Francesca Bracci | Università degli Studi di Firenze (University of Florence) (original) (raw)
Papers by Francesca Bracci
EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN LEARNING AND TEACHING, 2023
Il contributo propone una riflessione sul tema dello sviluppo di competenze di pensiero critico e... more Il contributo propone una riflessione sul tema dello sviluppo di competenze di pensiero critico e creativo in Higher Education, con particolare riferimento a studenti e studentesse nell'ambito dell'educazione e della formazione.
Pedagogia & Vita, 2023
L’articolo propone un dialogo tra quadri di riferimento teorico-concettuali ed esperienze situate... more L’articolo propone un dialogo tra quadri di riferimento teorico-concettuali ed esperienze situate di docenti universitarie per esplorare come sviluppare identità bianche antirazziste e femministe. Le autrici, donne bianche italiane, suggeriscono alcuni insight radicali che il materialismo relazionale, il femminismo postumano e il paradigma trasformativo possono offrire a studiosi/e e professionisti/e in ambito educativo interessati/e a sviluppare competenze di pensiero critico-riflessivo e decoloniale. L’obiettivo è condividere strumenti di navigazione che ci consentano di: (1) divenire consapevoli della nostra collusione perlopiù ignara con diverse forme di razzismo e sessismo interiorizzate e socializzate nell’ambito della cultura patriarcale e suprematista bianca di cui facciamo parte; (2) affermare positivamente le differenze tra persone marginalizzate che vivono lungo molteplici assi di disuguaglianza. Ciò implica riconoscere che nessuna traiettoria emancipativa, per quanto parziale, possa mai essere completamente incorporata o inclusa nelle condizioni di vita socio-economiche dominanti, a cui è legata da un’opposizione critica.
Boffo Vanna; Del Gobbo Giovanna; Malavasi Pierluigi (a cura di), Dare la parola: professionalità pedagogiche, educative e formative. A 100 anni dalla nascita di don Milani. SOCIETÀ ITALIANA DI PEDAGOGIA, 2024
This article explores the conceptualizations of transformative learning that the posthuman femini... more This article explores the conceptualizations of transformative learning that the posthuman feminism outlined by Braidotti (2022, 2023) and the intersectional feminism within which bell hooks’ (2004, 2010) contribution fits offer scholars and practitioners engaged in the practice of fostering its development in educational contexts. The limitations of individual theories of transformative learning are addressed (Mezirow, 1998, 2000; Cranton, 2000; Daloz, 2000; Dirx, 2006) and analyzed key social categories, such as class, race, gender and sexual orientation, age, and physical conformation, as central to understanding how to cultivate their emancipatory dimensions in educational settings and construct our white professional identities in an antiracist and feminist sense – abandoning the myth of white or Euro-American epistemology (Brookfield, 2014, 2021; Teo, 2022) of neutral and non-impositional facilitation.
Form@re : Open Journal per la Formazione in Rete, Apr 30, 2022
This article proposes a reflection on the development of an educational model to promote creative... more This article proposes a reflection on the development of an educational model to promote creative thinking skills specifically addressed to students who are preparing for teaching professions. The reasons underlying this interest are related to recognizing: (1) creativity, also in light of the development of technologies, as one of the most requested and rewarded skills compared to the professional scenarios that are taking shape; (2) the centrality that future professionals working in school institutions have in forming global citizens who are able to move in a world that is constantly changing, helping to make it more inclusive, socially cohesive, sustainable and productive. A practice-based, cultural, and distributed perspective is adopted to the study of creativity that assumes it both as a social, cultural and contextualized process and as a set of skills implemented through discursive and collaborative constructions of tasks, solutions and innovations within daily interactions.
Form@re : Open Journal per la Formazione in Rete, Apr 30, 2022
Il presente contributo è da ritenersi frutto di un confronto sinergico tra le autrici. Per ragion... more Il presente contributo è da ritenersi frutto di un confronto sinergico tra le autrici. Per ragioni di responsabilità scientifica, si specifica che il paragrafo 1 deve essere attribuito a Giovanna Del Gobbo, il paragrafo 2 a Laura Menichetti, il paragrafo 3 a Francesca Bracci, il paragrafo 4 a Daniela Frison.
Rivista Italiana di Educazione Familiare, 2021
This paper explores the processes of construction of difference in the materiality of a space of ... more This paper explores the processes of construction of difference in the materiality of a space of daily interculturalism, through the analysis of the interactions characterizing the life of a multiethnic condominium, which is located in the historic center of Arezzo (Tuscany, Italy). An ethnographic study was conducted which – entering the wider movement of post-qualitative methodologies – incorporated in the analysis process our experiences and personal interpretations, since directly involved and participating in the reality observed as residents in the housing complex. Our interest is aimed at studying the practical use of difference in everyday life, analyzing a condominium as effective space of multiethnic coexistence where matter, subjects, spaces, categories, and geographies are articulated along a continuum of sense and experience, which has found a learning laboratory in the building and its “practices of living”.
