Abstract:

The expression “Special Educational Needs” (SEN), coherently with the ICF model, offers an inclusive perspective to all the issues that, in a different way, cause to students’ difficulties in learning and the development. School disadvantage does not concern only children and young people with certified disabilities or with specific disorders related to the learning processes, for which there is a medical diagnosis that identifies the pathology they suffer. There are educational fragilities that cannot be endorsed by a certification by an expert, as their difficulties do not match the list of signs/symptoms of diagnostic manuals. The article 3 of the decree n. 17-124/2008 aims at disciplining interventions to promote the full exercise of the right to education and training of students with SEN. It identifies different categories of SEN, included “students attending school and training institutions and presenting disadvantages, [...], determined by social or environmental conditions and learning difficulties which significantly compromise the frequency and the successful development of the education and training pathway”.

The research project was aimed at identifying useful elements to outline an interpretative framework on the educational fragilities of disadvantaged students and the school contexts where they study and live, as well as formulating suggestions for any changes in school policies and training activities for teachers. It was planned in the province of Trento (Italy) jointly with IPRASE (Provincial Institute for In-service Training and Educational Research and Experimentation) and the Department of Knowledge of the Autonomous Province of Trento. the project involved 105 schools of every order and degree, from primary to high school, including vocational training centres.

Given the need to investigate the phenomenon in the context where it is experienced, the project was developed within the ecological paradigm. The research design has been structured around two parallel paths: the school track and the territorial services which play around students with educational fragilities.

It has been considered necessary to include in the research process the local services that work directly or indirectly with the school institutions to contribute to the projects of life of these students. The aim of this investigation was to understand what elements facilitating or hindering the development of the “project of life” of children and young people with the support of these key informants’ voices. It is indeed crucial to be able to see not only the pupil but the child/kid/young man and woman in his/her complexity as a person, as well as to work in an inter-institutional perspective, taking the viewpoint of the different subjects that are part of the system. To this aim, a parallel, convergent research design was planned, using a single qualitative methodology for data collection and analysis. It allowed researchers to work in parallel with different kind of professionals to obtain complementary information.

The full paper focuses the attention on the territorial services track. Methods and instruments of research, as well as the results of this specific research path, are explained and discussed.

Keywords:

Special educational needs, educational fragilities, territorial services, inclusive perspective.