School dropout and new possible forms of educational co-responsibility between schools, families and territories. Notes on community educational pacts

Abstract

A school separated from the territory or not supported by it does not have the strength, resources, spaces, structures, to adequately face the various forms of educational and relational poverty of our time. In particular, it seems to be vain to declare that the school want to struggle again school dropout without cultivating a participatory and cooperative approach with the various educational agencies present in its area, without working for an integrated governance system for long-term and wide-ranging interventions. As has been known for some time (from Presidential Decree n. 235/2007), school legislation is expressed in terms of educational co-responsibility between schools and families, even if this appears in many respects and in many contexts an aim to be achieved, a utopia or even an undesirable goal. On the other hand, in an emergency context such as that of the Covid -19 pandemic, an attempt has been made to relaunch the request of the educational community, with the Community Educational Pact which allows collaboration agreements to be signed between local authorities, institutions, schools and third sector entities present in a specific area.This paper intends to explore the potential of this kind of Pact. Actually, it could make it possible to strengthen and diversify the educational offer of schools, make it more generative, also through collaboration between public and private, promote effective learning and orientation activities thanks to the development of students' transversal skills. Moreover, by giving value to community educational pacts, the time seems to have come to rethink the relationship between school and society with pedagogical attitude. Therefore, in the paper, first of all the idea of school dropout will be addressed, meant not only as explicit but also implicit dropout and as educational dropout. Secondly, the potential of Community Pacts will be explored, as an instrument of educational co-responsibility between schools and territories, also in reference to the constitutional principles of solidarity (art. 2), horizontal subsidiarity (art. 118, c.4), commonality of interests (art. 43), right to study and equal opportunities for each and every one. Thirdly, for a review and updating of the concept of educational co-responsibility between schools and students' families, it will be highlighted how the latter are also often victims of educational drop-out and specific implicit educational needs that are often underestimated and unheeded. Finally, some good practices and lines of intervention will be indicated to make schools open to the territory and a place of educational support for parenting and adult education.