The Palgrave Handbook of Learning for Transformation, 2022
EDUCATIONAL REFLECTIVE PRACTICES, 2018
The article presents findings from an intervention research designed to support undergraduate fem... more The article presents findings from an intervention research designed to support undergraduate female students and educators of early childhood education and care services to reflect critically on the relationships between gender, career expectations, trajectories of professional development and work practices. The research project involved fifty-four female students of the third year of the degree in education sciences that, in the academic year 2017-2018, followed a laboratory entitled Supporting Development of Professional Identity, and forty-three female educators of the early childhood care and education services who participated into training activities promoted by a Lombard social cooperative. The goals were: 1. to develop knowledge and insight on what it means to be a professional practitioner in the education sector; 2. to support trajectories of professional development from a gender perspective; 3. to help participants become aware and question taken-for-granted and culturally assimilated assumptions about professional practices, identity, and role of the educator; In the laboratory path, were adopted action methodologies based, respectively, on experience-based learning (Andresen, Boud & Cohen, 2000; Boud, Keogh & Walker, 2013), learning from experience (Argyris & Schön, 1978; Lave & Wenger, 1991; O’Neil & Marsick, 2009), and post-structuralist feminist perspective (Francis & Skelton, 2005; Gherardi & Poggio, 2006). The aim is to present a methodological framework useful to elaborate, within project-based paths, models of collective action to promote individual and organizational learning through the construction of reflective knowledge.
Proceedings, 2017
This paper presents a case study that analyzes how university apprenticeship experience-that Ital... more This paper presents a case study that analyzes how university apprenticeship experience-that Italian students of Education Sciences are asked to do during their Bachelor's Degree program-can be conceived as learning path to help them become aware and (begin to) question taken-for-granted and culturally assimilated assumptions about professional practice, identity and the role of the educator. A particular attention is given to the methodological implications related to the adoption of the technique of metaphor analysis to support learners in recognizing the beliefs about their own profession and, eventually, changing them. Metaphor analysis was used both as a learning activity and a heuristic to guide processes of professional development. Metaphors were used to: (a) uncover tacit ways of making meaning, (b) name experiences, and (c) imagine new possibilities. We address, finally, the main images of role emerged from groups work to describe the representations of what the educator should do, who she/he is and which are the aims of her/his work. The savior, the scientist, the farmer, the sculptor, the good Samaritan, the militant, the transgressor are some of the delineated images that our participants analyzed to understand reasons and issues behind their own practices.
Nicolaides A., Eschenbacher S., Buergelt P.T., Gilpin-Jackson Y., Welch M., Misawa M. (eds). The Palgrave Handbook of Learning for Transformation, pp. 109-128, 2022
This research analyzes transformative learning in relationship to workplace education, intertwini... more This research analyzes transformative learning in relationship to workplace education, intertwining it with the theoretical frameworks of informal and incidental learning (Watkins and Marsick in Adv Dev Hum Resour 23:88–96, 2020.), and practice-based studies (Gherardi in How to conduct a practice-based study. Problems and methods. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019). Our purpose is to examine the contribution that a practice-based view of transformative learning offers to the study of creativity (Bracci et al., 2021). Drawing on key literature themes, we adopted an interpretive case study approach involving 20 professionals expert in creativity practices. Those interviewed included human resource senior managers (n = 2), career developers (n = 2), creative directors (n = 5), fashion graphic designers (n = 2), social media specialists (n = 5), CEOs of innovative enterprises in the media and tech field (n = 4), and a photographer. The main findings of the study aimed at drawing implications for a practice-based view of transformative learning in workplaces that prioritize creativity and innovation. We offer insights for practitioners and adult educators as to what types of learning paths they might construct to increase the performative potential of creative material practices.
In: Kostara, Effrosyni; Gavrielatos, Andreas; Loads, Daphne (eds). Transformative Learning: Theory and Praxis. New Perspectives and Possibilities, 2022
This chapter analyses transformative learning in relationship to workplace education, intertwinin... more This chapter analyses transformative learning in relationship to workplace education, intertwining it with the theoretical frameworks of informal and incidental learning, and practice-based studies. Our purpose is to examine the contribution that a practice-based view of transformative learning offers to the study of creativity and to the construction of organizational areas of reflexivity. We present a case study, based on action research, to illustrate the potentialities and shortcomings of using these approaches to create – through an emergent collaborative process of inquiry into – trajectories of professional development, organizational change, and models of collective actions within a craft-based workplace.
In: (a cura di): Polenghi Simonetta; Cereda Ferdinando; Zini Paola, La responsabilità della pedagogia nelle trasformazioni dei rapporti sociali. Storie, Linee di Ricerca e Prospettive. p. 1828-1839, Pensa MultiMedia, ISBN: 978 88 6760 828 7, Milano, 14, 15, 16 gennaio 2021, 2021
Il contributo propone una riflessione sul tema della creatività e sui processi di apprendimento c... more Il contributo propone una riflessione sul tema della creatività e sui processi di apprendimento che ne permettono lo sviluppo. Presenta i principali risultati di una ricerca qualitativa interessata a indagare le pratiche di creatività caratterizzanti professionisti che si muovono in ambienti lavorativi deputati alla produzione di conoscenze, idee o oggetti comunemente identificati come innovativi, artistici e artigianali. È adottato un approccio practice-based allo studio della creatività che consente di assumerla sia come processo sociale, culturale e partecipativo sia come set di competenze messe in atto attraverso costruzioni discorsive e collaborative di compiti, soluzioni, innovazioni all’interno delle interazioni quotidiane. Professionisti impegnati nell’ambito dell’educazione degli adulti possono raccogliere suggerimenti utili per facilitare la costruzione di competenze di pensiero creativo.
