This document discusses the relationship between early childhood education (ECE) and compulsory school education (CSE) in Italy. It explores how the concept of "educational continuity" has shaped the relationship and influenced teacher training. Key points include: 1) Educational continuity emphasizes sustaining children's development along a continuum that considers their diverse needs. 2) In Italy, educational continuity originated from social movements in the 1960s-70s and was further developed through local experimentation and psychological studies. 3) Teacher training was designed to prepare educators for both ECE and CSE through a common and specialized curriculum focused on reflectivity to address the complexity of teachers' roles. 4) Recent policy

1. Reconceptualising the relationship between
ECE and CSE in the training field
Insights from the Italian experience
Universität Hildesheim, 7th July 2012

2. Aim and scope of this presentation
• Exploring the relationship between ECE and CSE in the Italian
case: origin, development and underlying assumptions of
educational continuity (Lazzari & Balduzzi, forthcoming)
Moss, P. (Forthcoming) Early Childhood and Compulsory
Education: Reconceptualising the relationship. London:
Routledge.
• Analysing how the relationship between ECE and CSE affected
teachers’ professional preparation at tertiary level
• Discussing contemporary issues: challenges and possibilities
Outlining conceptual categories for re-thinking the relationship
between elementary and primary education fields in the
framework of context-specific conditions

3. Early Childhood and Compulsory Education:
Reconceptualising the Relationship
• Contesting Early Childhood Series, November 2012
(London: Routledge) Editor: Peter Moss
• Contributors: John Bennett, Margaret Carr, Gunilla Dahlberg,
Hildegard Gobeyn, Peder Haug, Sharon Lynn Kagan, Peter Moss,
Nadine De Stercke and Michel Vandenbroeck
• Arianna Lazzari and Lucia Balduzzi (University of Bologna)
- Exploring the approach of educational continuity (continuità
educativa) as an alternative to the ‘school readiness’ approach
- Analysis framed by an historical and socio-cultural perspective
with a specific pedagogical focus
- Sources: policy documents, pedagogical literature, curricular
guidelines and documentary sources

4. Background: the Italian education system
Split ECE system:
0-3 institutions (nidi) under the Ministry of Welfare (administrative
responsibility decentralised to local authorities)
3-6 institutions/pre-schools (scuole dell’infanzia) under the Ministry
of Education that is also responsible for primary schools (scuola
primaria)
Initial professional preparation:
3-yrs Bachelor Degree for nido educators
5-yrs Master Degree in Primary Education Sciences (Scienze della
Formazione Primaria) for both pre- and primary school teachers

5. The perspective of educational continuity
Traditionally, a certain attention has been dedicated to the
relationship between pre- and primary school, despite the
fragmented structure of the overall education system.
• Radical roots and local experimentalism: political and
1960-70 social premises of educational continuity
• The pedagogical debate on educational continuity and
1980-90 institutionalisation of continuity practices
• Teacher’s professionalisation across the fields of pre-
1990-00 and primary education

6. Radical roots
Social and political premises of educational continuity:
- Pedagogical activism from the 1960s which gave origin to
Municipal ECE institutions (Ciari, 1972; Malaguzzi, 1971)
- Civil movements reclaiming social justice
- Progressive teachers movements
inspired by active education
(Dewey, 1949) and popular
pedagogy (Freinet, 1969)
 Traditional teaching methods
are contested as they
reproduce social inequalities
(Scuola di Barbiana, 1967;
Barbagli & Dei, 1969)

7. ‘Engaging with children from low social classes
and engaging in politics are part of the same
commitment. It is not possible to be
committed to children who are affected by
unfair laws and not to advocate for better
laws.’ (Scuola di Barbiana, 1967; p. 93)

8. Local experimentalism: ECE as a driving force
shaping a new paradigm
The experimentation of the integrated day in primary school (tempo
pieno) shaped a new understanding of compulsory school education:
- education as emancipatory experience for social and cultural
transformation VS conservative practice reproducing inequalities
- image of the child: competent human being , citizen bearer of rights
- holistic approach to children’s development, which is nurtured
through the exploration of many symbolic languages
- learning understood as a process of co-construction that takes place
in social interaction > project work methodology
- schools understood as democratic communities(social management)
- teachers as facilitators, providing children with diversified learning
opportunities according to their specific needs VS standardised
teacher instructions

9. The pedagogical debate on
educational continuity
The approach of educational continuity was further elaborated
following the findings of psychological studies (Bateson, 1972;
Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Bruner, 1981; Rogoff & Lave, 1984) :
- children’s learning is shaped by the relational and cultural
environment in which educational practices take place
- children’s development encompasses both inter-personal and
intrapersonal variations
Implication for practices:
- Children’s development should be sustained along a continuum by
taking into account their diversified needs and potentialities
- teachers’ reflectivity has a crucial role to play in this regard
 An inter-disciplinary approach to educational sciences is needed
in order to deal with complex phenomena taking place on everyday
basis within school settings

10. ‘It is therefore unfair to demand
psychology to draw a well defined
picture of children’s development
articulated in […] chronologically
precise phases so that schooling could
be appropriately organised: it is
precisely the notion of
“appropriateness” to be misleading […].
Perhaps what is wished to be found in
scientific knowledge is the
legitimisation of political and
educational choices that are de facto
the result of historical and social
processes.’
(Pontecorvo, 1986; p. 49)

11. A professionalising pathway responding to
the complexity of teachers’ role
2-yrs course 2-yrs course
Integrated Specialised
curriculum for curriculum:
common 1-yr optional
- early childhood
professional Additional course
pedagogy and
preparation of for special needs
learning
pre- and primary teachers focusing
school teachers - primary school on inclusive
(pedagogy, education education
psychology, (subject
anthropology, knowledge and
sociology) didactic)

12. Promoting reflectivity through a flexible
combination of training devices
University Workshops Placement
lectures (approx. 200 hrs) (400 hrs)
• Cultural formation • Project work • Field work and
• Interpretative tools (alternative observation
• Contemporary approach to • Developing and
issues knowledge running
construction) educational
• > Carried out by
academic staff • Collective projects
reflectivity • > Supervised by
• >Facilitated by expert teachers
teachers’ educators and teachers’
and academic staff educators

13. Recent policy developments:
toward schoolification of ECE?
• MD 249/2010: University degree for initial preparation
moved up to Master level (5-yrs) with same route to be
attended by pre- and primary school teachers
• Risks:
> undermining continuity of educational approaches within
the early childhood sector (0-3 & 3-6 services)
> schoolfication of pre-school (narrower subject-oriented
approach and broader pedagogical approach to learning left
at the margin)

14. Questions framing the debate
• How is the relation between ECE and CSE
conceptualised?  there are alternatives to the
perspective of ‘school readiness’! (Moss, forthcoming)
• What are the pedagogical assumptions underlying such
debate? (Who is the child? How is learning understood?
What are the purposes of educational institutions within
society?)
• In relation to such assumptions how can the role of
teachers be conceptualised across the ECE and CSE
fields? How can common training pathways be designed
coherently without dismissing the specific pedagogic
identity of ECE and CSE?

15. Arianna Lazzari
Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Educazione
arianna.lazzari2@unibo.it
www.unibo.it