WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE ITALY - news journal UPDATE - (en) Italy, FDCA, Cantiere #30 - FROM PEDAGOGICAL ACTIVISM TO POPULAR SCHOOL (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Pedagogical activism is an educational method that originated at the end

of the 19th century, a method that questions traditional teaching, made
up only of transmission strategies, such as the frontal lesson, in favor
of a more formative and less notional school. John Dewey is an
emblematic figure of pedagogical activism and contributed to defining
the active method. American philosopher and pedagogist, born in 1859 and
died in 1952. According to Dewey, pedagogy and politics are never
separate. Educational projects always have a political vocation, and the
school itself can be a relevant place for the political development of
society. In particular, according to Dewey, the school must be
democratic and must educate for citizenship and participation. The works
in which his ideas on the intertwining of pedagogy and politics are
fulfilled are: "School and Society" and "Democracy and Education". In
Italy, a leading exponent of pedagogical activism was Maria Montessori.
In fact, Montessori pedagogy is based on independence, on the freedom to
choose one's own educational path (within codified limits), and on
respect for the natural physical, psychological and social development
of the child. The return of a method that posed to teachers the problem
of placing themselves in front of the students, with the awareness of
their potential, and therefore of creating the conditions for them to
free their thoughts and interact actively in the process of building
knowledge, in balance between direct experience (practice) and
theoretical study (theory), was certainly an evolutionary step that
served as a starting point for a concept of public school and equal
opportunities, regardless of social classes. Celestino Freinet
(1896-1966) is considered the greatest exponent of French activism.
However, despite having been inspired by authoritative figures such as
Dewey and Montessori, he never wanted to consider himself the exponent
of a current, but simply a teacher. He was the advocate of popular
pedagogy. His motto was: "You learn by collaborating, in a school
without a chair". His fundamental ideas are two: 1) that there is
nothing more effective than experience to learn. 2) That students must
express themselves freely and participate actively in the construction
of knowledge. Popular pedagogy was born to redeem the poorest students
or those from humble and degraded social contexts. In the book "Birth of
a popular pedagogy", written with his wife and published in 1949,
Celestine outlines the stages that led to the creation of innovative
teaching techniques (which are still valid today), and highlights the
ideological and political-social values, taking a clear political
position in favor of the weakest classes. With his modern pedagogy, he
does not propose a method, but techniques. In fact, the method belongs
to its creator and cannot be changed, while the techniques are
suggestions that teachers can vary, based on the context in which they
work and the needs of the children. The techniques proposed by Freinet
highlight the central role of the material and its careful preparation.
The main techniques are:
1) The walking lesson, which included an outing in the open air, to go
and observe the countryside and the village. Upon returning to class,
after discussing what was observed, the report of the outing was written.
2) The free text, a real "thought that is expressed and communicated to
others", as opposed to the obligatory theme. The students wrote freely
to tell about their experiences, emotions, and experiences. One text was
chosen from all the texts, which would be printed and used for
inter-school correspondence. The free text also motivated the practice
of reading, no longer alien to the interest of students and teacher and
gave rise to further activities (the stories can be translated into
drawing, music and theatrical performances).
3) Printing allowed the production of an artifact, in which not only the
student's work was concluded and preserved, but inter-school
correspondence was also allowed.
4) Inter-school correspondence was a further source of motivation for
writing. The classes that participated in it exchanged a free text,
chosen and printed, on a weekly basis. The union of the printed texts of
a year constituted the class newspaper and the book of life.
A fundamental aspect of Freinet's pedagogical action was cooperation,
which he asked for and obtained from his students and colleagues, with
whom he formed the Cooperation for secular teaching (CEL), and which
allowed him to open the first Ecole Freinet in 1935 in Vence and to
establish the FINEM (Federation Internationale Des Mouvements de L'Ecole
Moderne) in 1957. Freinet's pedagogy was taken up in Italy in 1951 by a
group of teachers who founded the Movement of Educational Cooperation,
of which Mario Lodi was a member until the end of his life. In light of
what has been stated, Louise Michel's pedagogical thought becomes even
more interesting. First of all, it must be highlighted that she was born
in 1830, and therefore, compared to the authors cited, she was truly a
pioneer, a forerunner of pedagogical activism and the concept of popular
school. She obtained her teaching diploma in 1852 in Chaumont, the only
qualification accessible to women at the time. In 1853 she founded a
small free school in Audelencourt and in 1856 in Montmartre, moving to
Paris. The schools conceived by Louise Michel are profoundly secular,
with innovative teaching methods, because Louise supports the importance
of an active pedagogy, of an integral education that combines
intellectual training and manual work, banning punishments and rewards.
Louise's inspiration is her convinced battle for human emancipation and
intercepts in education, a decisive role supporting the need for
cultural and intellectual training (she was a friend of Victor Hugo). In
1892 she founded the International School in London, where she was a
political refugee, which was closed a year later by the authorities.
 From that moment on, in 1895, she began with Sebastian Faure, the
anarchist newspaper "Le libertaire", intensifying her activity as a
lecturer, which she would continue until her death, which occurred in
1905 in Marseille, precisely during a conference tour. What I like to
underline about this woman, such a precursor of a progressive thought on
school, is that she never separated private life and political action,
thought and writing, giving us back with all her integrity and together
with her political battles, an evolved thought on the human species, in
which intellect and heart go in unison, because not deprived of passion
and vital impetus.

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