GENERE e R-ESISTENZE in movimento. Soggettività, Azioni, Prospettive. p. 35-49, Editrice Università degli Studi di Trento, ISBN: 978-88-8443-894-2, Trento, 31 gennaio - 1 febbraio 2020, 2020
Il contributo presenta i risultati di una ricerca intervento progettata per supportare gruppi di ... more Il contributo presenta i risultati di una ricerca intervento progettata per supportare gruppi di studentesse frequentanti un Corso di Laurea Magistrale a ciclo unico in Scienze della Formazione Primaria e un Corso di Formazione per il conseguimento della specializzazione per il sostegno ad alunni/e con disabilità a riflettere criticamente sulle relazioni che intercorrono tra genere, aspettative di carriera, traiettorie di sviluppo professionale e pratiche didattiche.
ANNALI ONLINE DELLA DIDATTICA E DELLA FORMAZIONE DOCENTE, vol. 13, p. 68-88, ISSN: 2038-1034, 2021
L’articolo esplora le implicazioni epistemologiche e metodologiche dell'approccio trasformativo a... more L’articolo esplora le implicazioni epistemologiche e metodologiche dell'approccio trasformativo allo sviluppo professionale dell’insegnante, evidenziandone le connessioni con la ricerca collaborativa e con gli studi practice-based. È sostenuta l’ipotesi di una costruzione di conoscenze significative con (non su) i/le docenti, emergenti dal confronto con i problemi reali della vita scolastica e capaci di far fronte alla complessità e alla mutevolezza caratterizzanti gli attuali scenari di crisi e cambiamento dei contesti educativi. Adottare una prospettiva practice-based dell’apprendimento trasformativo per promuovere traiettorie di sviluppo professionale implica l’attivazione di cicli di azione, dialogo e riflessione attraverso processi di inquiry collettivi e collaborativi che sappiano coniugare teoria e pratica, ricerca e partecipazione, rigore e rilevanza, coerenza concettuale e impatto. Sono presentati due esempi utili a comprendere le ricadute metodologiche di tale approccio, con particolare riferimento alla tecnica di analisi delle metafore e al protocollo dell’action learning conversation.
Ricerca e Didattica per promuovere intelligenza comprensione e partecipazione. Atti del X Convegno SIRD, 2021
This contribution explores the assumptions that groups of teachers have of cultural pluralism and... more This contribution explores the assumptions that groups of teachers have of cultural pluralism and analyzes the learning undertaken to develop intercultural competencies that allow them to foster processes of inclusion in multiethnic schools. A particular attention is given to the use of critical incidents as a technique to support the teachers involved in critically reflecting on how and why their assumptions have come to condition and, at times, distort their own way of perceiving, feeling, understanding, and acting the difference. Example is presented useful to understand how the device worked to open, in group settings, a reflective dialogue and processes of introspective interaction that made it possible to become aware and (begin to) question the uncritical use of the categories, the generalizations, the evaluation criteria and the prejudices rooted in the logic and functioning of the educational institutions to which they belong.
Adult Education in Global Times: An International Research Conference, AEGT 2021, 2021
Purpose–This research analyses transformative learning in relationship to workplace education, in... more Purpose–This research analyses transformative learning in relationship to workplace education, intertwining it with the theoretical frameworks of informal and incidental learning (Watkins, & Marsick, 2020), and practice-based studies (Gherardi, 2019). Our purpose is to examine the contribution that a practice-based view of transformative learning offers to the study of creativity (Bracci, Romano, & Marsick, in press). Design/methodology/approach–Drawing on key literature themes, we adopted an interpretive case study approach involving 20 professionals expert in creativity practices. Those interviewed included human resource senior managers (n=2), career developers (n=2), creative directors (n=5), fashion graphic designers (n=2), social media specialists (n=5), CEOs of innovative enterprises in the media & tech field (n=4), and a photographer. Findings–The main findings of the study aimed at drawing implications for a practice-based view of transformative learning in workplaces that prioritize creativity and innovation. Originality/value–We offer insights for practitioners and adult educators as to what types of learning paths they might construct to increase the performative potential of creative material practices.
Educational Reflective Practices, 2019
This article explores how intentional communities of inquiry can serve as informal learning conte... more This article explores how intentional communities of inquiry can serve as informal learning context for adults to grow their meaning-making complexity and capacity to manage ambiguity through and in group. A research-based example is used to illustrate the model of informal and incidental learning in practice.
Form@re -Open Journal per la formazione in rete, 2018
The article presents the first step of the research process undertaken to construct a test-compos... more The article presents the first step of the research process undertaken to construct a test-composed of batteries of closed ended questions-for the assessment of the disciplinary skills of students of degree courses in Education and Training Sciences (L-19) of Italian universities that joined the Teco-D project developed by Anvur. It describes the qualitative phase conducted to define the set of items to be submitted to the statistical validation procedure, and which, after the adjustments and calibrations deemed necessary on the basis of the results of the analysis to be carried out, will constitute the test for the assessment of the disciplinary skills provided as part of the Teco-D project. Abstract Il contributo presenta il primo step del processo di ricerca intrapreso per costruire un test-composto di batterie di domande a risposta chiusa-di valutazione delle competenze disciplinari di studenti e studentesse di corsi di laurea in scienze dell'educazione e della formazione (L-19) di università italiane che hanno aderito al progetto Teco-D sviluppato da Anvur. È descritta la fase qualitativa condotta per definire l'insieme di item da sottoporre a procedura di validazione statistica e che, dopo gli aggiustamenti e le calibrazioni ritenuti necessari sulla base dei risultati delle analisi che saranno effettuate, costituirà il test di valutazione delle competenze disciplinari previsto nell'ambito del progetto Teco-D.
