The Teachers’ Representation of Educational Poverty: Building Educating Communities in Inner Areas

Abstract

The recent Italian legislation introducing community educational Pacts is part of policies aimed at combating educational poverty. The assumption is that a healthy and collaborative educating community (learning society) constitutes a protective factor against educational poverty: in fact, if this is interpreted within the framework of the capability approach, it is necessary to refer to the ubiquity of educational processes, to the need for collaboration between the different agencies and, finally, to the educating community. This paper reports on an action research, carried out in a country in the inner areas, which investigated the teachers’ representation of educational poverty; supported the construction of a territorial table to oppose educational poverty, intended as a reflexive device. This is a first step towards the construction of the educating community and the formalization of the community educational Pact. This experience teaches us something about what the dynamics of building the educating community in internal areas can be.