communicative, and environmental…

The contribution examines the role of the interview as a useful tool for professional training supervision carried out by the Tutor Teacher in collaboration with the newly appointed Teacher. In recent years, the analyzes carried out in this area have given us positive results, confirming how…

This contribution presents the findings of an exploratory survey conducted by the Apulian Universities (UniBa, Unisalento, UniFG) and the Regional School Office for Apulia. The survey was designed to ascertain the experiences and training needs of tutors who work alongside teachers newly appointed…

Mentoring is internationally recognized as a critical component of the induction process for newly hired teachers. In Italy, this mentoring practice, known as peer-to-peer, was formalized with Ministerial Decree 850/2015 and further strengthened by Ministerial Decree 226/2022, which introduced a…

The tutor teacher for newly hired teachers plays a strategic role during their probationary year (Ridge & Lavigne, 2020; Fiorucci & Moretti, 2019; 2022) through the sharing of collaborative planning and tools for mutual observation in classroom, with the aim of facilitating the active…