Educazione in età adulta. STUDIES ON ADULT LEARNING AND EDUCATION, 2018
Il contributo presenta i risultati di una ricerca intervento progettata per supportare gruppi di ... more Il contributo presenta i risultati di una ricerca intervento progettata per supportare gruppi di dirigenti scolastiche e insegnanti a riflettere criticamente sulle relazioni che intercorrono tra genere, aspettative di carriera, traiettorie di sviluppo professionale e pratiche didattiche. Il progetto di ricerca ha coinvolto 34 dirigenti e 87 insegnanti di scuole secondarie di primo e secondo grado del comune di Milano e di Bergamo che, negli anni 2016 e 2017, hanno partecipato ad attività laboratoriali promosse da una cooperativa sociale lombarda. Ogni anno sono stati condotti due laboratori aventi una durata di 25 ore ciascuno e suddivisi in cinque incontri. Hanno aderito circa 30 persone a laboratorio. Gli obiettivi erano: (1) aiutare le partecipanti a divenire consapevoli e a mettere in discussione sistemi di credenze e assunti culturalmente assimilati e dati per scontati riguardanti il proprio ruolo e i processi di insegnamento; (2) accompagnare traiettorie di sviluppo professionale in un’ottica di genere; (3) affrontare il tema della leadership come pratica situata.
Sono state utilizzate metodologie attive di sviluppo basate, rispettivamente, sull’apprendimento experience-based, sull’apprendimento dall’esperienza e su prospettive femministe post-strutturaliste.
LA FAMIGLIA. BIMESTRALE DI PROBLEMI FAMILIARI, 2018
Purpose – The authors describe research aimed at developing: 1) a more comprehensive framework f... more Purpose – The authors describe research aimed at developing:
- a more comprehensive framework for informal and incidental learning in family contexts;
- a learning dashboard customized for parents interested in enhancing their capacity to reflect on the ways in which they learn to face the challenges, changes, and periods of transition that their own families go through.
Design/methodology/approach – Our proposed model grows out of a reanalysis of data from an earlier study that focused on understanding practical learning and situated knowledge that adults feel meaningful and relevant to constructing their own parental identities, their modes of belonging, and their trajectories of participation in their respective families.
Findings – Findings are based on a multiple case study in which Italian parents residing in Milan and Italian-Americans living in New York City, belonging to upper-middle-class families, were interviewed and involved in laboratories designed to support them in the processes of collective critical reflection on their familial practices.
Research limitations/implications – This study followed a grounded theory research design, formulated to enable development of a middle-range substantive theory that is well-suited to: - explaining the informal and incidental learning paths through which adults construct practices of parenthood;
- defining a learning architecture and designing a research-based self-report inventory to recognize and assess them.
Originality/value – We present informal and incidental learning examples occurring in family contexts that range from predictable “crises” to those that are unanticipated and not routine, and a self-report inventory for assessing parental learning practices and their possible outcomes. We discuss transformative dimensions of informal learning that become important when parents’ frames of reference are self-perceived as distorted or dysfunctional when faced with the more or less critical events that mark family life cycles. We also conceptualize informal and incidental learning through a practice-based approach in the attempt to provide a theoretical vocabulary that enables thought about knowing and learning as social, processual, materially-and-historically-mediated, emergent, situated, and always open-ended and temporary in character.
EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN LEARNING AND TEACHING, 2023
Il contributo propone una riflessione sul tema dello sviluppo di competenze di pensiero critico e... more Il contributo propone una riflessione sul tema dello sviluppo di competenze di pensiero critico e creativo in Higher Education, con particolare riferimento a studenti e studentesse nell'ambito dell'educazione e della formazione.
Pedagogia & Vita, 2023
L’articolo propone un dialogo tra quadri di riferimento teorico-concettuali ed esperienze situate... more L’articolo propone un dialogo tra quadri di riferimento teorico-concettuali ed esperienze situate di docenti universitarie per esplorare come sviluppare identità bianche antirazziste e femministe. Le autrici, donne bianche italiane, suggeriscono alcuni insight radicali che il materialismo relazionale, il femminismo postumano e il paradigma trasformativo possono offrire a studiosi/e e professionisti/e in ambito educativo interessati/e a sviluppare competenze di pensiero critico-riflessivo e decoloniale. L’obiettivo è condividere strumenti di navigazione che ci consentano di: (1) divenire consapevoli della nostra collusione perlopiù ignara con diverse forme di razzismo e sessismo interiorizzate e socializzate nell’ambito della cultura patriarcale e suprematista bianca di cui facciamo parte; (2) affermare positivamente le differenze tra persone marginalizzate che vivono lungo molteplici assi di disuguaglianza. Ciò implica riconoscere che nessuna traiettoria emancipativa, per quanto parziale, possa mai essere completamente incorporata o inclusa nelle condizioni di vita socio-economiche dominanti, a cui è legata da un’opposizione critica.
