Autori: Palumbo, Mauro, Poliandri, Donatella
Titolo: Framing School-to-Work Programs. A Question of Justice
Periodico: Scuola democratica : strategie educative e territorio
Anno: 2025 - Fascicolo: speciale 2 - Pagina iniziale: 3 - Pagina finale: 22

This article presents the Special edition "School-to-Work Programs: An Opportunity for Social Justice?", which examines whether School-to-Work Programs (SWPs) can advance educational justice or, conversely, reproduce structural inequalities. Framed through the Capability Approach, it conceptualizes SWPs as potential conversion factors that mediate resources into real freedoms and opportunities. Italy’s regulatory evolution ‒ from School-to-Work Alternance (SWA) to Pathways for Transversal Skills and Orientation (PCTO) ‒ is situated within broader European debates on work-based learning and policy design, with attention to path dependency, regulatory ambiguity, and the disruptions amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on findings from the Project of Relevant National Interest (PRIN) "Evaluating the School-to-Work Alternance: A Longitudinal Study in Italian Upper Secondary Schools", coordinated by the Italian National Institute for the Evaluation of Education (INVALSI), together with complementary institutional inquiries, the analysis highlights pronounced territorial and institutional disparities in access, quality, and pedagogical coherence. It also underscores the differentiated roles of educational and company tutors as conversion factors influencing students’ self-efficacy, orientation capability, and agency. Governance fragmentation, weak monitoring, and uneven institutional capacity continue to constrain program effectiveness and risk reinforcing inequality, while the pandemic further exposed digital and network fragilities. Policy-relevant insights emerging from these studies emphasize the importance of co-design, tutor professionalisation, contextual monitoring, and territorial coordination. Adopting a capability perspective shifts the evaluative focus from narrow employability outcomes toward substantive freedoms, agency, and the capability to aspire ‒ offering a framework for reimagining School-to-Work Programs in ways that promote equity and social justice.




SICI: 1129-731X(2025)SPECIALE 2<3:FSPAQO>2.0.ZU;2-L
Testo completo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/download/article/10.12828/118596
Testo completo alternativo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.12828/118596

Esportazione dati in Refworks (solo per utenti abilitati)

Biblioteche ACNP che possiedono il periodico