School for Social Justice: Pedagogical Reflections on Equity in Education in Gramscian Perspective With a Focus on the Italian Context

Abstract

The role of school for social justice is supported internationally (Connel, 1993; Hytten & Bettez, 2011; Pearson & Reddy, 2021): everyone must be included in democratic participatory processes (Bauman & Tester, 2002; Gerwitz, 2006) and have the cultural and political tools to change History (Bell, 2007; Hackman, 2005). Taking equity in education (Rawls, 1972; Nussbaum, 2013; Sen, 2009; Kanor, 2021) as a horizon of pedagogical meaning means ensuring excellence for all and the acquisition of the capabilities to exercise citizenship. Focusing our analysis on the Italian context, old and new inequalities reverberate on students' educational pathways (OECD, 2022; INVALSI, 2022). Social reproduction is still active, but non-traditional factors of inequality emerge (Ferrer-Esteban, 2011; Ferrero, 2022; Granata & Ferrero, 2022): they are produced by school culture and the structure of the school system and cause unprecedented forms of injustice. Re-reading the challenges of this context through the philosophical work of Antonio Gramsci (1919; 1975; 1996; 2022) is useful to give depth to the reflection, given the topicality of his thought: schooling should not crystallize social differences but be a vector of emancipation to guarantee people equal cultural and political dignity. Schooling make it possible to transcend forms of subalternity and hegemony, even those that are presented as traditional and therefore socially accepted: it is necessary to make people aware that there is nothing natural or predetermined about social organization, that it is possible to unhinge existing relations of dominance and power in favor of a more democratic and fair social order.



Author Information
Valerio Ferrero, University of Turin, Italy

Paper Information
Conference: ERI2023
Stream: Emerging Philosophical Perspectives on Learning & Education

This paper is part of the ERI2023 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Ferrero V. (2023) School for Social Justice: Pedagogical Reflections on Equity in Education in Gramscian Perspective With a Focus on the Italian Context ISSN: 2435-1202 – The IAFOR Conference on Educational Research & Innovation: 2023 Official Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2435-1202.2023.12
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2435-1202.2023.12


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Posted by James Alexander Gordon