Boffo Vanna; Del Gobbo Giovanna; Malavasi Pierluigi (a cura di), Dare la parola: professionalità pedagogiche, educative e formative. A 100 anni dalla nascita di don Milani. SOCIETÀ ITALIANA DI PEDAGOGIA, 2024
This article explores the conceptualizations of transformative learning that the posthuman femini... more This article explores the conceptualizations of transformative learning that the posthuman feminism outlined by Braidotti (2022, 2023) and the intersectional feminism within which bell hooks’ (2004, 2010) contribution fits offer scholars and practitioners engaged in the practice of fostering its development in educational contexts. The limitations of individual theories of transformative learning are addressed (Mezirow, 1998, 2000; Cranton, 2000; Daloz, 2000; Dirx, 2006) and analyzed key social categories, such as class, race, gender and sexual orientation, age, and physical conformation, as central to understanding how to cultivate their emancipatory dimensions in educational settings and construct our white professional identities in an antiracist and feminist sense – abandoning the myth of white or Euro-American epistemology (Brookfield, 2014, 2021; Teo, 2022) of neutral and non-impositional facilitation.
Form@re : Open Journal per la Formazione in Rete, Apr 30, 2022
This article proposes a reflection on the development of an educational model to promote creative... more This article proposes a reflection on the development of an educational model to promote creative thinking skills specifically addressed to students who are preparing for teaching professions. The reasons underlying this interest are related to recognizing: (1) creativity, also in light of the development of technologies, as one of the most requested and rewarded skills compared to the professional scenarios that are taking shape; (2) the centrality that future professionals working in school institutions have in forming global citizens who are able to move in a world that is constantly changing, helping to make it more inclusive, socially cohesive, sustainable and productive. A practice-based, cultural, and distributed perspective is adopted to the study of creativity that assumes it both as a social, cultural and contextualized process and as a set of skills implemented through discursive and collaborative constructions of tasks, solutions and innovations within daily interactions.
Form@re : Open Journal per la Formazione in Rete, Apr 30, 2022
Il presente contributo è da ritenersi frutto di un confronto sinergico tra le autrici. Per ragion... more Il presente contributo è da ritenersi frutto di un confronto sinergico tra le autrici. Per ragioni di responsabilità scientifica, si specifica che il paragrafo 1 deve essere attribuito a Giovanna Del Gobbo, il paragrafo 2 a Laura Menichetti, il paragrafo 3 a Francesca Bracci, il paragrafo 4 a Daniela Frison.
Rivista Italiana di Educazione Familiare, 2021
This paper explores the processes of construction of difference in the materiality of a space of ... more This paper explores the processes of construction of difference in the materiality of a space of daily interculturalism, through the analysis of the interactions characterizing the life of a multiethnic condominium, which is located in the historic center of Arezzo (Tuscany, Italy). An ethnographic study was conducted which – entering the wider movement of post-qualitative methodologies – incorporated in the analysis process our experiences and personal interpretations, since directly involved and participating in the reality observed as residents in the housing complex. Our interest is aimed at studying the practical use of difference in everyday life, analyzing a condominium as effective space of multiethnic coexistence where matter, subjects, spaces, categories, and geographies are articulated along a continuum of sense and experience, which has found a learning laboratory in the building and its “practices of living”.
The Palgrave Handbook of Learning for Transformation, 2022
EDUCATIONAL REFLECTIVE PRACTICES, 2018
The article presents findings from an intervention research designed to support undergraduate fem... more The article presents findings from an intervention research designed to support undergraduate female students and educators of early childhood education and care services to reflect critically on the relationships between gender, career expectations, trajectories of professional development and work practices. The research project involved fifty-four female students of the third year of the degree in education sciences that, in the academic year 2017-2018, followed a laboratory entitled Supporting Development of Professional Identity, and forty-three female educators of the early childhood care and education services who participated into training activities promoted by a Lombard social cooperative. The goals were: 1. to develop knowledge and insight on what it means to be a professional practitioner in the education sector; 2. to support trajectories of professional development from a gender perspective; 3. to help participants become aware and question taken-for-granted and culturally assimilated assumptions about professional practices, identity, and role of the educator; In the laboratory path, were adopted action methodologies based, respectively, on experience-based learning (Andresen, Boud & Cohen, 2000; Boud, Keogh & Walker, 2013), learning from experience (Argyris & Schön, 1978; Lave & Wenger, 1991; O’Neil & Marsick, 2009), and post-structuralist feminist perspective (Francis & Skelton, 2005; Gherardi & Poggio, 2006). The aim is to present a methodological framework useful to elaborate, within project-based paths, models of collective action to promote individual and organizational learning through the construction of reflective knowledge.
