ISSN: 2611-6561 Pedagogia Oggi [Pedagogy Today] is a peer-reviewed journal produced by SIPed - Società Italiana di Pedagogia / Italian Society of Education; it publishes articles on cutting-edge themes across the different domains of education research, covering developments in both Italian and international scholarship. Theory of Education and Social Pedagogy, History of Education, Special Education, Experimental Pedagogy, Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy.
Copyright (c) 2026 Andrea Bobbio, Francesca Borruso, Fabio Dovigo, Antonio Marzano https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Portraits of female adolescents. A journey to self-discovery in the works of Anguissola, Reggiani, Pitzorno and Masini
For Aidan Chambers (2020), adolescence is “the age between” evolving through the encounter of young readers with unexpected literary works. This research wishes to explore self-discovery as privileged point of view on adolescence, with female protagonists facing different forms of journeys in selected works by Giana Anguissola, Renée Reggiani, Bianca Pitzorno and Beatrice Masini. The analysis follows the protagonists’ evolution, but at the same time reflects on the socio-cultural context in Italy in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st (Boero, De Luca, 2009) together with the transformations of the concept of adolescence. The narrative choices of the authors communicate with potential adolescent readers that are invited to give their own answers to the questions posed by literary fiction.
Copyright (c) 2026 Claudia Alborghetti https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Growing up as Catholics in the 80s. Miki Nutella’s comics (1982-1989)
In the 1980s, the Miki Nutella comic strips were published in Segno nel mondo - Ragazzi, a Catholic Action magazine aimed at members aged 12 to 14. Together with the letters page edited by Don Tonino Lasconi, these introduced a new and very frank language for teenagers, especially girls, to help them address even the most intimate existential questions. Female readers had no qualms about asking questions about sexuality and physical appearance, as well as expressing doubts, with a certain freedom of expression, about religious faith and the quality of their relationships, thus revealing the continuing relevance of the educational role of the Church, which was considered a reliable interlocutor.
Copyright (c) 2026 Andrea Dessardo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Atmospheres of possibility. Adolescence and adolescences between infinity and form
Adolescence is the age of possibility, in which the individual projects themselves towards a future that they perceive as open to anything and towards which they advance with an atmospheric feeling. This essay moves away from categorisations and false representations of adolescence, because subjectivity arises from the tension between infinity and form. In fact, the typical traits of adolescence should be considered in the light of a singular unfolding that neutralises the homogenising effect of the collective imagination, because every girl and boy represents a unique way of being an adolescent. Through the epistemological function of the concept of possibility, we see that power and action describe the transformation of the individual in the perspective of a being as “permanence that becomes”, because it is precisely from the dialectic between change and conservation that the young person's way of life emerges.
Copyright (c) 2026 Maria Francesca D'Amante https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Playing adolescence between social pressures and possible worlds
This paper analyses educational work undertaken with today’s adolescents, exploring the emerging manifestations of their distress in relation to the social, economic, and cultural processes of late Western modernity. The article follows two complementary tracks. Firstly, it reinterprets adolescent malaise as resulting from social acceleration, pressure to perform, and the reduction in liminal spaces for development. It also highlights the increasing use of diagnostic labels as a new form of self-expression. Secondly, it identifies pedagogical approaches that encourage us to reconsider educational contexts as spaces of resonance, reciprocity and experimentation, particularly drawing on the metaphor of play in education.
Copyright (c) 2026 Veronica Berni https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Beyond the scandal. Teenagers need to be listened to by adults
The transition from nature to culture finds its spark here (Lévi-Strauss, 1947, p. 67) : the renunciation of jouissance corresponds to the fulfillment of desire. The rule of rules, in fact, does not merely prohibit, it circulates. It is positive. Socially absurd, it nevertheless remains a problem: a path toward disorder, a sign of counter-order, an indication of confusion between generations. The taboo must be met with adult testimony, not a subject or the knowledge of some expert. Accompanying, respecting, and distinguishing fantasies from shared reality is more demanding than scientific proof. One can never say everything there is to say about sex.
