Promoting social integration among peers: educational engagement beyond teaching

Abstract

The considerable presence of students with disabilities in Italian schools of all grades (Istat, 2022) calls for a reflection on the meaning that this presence takes on in terms of social participation and effective involvement of the student with disabilities in the plurality of life contexts. The quality of school integration is measured by its ability to promote long-term inclusion that goes beyond the time and space of the school setting, prolonging its positive impact on the student with disabilities in the realisation of his or her life project. In support of this, the paper dwells on the fundamental role of peers in the school success and the social inclusion process of peers with disabilities, recognising them as a fundamental escorting and accompanying factor for the student in the transition from the structured and formal settings to the life contexts that specifically concern the informal space of recreational time, entertainment, but also of associationism and citizenship.