Proceedings, 2017
This paper presents a case study that analyzes how university apprenticeship experience-that Ital... more This paper presents a case study that analyzes how university apprenticeship experience-that Italian students of Education Sciences are asked to do during their Bachelor's Degree program-can be conceived as learning path to help them become aware and (begin to) question taken-for-granted and culturally assimilated assumptions about professional practice, identity and the role of the educator. A particular attention is given to the methodological implications related to the adoption of the technique of metaphor analysis to support learners in recognizing the beliefs about their own profession and, eventually, changing them. Metaphor analysis was used both as a learning activity and a heuristic to guide processes of professional development. Metaphors were used to: (a) uncover tacit ways of making meaning, (b) name experiences, and (c) imagine new possibilities. We address, finally, the main images of role emerged from groups work to describe the representations of what the educator should do, who she/he is and which are the aims of her/his work. The savior, the scientist, the farmer, the sculptor, the good Samaritan, the militant, the transgressor are some of the delineated images that our participants analyzed to understand reasons and issues behind their own practices.
Nicolaides A., Eschenbacher S., Buergelt P.T., Gilpin-Jackson Y., Welch M., Misawa M. (eds). The Palgrave Handbook of Learning for Transformation, pp. 109-128, 2022
This research analyzes transformative learning in relationship to workplace education, intertwini... more This research analyzes transformative learning in relationship to workplace education, intertwining it with the theoretical frameworks of informal and incidental learning (Watkins and Marsick in Adv Dev Hum Resour 23:88–96, 2020.), and practice-based studies (Gherardi in How to conduct a practice-based study. Problems and methods. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019). Our purpose is to examine the contribution that a practice-based view of transformative learning offers to the study of creativity (Bracci et al., 2021). Drawing on key literature themes, we adopted an interpretive case study approach involving 20 professionals expert in creativity practices. Those interviewed included human resource senior managers (n = 2), career developers (n = 2), creative directors (n = 5), fashion graphic designers (n = 2), social media specialists (n = 5), CEOs of innovative enterprises in the media and tech field (n = 4), and a photographer. The main findings of the study aimed at drawing implications for a practice-based view of transformative learning in workplaces that prioritize creativity and innovation. We offer insights for practitioners and adult educators as to what types of learning paths they might construct to increase the performative potential of creative material practices.
In: Kostara, Effrosyni; Gavrielatos, Andreas; Loads, Daphne (eds). Transformative Learning: Theory and Praxis. New Perspectives and Possibilities, 2022
This chapter analyses transformative learning in relationship to workplace education, intertwinin... more This chapter analyses transformative learning in relationship to workplace education, intertwining it with the theoretical frameworks of informal and incidental learning, and practice-based studies. Our purpose is to examine the contribution that a practice-based view of transformative learning offers to the study of creativity and to the construction of organizational areas of reflexivity. We present a case study, based on action research, to illustrate the potentialities and shortcomings of using these approaches to create – through an emergent collaborative process of inquiry into – trajectories of professional development, organizational change, and models of collective actions within a craft-based workplace.
In: (a cura di): Polenghi Simonetta; Cereda Ferdinando; Zini Paola, La responsabilità della pedagogia nelle trasformazioni dei rapporti sociali. Storie, Linee di Ricerca e Prospettive. p. 1828-1839, Pensa MultiMedia, ISBN: 978 88 6760 828 7, Milano, 14, 15, 16 gennaio 2021, 2021
Il contributo propone una riflessione sul tema della creatività e sui processi di apprendimento c... more Il contributo propone una riflessione sul tema della creatività e sui processi di apprendimento che ne permettono lo sviluppo. Presenta i principali risultati di una ricerca qualitativa interessata a indagare le pratiche di creatività caratterizzanti professionisti che si muovono in ambienti lavorativi deputati alla produzione di conoscenze, idee o oggetti comunemente identificati come innovativi, artistici e artigianali. È adottato un approccio practice-based allo studio della creatività che consente di assumerla sia come processo sociale, culturale e partecipativo sia come set di competenze messe in atto attraverso costruzioni discorsive e collaborative di compiti, soluzioni, innovazioni all’interno delle interazioni quotidiane. Professionisti impegnati nell’ambito dell’educazione degli adulti possono raccogliere suggerimenti utili per facilitare la costruzione di competenze di pensiero creativo.
GENERE e R-ESISTENZE in movimento. Soggettività, Azioni, Prospettive. p. 35-49, Editrice Università degli Studi di Trento, ISBN: 978-88-8443-894-2, Trento, 31 gennaio - 1 febbraio 2020, 2020
Il contributo presenta i risultati di una ricerca intervento progettata per supportare gruppi di ... more Il contributo presenta i risultati di una ricerca intervento progettata per supportare gruppi di studentesse frequentanti un Corso di Laurea Magistrale a ciclo unico in Scienze della Formazione Primaria e un Corso di Formazione per il conseguimento della specializzazione per il sostegno ad alunni/e con disabilità a riflettere criticamente sulle relazioni che intercorrono tra genere, aspettative di carriera, traiettorie di sviluppo professionale e pratiche didattiche.