Copyright (c) 2026 Jole Orsenigo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Aesth/Ethics of the Body: (Self) Recognition and Peer Gaze in Adolescence
Adolescence is a transformative period in which the body takes centre stage. During this phase, the reworking of one’s aesthetic and ethical self-representation increases vulnerability, as individuals undergo a transition in their identity and become more exposed to the gaze of peers. Being seen and appreciated, and belonging to a group, are fundamental needs, as peers become key reference points for mirroring and mutual recognition, or its painful absence. Pubertal and neurological changes heighten sensitivity to the judgments of others, making the body the primary mediator between the self and others. Through the body, adolescents express themselves, seek recognition, and construct self-understanding. Its primacy in communication also makes it the site where dissatisfaction with appearance emerges and where emotional and psychological distress are expressed (e.g., through self-harm, eating disorders, or social withdrawal), reflecting a denial of recognition of the emerging affective, social, and aesthetic-ethical self.
Copyright (c) 2026 Paola Dusi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Geographies of the invisible: marginalised adolescents, education, informal learning spaces
A WHO study (2024) indicates that many adolescents face the future with concern, which affects their life trajectories. However, certain educational approaches can improve their well-being. In urban peripheries, vulnerabilities are exacerbated by symbolic poverty, territorial stigmatisation and inequalities in access to development. Even so, adolescents draw on resources and practices of resistance in the face of marginalisation. Adolescence, a key stage in identity formation, is influenced by the relationship with the city, which opens up possibilities for recognition. Artistic practices encourage the expression and reworking of experiences, strengthening a sense of belonging and resilience. This study presents an international dialogue between artistic experiences in the peripheries of Italy and Spain, using a comparative qualitative approach. It concludes that such practices act as educational tools that promote resilience, recognition and citizenship, inviting us to rethink the peripheries as spaces where vulnerability and opportunity coexist.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sara Bornatici, Nuria Rajadell Puigross https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Identity construction and media phenomenologies in adolescence: an aesthetic-pedagogical analysis
In a single real-virtual world, adolescents experience multiple versions of themselves through social media profiles, avatars, and roles such as bloggers, fans, influencers, or gamers, shaping their identity between personal and social expectations and media affordances (Savonardo, Marino, 2021). Exposed to consumerist models of subjectivity (Barone, 2021), they develop within a connective map of an exhibited Self, through the contemporary visual hypertrophy that opens up to phenomena of immersivity and aesthetic illusion, where the medium disappears in favour of the subject’s sensory immersion (Lingua, De Cesaris, 2020). In this context of postmodern aesthetic-seductive capitalism, centred on the manipulation of senses, desires, and imaginaries (Diodato, Aimo, 2021), Wulf’s (2014) anthropo-pedagogical analysis of mimesis and cultural learning represents fertile ground for a pedagogy that, by cultivating an aesthetic education open to a plurality of forms, supports the developing self, promoting a misalignment of the gaze, creativity, free expressiveness, and independent thought.
Copyright (c) 2026 Elisabetta Villano https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Voices of dwelling: education, urban art, and postdigital multimodal narratives in the peripheral lifeworlds of adolescents
Adolescents are facing complex social, cultural and technological changes that are reshaping how they develop and perceive society. In multicultural urban suburbs, narratives of deficit can obscure their constructive actions in creating their cities, minimizing their experiences and rendering their “voices of dwelling” invisible. This study examines the conditions that enable adolescents to narrate their experiences and imagine the future, and explores how urban art, narrative cartography and multimodal storytelling can function as pedagogical tools for placemaking. Through postdigital configurations in which the body, media, and community are intertwined, murals, maps, and mobile assemblages render marginal experiences visible and shareable. A qualitative, interpretive analysis of a dialogue between a project carried out in Northern Italy and practices developed in the United States and Latin America shows how multimodal narratives can express disorientation whilst revealing potential resources and innovative relationships. These generate “third spaces” in which urban art fosters a sense of place, intercultural bonds, and future images.
Copyright (c) 2026 Carlos Escaño, Giampaolo Sabino https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Under the Bridge: adolescents between media and solitude
The lyrics of this “Red Hot Chili Peppers” song symbolize the interface between the real world and the virtual world: they represent the quiet refuge to which adolescents often retreat, often with a “screen” as their only companion. The digital age has radically transformed the emotional and relational landscape of adolescence. Digital media have become the primary environment for socialization, and, at the same time, a growing paradox has emerged: increased hyper-connectivity accompanied by a rise in the experience of emotional loneliness and social isolation. On the one hand, digital media facilitate access to communities and the construction of alternative identities; on the other, they act as a barrier, isolating adolescents in a state of performative solitude, in silent withdrawal, or in the constant fear of “being left out”. In this scenario, education must respond with targeted actions to ensure that the adolescent’s solitude in the contemporary world once again becomes a space where the value of silence and introspection can be rediscovered, rather than a “void” filled by algorithms.
