Abstract:

Educational systems worldwide face the challenge of rethinking internal school processes not only to improve learning outcomes but also to enhance the overall educational ecosystem. Innovations in pedagogy, curriculum design, and school organization are increasingly recognized as essential to fostering inclusive, student-centred, and reflective learning environments. In this context, structured and value-oriented school models, with their clear curricular principles and shared pedagogical orientations, provide coherent frameworks for teachers’ work. Within this landscape, the Italian No Schoolbag Model (NSM, Scuola Senza Zaino) represents a holistic school model grounded in the values of hospitality, responsibility, and community within the classroom and across the school.

This exploratory study examines how NSM adoption influences teachers’ professional practices and self-perceptions. An online survey was distributed to a total of 97 teachers from Italian primary and lower secondary schools, including both NSM adopters and those in traditional settings. The questionnaire explored multiple dimensions of teaching practice, including lesson planning, classroom management, assessment strategies, collaborative work, and reflective practice. By comparing responses across NSM and traditional contexts, the study identifies both similarities and differences in teachers’ practices and perceptions of their role.

The findings suggest that the NSM encourages teachers to reinterpret their professional role in alignment with the model’s student-centred and holistic principles. Teachers working within the NSM reported greater attention to student autonomy, collaborative learning, and reflective activities, as well as more deliberate integration of inclusive pedagogical practices. Although exploratory and based on a non-representative sample, the study indicates that clearly articulated school curriculum models may influence how teachers organize, implement, and reflect upon their instructional practices.

Focusing on teacher professionalism within an innovative Italian context, the paper contributes to international debates on educational innovation and operationalization of student-centred pedagogy. Structured curriculum models like NSM seem to shape teachers’ sense of responsibility by offering shared pedagogical orientations and clearer professional reference points. Such structured guidance appears to support intentional instructional design, collegial alignment, and reduced professional fragmentation. In this perspective, educational innovation extends beyond student outcomes to frameworks that guide and sustain teachers’ practices within the broader educational ecosystem.

Keywords:

Curriculum models, Educational ecosystem, Educational innovation, No Schoolbag Model, Student-centred pedagogy, Teachers’ professional practices.