Abstract:

Following the end of health emergency due to COVID 19, the Italian integrated pre-school and kindergarten system has rethought its micro-planning (Bondioli & Savio, 2021; Moretti et al., 2021). In the school year 2020/2021, the government has prepared some specific guidelines to ensure a safe school reopening and to contrast the pandemic. Schools have established "bubbles", i.e. small stable groups of pupils who always refer to the same educator and who use dedicated spaces (Miur, 2020, 2021).

In the school year 2021/2022 the re-arrangement of integrated pre-schools and kindergartens implied the "return" to the enlarged section, that is a larger space in which children can interact more freely with peers and with educators. Post-pandemic micro-planning has met the urgent need to rearrange educational activities, but at the same time has maintained some innovative aspects introduced during the health emergency, for example enhancing the deliberate use of outdoor spaces.

The present contribution presents the results of a case study (Trinchero, 2004; Yin, 2005) carried out in an integrated kindergarten and pre-school institution in Rome (Italy). The main objective was to observe the dynamics of the processes of rearrangement and redesign of activities in situations of uncertainty, with reference to educational continuity. The survey was carried out in the school years 2020/21 and 2021/2022. It involved the same educators and the same classes. To analyze the rearrangement methods in the post health emergency, interviews and focus groups were conducted with educators to investigate upon strengths and weaknesses related to the micro-planning.

The results of the longitudinal investigation contributes to the pedagogical research on identifying different and innovative ways to plan in situations of uncertainty within the integrated pre-school and kindergarten system and more generally to face future educational challenges.

Keywords:

ECEC, micro-planning, post health emergency, education systems, case study.