Copyright (c) 2026 Alessandro Versace https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Digital platforms as existential spaces: european experiences of educational engagement and digital youth work
In contemporary Europe, digital platforms are central to adolescents’ lives, functioning both as spaces of socialization and self-expression and as sites of vulnerability and identity struggle. This article critically examines European initiatives engaging young people through digital youth work and participatory programmes, exploring their pedagogical implications. The analysis focuses on three dimensions: digital rights and citizenship, inter- and multicultural dynamics, and the construction of existential horizons. Drawing on selected good practices, the article argues that digital youth work can both mitigate risks and foster young people’s resources through peer support, critical engagement, and co-designed educational pathways.
Copyright (c) 2026 Tommaso Farina https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Revisiting masculinity through identity sutures, new expressive language and inclusive practices in adolescent web series
This contribution seeks to explore the transformations of adolescent masculinities through a pedagogical perspective which, drawing on Lacan’s concept of the point de capiton (1981), identifies a possible educational reading within Anderson’s (2009) paradigm of inclusive masculinity. A pedagogical interpretation of the theoretical framework of inclusive masculinity proposes recognising the contemporary identity crisis of masculinity as a structural condition and invites educational action to focus on revisiting those symbolic nodes, embodied and relational in nature, that enable young people to inhabit the absence of alternative models, transforming it into a practice of recognition, care, and the pluralisation of masculinities.
Copyright (c) 2026 Stefano Maltese https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
I’m ashamed, I don’t compete, I am not: adolescence inside and outside of school, between escapes and inhibitions
Shame is a visibly expressed emotion that triggers a game of self-reflection and comparison between oneself and others, resulting in paralysis, inhibitions, and avoidance. It plays a role in the identity redefinition process that overwhelms adolescents, constantly seeking reflection, approval, and identification. It involves a confrontation with the models imposed by today's competitive society, which in many cases are impossible to approach. This leads to a sense of defeat and inadequacy in relationships with others and with oneself, a disaffection with the ability to think about the near and distant future, pursuing plans and desires. This leads to difficulties in coming to terms with one's own fragilities. Shame paralyzes and alienates, but it allows adolescents to express their requests for help, in the more subtle forms of silence and concealment.
Copyright (c) 2026 Federico Zannoni https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Non-cognitive skills and adolescent identity in technical institutes
This paper problematizes the adolescent experience in technical institutes, a context marked by socially-onstructed hierarchies in educational pathways and devaluing narratives that can affect self-efficacy, motivation and identity. Drawing on a research-training study involving 165 first-year and 153 third-year students, the work analyses the development of non-cognitive skills as sensitive indicators of adolescent transition in environments characterised by a culture of making and the early professionalisation of roles. The findings reveal the process of renegotiating identity and confirm the role of active guidance as an inclusive pedagogical device, capable of supporting students’ initiatives and enhancing technical institutes as generative spaces of educational possibility.
Copyright (c) 2026 Cristiana Cardinali, Maria Cinque https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Teaching practices and school well-being: a dual perspective of teachers and students. Results of a quantitative analysis in lower secondary school
Within the framework of the PRIN* project “Educational Poverty, Cultural Disadvantage, and Social Inclusion Inside and Outside School. Teacher Professional Development and Research-Training in the Post-Covid Era”, multiple case studies were conducted during the 2023/2024 academic year to explore indicators of socio-cultural disadvantage and risk/protective factors in the 11-14 age group. This contribution presents the results of quantitative data analysis from the Negri lower secondary school, Calasanzio Institute, in San Siro (Milan), a complex multi-problem district. Data was collected from first and second-year classes through questionnaires distributed to teachers (n = 31) and to students (n = 189), which explored aspects relating to school well-being and teaching practices. The results reveal a significant discrepancy between what teachers reported and what students observed. The most critical issues concern consolidation practices and the active construction of meaning, particularly metacognitive strategies and the use of hands-on activities, as well as the perceived well-being of certain school classes.
Copyright (c) 2026 Valeria Cotza, Claudia Fredella https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Adolescents heading towards the future. What direction should they take?
Many adolescents feel disoriented when planning a life path that will lead them serenely and consciously into the future. The problems of our world, wars, climate change and difficulties in interpersonal relationships, can tempt them to withdraw from everyday life and isolate themselves. Adults who accompany adolescents in the process of education must therefore respond to the challenge of guiding them by developing educational and teaching interventions that create experiences of participation, discussion and sharing, which can restore the desire and determination to act individually and collectively as a political and cultural hallmark of living in the world. This holistic and value-based approach is the principle behind this field research carried out as part of the PRIN National survey on guidance in schools. Research-training for the testing of a guidance model and the development of an online community.
