Le colonie di vacanza come esperienza formativa sul campo per giovani insegnanti: una ricerca storico-pedagogica.

Abstract

This contribution aims to propose some reflections on the experience of the young teachers who worked in Italian holiday camps in the twentieth century. In their long evolution - which has seen them take on different social functions and respond to changing visions of childhood and extracurricular education - the colonies have often made use of the work of teachers who, for a modest financial reward, during the summer accompanied groups of children to places considered congenial to regeneration, in the framework of that age-old pedagogical approach that considers the outdoors as a privileged context for education. On the basis of what has emerged from the sources - archive documents, images and, for the most recent cases, interviews with witnesses - an attempt will be made to show how colonies have in fact been, for many teachers, a valuable field training in which to approach the child as a totality.