1,721,104 research outputs found
Nicola Ciletti
No full textIl saggio presenta la figura dell'artista Nicola Ciletti (1883-1967).The essay presents the figure of the artist Nicola Ciletti (1883-1967)
The role of primary-school support staff in Italy: a case for re-thinking their professional characteristics
No full textInternationally, support staff with limited teacher training (Teaching Assistants [TA]) are hired to support the mainstream education of children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND). Meanwhile, teachers instruct the whole class. Although TAs might help children with significant difficulties participating in the classwork (complex SEND), children with milder needs could overly rely on TAs’ support to complete classroom tasks, ultimately compromising their thinking and learning. This study was conducted in an insufficiently examined and unique context (Italy), providing support staff (Support Teachers [ST]) with special- and mainstream-pedagogy training and overlapping whole-class responsibilities with classroom teachers. Drawing from classroom observations of an ST and interviews with 31 other STs in Italian primary schools, the findings illustrate that the STs primarily instructed children with SEND despite their level of need. Rarely did they collaborate with teachers in whole-class instruction. The interviewed STs widely associated their ‘specialist’ role with the broader perceptions that STs are better prepared for SEND support due to their special education training not available to teachers. STs’ professional characteristics therefore create imperfect conditions seen elsewhere for the education of children with (mild) SEND. The findings have significant implications for re-thinking ST professional characteristics
An investigation of the deployment and practice of Teaching Assistants (TA) in Italian, mainstream primary classrooms: TA class roles and support for children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities
No full textInternationally, Teaching Assistants (TA) play a crucial role in the mainstream education of children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND). They support children with SEND, whereas teachers deal with whole-class instruction. Despite TAs’ help, children with SEND were found to progress less than their peers. Researchers blamed the inadequate, if any, training of TAs, negatively impacting their instruction and children's learning. Also, they argued that children with SEND might overly rely on the nearby TAs to complete their classwork, thereby compromising their thinking and learning. The current research was carried out in a country that provides TAs with wealthy training and whole-class responsibilities, notably Italy, in order to provide a nuanced understanding of TA deployment and practice. The research relied on a series of thematic analyses of the classroom observations of a single TA (Study 1); and interviews with 31 other TAs (Study 2). The thematic analyses converted the continuity of the observational and interview data into discontinuous, thematic codes. The findings were displayed a) quantitatively by counting the frequencies of the thematic codes in the data stream (i.e., systematic observations); b) qualitatively by describing the codes. Socio-cultural theories were used to interpret qualitative and quantitative results. Despite their whole-class responsibilities, the participating TAs were found instructing children with SEND and less frequently collaborating with teachers for whole-class education. Also, the research findings suggested that the TAs did not effectively scaffold the thinking of children with SEND, regardless of being well-trained. Among the many teaching patterns, the research found that the TAs were correcting children’s mistakes or supplying them with the answers to academic tasks, thus closing down children’s thinking and learning. The findings and their relation to TA conditions of employment and training are further discussed in the thesis
Apprendere attraverso il metaverso e la realtà immersiva: nuove prospettive inclusive
No full textIn recent times there has been increasing talk about the metaverse, augmented
and immersive reality and the educational opportunities related to the latter.
Augmented reality and virtual reality are inherent and integral to the metaverse. In
recent months, researchers and experts in the field of Higher Education have been
experimenting and analyzing its use in learning contexts and processes, trying to
understand whether it can be useful in order to provide new means for more
inclusive and motivating teaching for learners. But is it really possible to learn
through the metaverse and make this virtual and immersive environment inclusive
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND EMOTIONS: AN EXPLORATORY SURVEY ON THE PERCEPTION OF A.I. TECHNOLOGIES BETWEEN SUPPORT TEACHERS IN TRAINING
No full textThis paper proposes a reflection on Artificial Intelligence technologies used for affective computing by analyzing the point of view of support teachers in training at the University of Foggia. To achieve this, an exploratory survey was conducted on with 596 support teachers in training at the University of Foggia’s TFA Support (F=81.9%) by submitting a questionnaire adapted from the Godspeed scales proposed by Bartneck et al. (2009) and a questionnaire developed by Heerink et al. (2019)
NUOVE SFIDE DELLA SCUOLA SECONDARIA NELLA FORMAZIONE DEI FUTURI CITTADINI NELL’ERA DIGITALE
No full textSocioemotional instruction in learning support staff across Italian primary schools: a call for using the ‘multidimensional, scaffolding framework’ in training programmes
No full textInternational research has illustrated that learning support staff (LSS) play a crucial role in the instruction of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND): they support the children’s classwork while teachers manage the whole-class instruction. However, fewer research studies have explored LSS’s role in the children’s socioemotional learning, although this support is highly important for pupils’ regulation of negative emotions, effective participation in whole-class conversations, and academic learning. The current research explores LSS socioemotional practices in a relatively unexamined country (Italy), providing LSS with a high level of training. Thirty-one primary-school-LSS members completed a questionnaire and interview. The LSS reported infrequently supporting the socioemotional learning of children with (and without) SEND despite their difficulties. Also, they appeared to overly control the children’s peer interactions and emotions, minimising their self-management. The participants associated their infrequent socioemotional instruction with their limited socioemotional training and preparedness, and insufficient persuasion by the national curriculum to promote socioemotional education. Findings are largely interpreted using a new ‘multidimensional, scaffolding framework’ linking LSS socioemotional practices and related children’s learning. Findings also suggest that the framework could usefully guide LSS training.</p
Scaffolding by teaching assistants in England: exploring the interaction between practice and task structure
No full textInternationally, teaching assistants (TA) support children with special needs and/or disabilities as they complete classroom tasks; meanwhile, teachers manage whole-class instruction. Given the limited training for TAs, Bosanquet et al. (2020) developed an influential framework promoting TA effectiveness. Their ‘scaffolding framework’ encourages TAs to provide minor support, such as prompting, while children complete tasks. Accordingly, children retain independence, maximising thinking and learning. This study examined how different task structures, including open tasks, influence the strategies TAs use. Two focus groups were conducted with four TAs working in an English primary school. Through facilitated discussion, participants reviewed the scaffolding framework and commented on videos showcasing the practices of another primary-school TA across open and closed tasks. Data were largely coded using the categories of the scaffolding framework. The findings reveal that TA support, such as prompting, is recommendable across tasks. In open-task settings, TAs could also utilise more nuanced assistance, notably ‘what else’ questions. These encourage children to further elaborate on their ideas, leveraging the undetermined nature of open-task responses. Such scaffolding opportunities are more limited in closed tasks, which require precise answers. Moreover, the findings illustrate that effective TA practice stems from open-ended or closed tasks well-suited to children's capabilities
INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE ED EMOZIONI: UN'INDAGINE ESPLORATIVA SULLA PERCEZIONE DELLE TECNOLOGIE A.I. TRA DEGLI INSEGNANTI DI SOSTEGNO IN FORMAZIONE
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