ANNALI ONLINE DELLA DIDATTICA E DELLA FORMAZIONE DOCENTE, vol. 13, p. 68-88, ISSN: 2038-1034, 2021
L’articolo esplora le implicazioni epistemologiche e metodologiche dell'approccio trasformativo a... more L’articolo esplora le implicazioni epistemologiche e metodologiche dell'approccio trasformativo allo sviluppo professionale dell’insegnante, evidenziandone le connessioni con la ricerca collaborativa e con gli studi practice-based. È sostenuta l’ipotesi di una costruzione di conoscenze significative con (non su) i/le docenti, emergenti dal confronto con i problemi reali della vita scolastica e capaci di far fronte alla complessità e alla mutevolezza caratterizzanti gli attuali scenari di crisi e cambiamento dei contesti educativi. Adottare una prospettiva practice-based dell’apprendimento trasformativo per promuovere traiettorie di sviluppo professionale implica l’attivazione di cicli di azione, dialogo e riflessione attraverso processi di inquiry collettivi e collaborativi che sappiano coniugare teoria e pratica, ricerca e partecipazione, rigore e rilevanza, coerenza concettuale e impatto. Sono presentati due esempi utili a comprendere le ricadute metodologiche di tale approccio, con particolare riferimento alla tecnica di analisi delle metafore e al protocollo dell’action learning conversation.
Ricerca e Didattica per promuovere intelligenza comprensione e partecipazione. Atti del X Convegno SIRD, 2021
This contribution explores the assumptions that groups of teachers have of cultural pluralism and... more This contribution explores the assumptions that groups of teachers have of cultural pluralism and analyzes the learning undertaken to develop intercultural competencies that allow them to foster processes of inclusion in multiethnic schools. A particular attention is given to the use of critical incidents as a technique to support the teachers involved in critically reflecting on how and why their assumptions have come to condition and, at times, distort their own way of perceiving, feeling, understanding, and acting the difference. Example is presented useful to understand how the device worked to open, in group settings, a reflective dialogue and processes of introspective interaction that made it possible to become aware and (begin to) question the uncritical use of the categories, the generalizations, the evaluation criteria and the prejudices rooted in the logic and functioning of the educational institutions to which they belong.
Adult Education in Global Times: An International Research Conference, AEGT 2021, 2021
Purpose–This research analyses transformative learning in relationship to workplace education, in... more Purpose–This research analyses transformative learning in relationship to workplace education, intertwining it with the theoretical frameworks of informal and incidental learning (Watkins, & Marsick, 2020), and practice-based studies (Gherardi, 2019). Our purpose is to examine the contribution that a practice-based view of transformative learning offers to the study of creativity (Bracci, Romano, & Marsick, in press). Design/methodology/approach–Drawing on key literature themes, we adopted an interpretive case study approach involving 20 professionals expert in creativity practices. Those interviewed included human resource senior managers (n=2), career developers (n=2), creative directors (n=5), fashion graphic designers (n=2), social media specialists (n=5), CEOs of innovative enterprises in the media & tech field (n=4), and a photographer. Findings–The main findings of the study aimed at drawing implications for a practice-based view of transformative learning in workplaces that prioritize creativity and innovation. Originality/value–We offer insights for practitioners and adult educators as to what types of learning paths they might construct to increase the performative potential of creative material practices.
Educational Reflective Practices, 2019
This article explores how intentional communities of inquiry can serve as informal learning conte... more This article explores how intentional communities of inquiry can serve as informal learning context for adults to grow their meaning-making complexity and capacity to manage ambiguity through and in group. A research-based example is used to illustrate the model of informal and incidental learning in practice.
Form@re -Open Journal per la formazione in rete, 2018
The article presents the first step of the research process undertaken to construct a test-compos... more The article presents the first step of the research process undertaken to construct a test-composed of batteries of closed ended questions-for the assessment of the disciplinary skills of students of degree courses in Education and Training Sciences (L-19) of Italian universities that joined the Teco-D project developed by Anvur. It describes the qualitative phase conducted to define the set of items to be submitted to the statistical validation procedure, and which, after the adjustments and calibrations deemed necessary on the basis of the results of the analysis to be carried out, will constitute the test for the assessment of the disciplinary skills provided as part of the Teco-D project. Abstract Il contributo presenta il primo step del processo di ricerca intrapreso per costruire un test-composto di batterie di domande a risposta chiusa-di valutazione delle competenze disciplinari di studenti e studentesse di corsi di laurea in scienze dell'educazione e della formazione (L-19) di università italiane che hanno aderito al progetto Teco-D sviluppato da Anvur. È descritta la fase qualitativa condotta per definire l'insieme di item da sottoporre a procedura di validazione statistica e che, dopo gli aggiustamenti e le calibrazioni ritenuti necessari sulla base dei risultati delle analisi che saranno effettuate, costituirà il test di valutazione delle competenze disciplinari previsto nell'ambito del progetto Teco-D.
Educazione in età adulta. STUDIES ON ADULT LEARNING AND EDUCATION, 2018
Il contributo presenta i risultati di una ricerca intervento progettata per supportare gruppi di ... more Il contributo presenta i risultati di una ricerca intervento progettata per supportare gruppi di dirigenti scolastiche e insegnanti a riflettere criticamente sulle relazioni che intercorrono tra genere, aspettative di carriera, traiettorie di sviluppo professionale e pratiche didattiche. Il progetto di ricerca ha coinvolto 34 dirigenti e 87 insegnanti di scuole secondarie di primo e secondo grado del comune di Milano e di Bergamo che, negli anni 2016 e 2017, hanno partecipato ad attività laboratoriali promosse da una cooperativa sociale lombarda. Ogni anno sono stati condotti due laboratori aventi una durata di 25 ore ciascuno e suddivisi in cinque incontri. Hanno aderito circa 30 persone a laboratorio. Gli obiettivi erano: (1) aiutare le partecipanti a divenire consapevoli e a mettere in discussione sistemi di credenze e assunti culturalmente assimilati e dati per scontati riguardanti il proprio ruolo e i processi di insegnamento; (2) accompagnare traiettorie di sviluppo professionale in un’ottica di genere; (3) affrontare il tema della leadership come pratica situata.
