Erika M Pace | University of Salerno Italy (original) (raw)

Papers by Erika M Pace

The principal goal of Home Economics has always been that of empowering people to increase contro... more The principal goal of Home Economics has always been that of empowering people to increase control over their lives. Home Economics education has effectively kept up with emerging needs, prioritising the competencies necessary for family and community wellbeing. Within the complex contemporary society, there is no doubt that the main concern should be to equip individuals with the tools necessary to deal with the rapid cultural and technological evolution they will face throughout life. The theory of simplexity offers a new way of perceiving and dealing with this complexity. It suggests that, based on simplifying principles, the brain finds solutions “to process complex situations very rapidly, elegantly, and efficiently, taking past experience into account and anticipating the future” (Berthoz, 2012, p.3). Thanks to its adaptive interdisciplinary nature, both as a subject and a profession, Home Economics provides the ideal setting for reflection on the simplex properties and principles identified as the tools for life. Home Economists and students alike may well find that gaining awareness of these properties and acquiring the meta-cognitive ability to apply simplifying principles such as detours, inhibition, redundance, vicariance and selective attention, can help to face the complexity in their work, studies and daily lives with a new mindset. This proposed approach suggests a consideration of curriculum reform in Home Economics education and teacher training.

At the turn of the new millennium the European Union (EU) catapulted into a new economic era. The... more At the turn of the new millennium the European Union (EU) catapulted into a new economic era. The golden period of the welfare state, as a solution to social inequity, started to lose ground especially in countries traditionally considered as having conservative-corporatist welfare regimes. Gradually the economic burden the welfare state had transformed itself into became too conspicuous for governments to conceal from other EU member states, the global economic scenario, the sharp eyes of the media and community at large. Due to austerity measures, the guarantee of universal access to healthcare which civil society had gained in exchange of votes started to crumble and, as public debts become more grievous, citizens have started giving up hope on politicians’ promises of finding solutions. In this article we pose the question as to whether civil society can merely be acknowledged as playing a role in healthcare, or if the reform measures adopted are demanding that civil society shoulders the responsibility which states seem unable to handle any longer. In the first part of the article the healthcare system in Italy, the third largest economy in the Euro-zone and a welfare system based on solidarity, is presented as a case study of how the principle of universal healthcare has slowly been nibbled at since the 90s. In the second part we argue that Italian civil society, despite a period characterised by a long transition of administrative and healthcare reforms, plays more than a key role in guaranteeing community wellbeing.

In a time where inclusive education has become the underpinning framework of reference for educat... more In a time where inclusive education has become the underpinning framework of reference for educational policies globally, effective strategies for a smooth and sustainable transformation of educational systems need to be identified. Recent literature on teachers’ attitudes has suggested that the adoption of inclusive policies, although necessary, is not sufficient for its implementation. Particularly, it has highlighted that the successful creation of inclusive environments requires critical reflection on the beliefs and values underpinning the attitudes towards the practical implementation and long-term sustainability of inclusive education.
The research presented in this article outlines the historic evolution of the principles characterising inclusive education in Italy and Europe. It then delineates the competencies required for teacher capacity building in
inclusive contexts and provides an overview of the founding principles supporting critical reflective practice. In conclusion, it proposes a guided strengths-oriented process aimed at enhancing critical reflection during initial and in-service teacher education courses in order to give teachers the opportunity to reflect on the beliefs and values shaping their practice, as well as explore new routes to bring about improvement and build strategic alliances to be able to handle the complex nature characterising current school contexts.

Contemporary health education and promotion (HP) practice is characterised by a complex network o... more Contemporary health education and promotion (HP) practice is characterised by a complex network of a diverse workforce drawn from a broad range of disciplines of which teachers and educators are a crucial part. It is a field that brings together an extensive breadth of knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes and values stemming from bio-medical and social science frameworks. Structuring HP training and practice to ensure it is well-grounded in evidence was the aim of the CompHP project, which identified the Competence-based Standards needed to set up an online European accreditation system to accredit courses and professionals. For accreditation, mastery in three of the nine core competency domains must be attested. Besides offering a best-practice approach to define these Standards, the focus on competence acquisition rather than on learning objectives and content, demands a reflection on the pedagogical models and strategies adopted in Italian higher-education curricula.