The role of pedagogical research in support of the action of the institutions and the educating community. Ideas starting from the findings of a research
Marialibera d’Ambrosio, Maria Paola Piccini
Ponte, Per un Futuro Superiore is a project comprised in the initiatives of the Working Group on school dropout established by the Department of Educational and School Services of Rome in 2019. The Institute of Pedagogical Methodology and Sociology of the Salesian Pontifical University, has contributed with an accompanying action-research for monitoring the project. Part of its results are discussed in this article. The research action combines a systemic approach to the educating community — the main key to activating virtuous educational processes — and an ideaof scientific research as producing theoretically relevant and socially useful knowledge, especially in the field of pedagogy, whose transformative vocation is rooted into the ability to dialogue with the social reality and to stimulate reflective processes.The research design envisaged the administration of a questionnaire — in pupils’, parents’ and teachers’ versions — before and after carrying out of the project’s actions. The first questionnaire was answered by 832 people including parents, teachers and second-year pupils of four Roman lower secondary schools. The second one, due to restrictions imposed by COVID-19 pandemic, was addressed only to pupils (246). The results highlight the level of satisfaction for participating in the project, its effectiveness in promoting some transformative processes and interesting points to focus on in future projects.
Keywords
Pedagogical research, reflective thinking, educating community, school dropout.