"Service" for children and families in Italy: from assistance to inclusive participation

Abstract

The essay discusses the history of extra-domestic educational institutions for very young children (0-6 years old), with particular regard to their relationships with families, in a development path which ideally leads, according to regulations, from assistance to inclusive participation. Pedagogical analysis is a useful perspective for understanding, between being and having to be, hidden and implicit aspects of everyday life in order to build up new awareness of what is happening, what one believes to be happening, what one would like to happen.