Copyright (c) 2026 Concetta La Rocca, Massimo Margottini https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Existential well-being and resources among adolescents: a quantitative-correlational research
Building on recent surveys that have shown an increase in indicators of distress among young people, the Teensview research collected the perspectives of 734 pre-adolescents and adolescents living in the Piacenza area in 2024-2025, in order to understand their level of psychosocial well-being and the individual and relational resources that support it. Through the administration of a self-report questionnaire, the survey revealed correlations between the level of self-esteem and life satisfaction, on the one hand, and the perception of meaning, the realization of values, and the support of family, school, and friends, on the other. Overall, the majority of subjects expressed satisfactory levels of well-being, although early adolescents seems to feel better than middle and late adolescents and lower levels of self esteem and life satisfaction were recorded among girls. The realization of meaning, in particular, appears to positively influence the level of perceived well-being, while with advancing age, the search for meaning intensifies.
Copyright (c) 2026 Antonella Arioli, Daniele Bruzzone https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Adolescents in search of themselves and their future: rap music as a means of giving voice to dreams and fears
The paper presents educational guidance pathways that employ rap music as an evocative language to foster adolescents’ self-reflection. In particular, it illustrates the “Rap Therapy” method, adapted to the educational context and implemented in third-year classes of upper secondary schools within school-to-university transition projects. A qualitative analysis conducted on 24 rap songs produced by 510 students, made it possible to investigate the guidance processes activated according to the models proposed by Savickas (2011), Guichard (2009), and Hirschi (2010). The findings reveal a strong activation of dimensions related to personal reflection, future projection, confidence in one’s own abilities, and exploration, as well as a critical reworking of the relationship with the social context and with extrinsic values such as money and success. Rap thus emerges as an educational device capable of promoting meaningful guidance processes.
Copyright (c) 2026 Paola Ricchiardi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Second-generation adolescents: identities in the balance
Second-generation migrants grow up caught between their family’s cultural heritage and the values of their host society, experiencing a state of transculturality that can give rise to identity-related tensions, particularly during adolescence, a crucial phase in the development of self-identity. Although they participate fully in Italian social and school life, their formal recognition remains uncertain: Law No. 91/1992 requires legal and continuous residence until the age of 18 and a declaration within one year, creating a divide between lived identity and recognised identity. This precariousness is also reflected in public discourse, which defines them using metaphors such as ‘bridge children’ or ‘young people of the middle ground’. This paper analyses the dynamics of identity crises that may emerge in multicultural contexts, highlighting risks and resources. Through an intercultural pedagogical perspective, it emphasises the role of schools in promoting inclusion, the celebration of plural identities, and pathways towards active citizenship and intercultural dialogue.
Copyright (c) 2026 Alessandra Casalbore https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Educating for intergenerational justice: adolescence and critical pedagogy from a global perspective
In the context of contemporary global crises, intergenerational justice is often framed in temporal terms, overlooking inequalities among co-present generations. This article proposes a pedagogical reinterpretation of adultcentrism as a form of intergenerational injustice that limits the recognition of adolescents as political subjects in the present, drawing on critical and decolonial perspectives. This paper presents the findings of research combining a thematic analysis of adolescents’ narratives with a Critical Discourse Analysis of institutional and media texts. Findings reveal a gap between public discourses, centered on risk and emergency, and youth voices expressing agency and a demand for participation. The article proposes critical Global Citizenship Education as a pedagogical approach to reopen spaces for intergenerational co-decision.
Copyright (c) 2026 Annalisa Quinto https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cartographies of desire in contemporary manga: the role of the Yaoi (Boys’ Love) genre in adolescent cultures
This article explores the role of the Yaoi manga genre, also known as Boys’ Love, in the identity construction processes of contemporary adolescent cultures. After framing manga as a cultural medium with distinctive aesthetic and narrative features, the article traces the origins of the Yaoi genre within the Japanese shōjo manga tradition, analyzing its main thematic coordinates: the seme/uke relational dynamic, the idealization of intimacy, character androgyny, and the erotic dimension. Through the analysis of paradigmatic works popular among adolescent audiences the article highlights the plurality of the genre’s expressions and discusses its formative implications.