Sono state utilizzate metodologie attive di sviluppo basate, rispettivamente, sull’apprendimento experience-based, sull’apprendimento dall’esperienza e su prospettive femministe post-strutturaliste.
LA FAMIGLIA. BIMESTRALE DI PROBLEMI FAMILIARI, 2018
Purpose – The authors describe research aimed at developing: 1) a more comprehensive framework f... more Purpose – The authors describe research aimed at developing:
- a more comprehensive framework for informal and incidental learning in family contexts;
- a learning dashboard customized for parents interested in enhancing their capacity to reflect on the ways in which they learn to face the challenges, changes, and periods of transition that their own families go through.
Design/methodology/approach – Our proposed model grows out of a reanalysis of data from an earlier study that focused on understanding practical learning and situated knowledge that adults feel meaningful and relevant to constructing their own parental identities, their modes of belonging, and their trajectories of participation in their respective families.
Findings – Findings are based on a multiple case study in which Italian parents residing in Milan and Italian-Americans living in New York City, belonging to upper-middle-class families, were interviewed and involved in laboratories designed to support them in the processes of collective critical reflection on their familial practices.
Research limitations/implications – This study followed a grounded theory research design, formulated to enable development of a middle-range substantive theory that is well-suited to: - explaining the informal and incidental learning paths through which adults construct practices of parenthood;
- defining a learning architecture and designing a research-based self-report inventory to recognize and assess them.
Originality/value – We present informal and incidental learning examples occurring in family contexts that range from predictable “crises” to those that are unanticipated and not routine, and a self-report inventory for assessing parental learning practices and their possible outcomes. We discuss transformative dimensions of informal learning that become important when parents’ frames of reference are self-perceived as distorted or dysfunctional when faced with the more or less critical events that mark family life cycles. We also conceptualize informal and incidental learning through a practice-based approach in the attempt to provide a theoretical vocabulary that enables thought about knowing and learning as social, processual, materially-and-historically-mediated, emergent, situated, and always open-ended and temporary in character.
Il volume presenta framework teorico-concettuali, prospettive metodologiche ed esperienze di form... more Il volume presenta framework teorico-concettuali, prospettive metodologiche ed esperienze di formazione che condividono l’interesse verso gli apprendimenti che gli adulti costruiscono attraverso la partecipazione ai contesti sociali naturali della vita quotidiana, della famiglia e del lavoro. Sono illustrate le più recenti articolazioni di una visione dell’apprendimento che ha acquisito nell’ultimo decennio una grande centralità nel dibattito nazionale e internazionale, sottolineandone le caratteristiche di processo costruttivo, sociale e contestualizzato. Il lavoro analizza, inoltre, esperienze situate di ricerca e formazione che esplorano le opportunità e i vincoli legati alla scelta di approcci educativi diretti a sostenere gruppi di adulti (genitori, artigiani e designer) nell’assunzione di azioni trasformative e nello sviluppo di capacità riflessive sulle loro pratiche.
l volume si colloca in un ambito di ricerca interessato ad approfondire i processi di apprendimen... more l volume si colloca in un ambito di ricerca interessato ad approfondire i processi di apprendimento e di costruzione della conoscenza che accadono nei contesti familiari. L’obiettivo è comprendere quali siano gli apprendimenti che gli adulti considerano fondamentali per costruire la propria identità genitoriale e per definire le competenze educative ritenute essenziali per gestire la vita familiare. La famiglia è tematizzata come comunità di apprendimento permanente e come contesto generatore di saperi situati. Dentro la famiglia si apprende o disapprende a gestire un rapporto di coppia, a educare i figli, a far fronte a lutti, malattie, successi e insuccessi, a elaborare i saperi trasmessi da una generazione all’altra e le discontinuità con la tradizione. Convivere, prendere parte alle routine familiari, interagire con i diversi membri implica partecipare a un’attività conoscitiva pratica che sollecita a interrogarsi su quali siano i dispositivi educativi grado di intercettare, promuovere e validare i saperi e i repertori di pratica che i sistemi familiari generano.
Il contributo descrive il percorso e i risultati di un’esperienza di consulenza condotta in un’az... more Il contributo descrive il percorso e i risultati di un’esperienza di consulenza condotta in un’azienda del Nord Italia che rappresenta un’eccellenza del Made in Italy nel settore del lusso. L’obiettivo dell’intervento è stato progettare logiche di azione formativa in grado di accompagnare e legittimare il percorso di ingresso di novizi assunti in un’area aziendale caratterizzata da un know how tecnico a elevato contenuto artistico e artigianale. Ciò ha implicato il riconoscimento e la formalizzazione del profilo di competenze degli esperti e dei loro percorsi di sviluppo, rendendo possibili strategie di formazione di ingresso che hanno travalicato forme consolidate di istruzione in aula.