Copyright (c) 2026 Valentina Baeli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Adolescence, Youth Fiction and literary metaphors: Aidan Chambers’ pioneering work
This paper investigates the representations of adolescence in British author Aidan Chambers’ Dance Sequence, engaging specifically with a close reading of the youth novels Now I Know (1987) and This Is All. The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn (2005). Using an interdisciplinary perspective that intertwines adolescent literature studies, cognitive linguistics and cognitive narratology based on postcognitivist approaches to the study of literature, the research analyses the water metaphors Chambers uses for adolescence, showing how these help deconstruct prejudices and consolidated age norms about adolescence itself, thus giving it new meaning and restoring its agency.
Copyright (c) 2026 Elena Guerzoni https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Self-regulation strategies to support agency and inclusion in adolescent students
This paper analyzes the educational transition of adolescents, framing it as a strategic challenge for autonomy and the learning process (Zimmerman, 2000). Difficulties during this stage expose students to the risk of early school leaving (MIM, 2023) and compromise their agency (Bandura, 1997), which is here understood as a crucial device for educational equity and justice (Fabbri, 2025). Adopting a mixed-methods design on a sample of N=204 students, the study explores the nexus between mindset, self-determination, and self-regulated learning (SRL) (Deci & Ryan, 2017) through an action research intervention (Scurati & Zanniello, 1993) implemented in a university context (Ranieri & Gaggioli, 2025). The findings highlight marked decisional uncertainty and a perceived inadequacy of study strategies (De Beni et alii, 2014), with particularly acute vulnerabilities observed among students with SEN (Batini, 2015). The article proposes the development of SRL, grounded in UDL principles (CAST, 2011), as a pivotal tool to foster agency and inclusion, transforming the adolescent from an at-risk subject into an active agent of their own educational path.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sara Casale https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The paradox of teaching: educating between standardization and immeasurability
In an era marked by the imperative of measurement and the proliferation of evaluative devices that tend to reduce educational complexity to a system of observable performances, this article seeks to explore the contemporary paradox of teaching: how can we educate without betraying the inherent immeasurability of the human? Starting with a reflection on desire—not as an individual impulse but as a symbolic horizon and generative force of knowledge—the text investigates the relationship between education and measurement, competence and embodiment, development and duty, synthesis and fidelity to meaning. Competence, far from being reduced to a set of certifiable outcomes, is re-envisioned here as a relational act and an ongoing process that involves the mutual transformation of subject and world. Particular attention is dedicated to the summary, a seemingly marginal practice, yet rethought as a profound educational exercise.
Copyright (c) 2026 Angela Arsena https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Adolescents with an adoptive background: challenges and resources
Adolescence is a potentially challenging time for adopted girls and boys, as the developmental tasks of this period are intertwined with issues related to their origins, early experiences and fragmented life paths. The process of constructing an identity intersects with questions about one's roots, the fear of hurting adoptive parents, and possible experiences of discrimination. Having family and social contexts that can offer listening and support is therefore essential. This paper presents a theoretical framework exploring the relationship between adolescence and adoption, incorporating data from qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews conducted with adopted young adults from 1999 to the present day. The research emphasises the importance of supporting young adoptees in developing an integrated identity that values multiple affiliations and protective factors. It also highlights the educational role of parents in supporting young people in making existential decisions.
Copyright (c) 2026 Stefania Lorenzini, Alessia Tabacchi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Small schools as seen by parents. The results of a survey conducted as part of the “Classi in rete” project
This contribution is part of the "XYZ" project, which was created to address the challenges faced by small schools. The "XYZ" model is based on the idea of having several classes work together as a single Knowledge Building community, thanks to the opportunities offered by technology. During the pilot implementation of the model, which took place in Abruzzo during the 2020/21 school year, a qualitative survey was conducted, using focus groups, on the relationship between schools and parents. In the second instance of implementing the model, which occurred during the 2024/25 school year in Liguria and encompassed 15 comprehensive schools, 28 schools, 69 teachers, 448 students and 32 classes (17 multi-grade), a questionnaire was devised for the parents. The study's objectives were to understand parents' views on small schools and their expectations of the project. This contribution will present and discuss the main findings of this survey.
Copyright (c) 2026 Michelle Pieri, Giuseppina Rita Jose Mangione https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Copyright (c) 2026 Paolo Alfieri, Anna Ascenzi, Andrea Bobbio https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Copyright (c) 2026 Technical Staff https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0