Costruire apprendimento e partecipazione a scuola: da studenti unteachables a comunità di motivated learners

Abstract

Education of the future is a central theme in many debates nowadays. This paper focuses on the question what knowledge and skills are most relevant to prepare students for a rapidly changing society and if schools are able to respond effectively to costant transformation driven by technological innovation. While the school system is involved in a modification process that concerns its core contents, new “wired” generations of students from lower secondary education are labelled as difficult to teach or even “unteachables”, students who are losing interest in academic learning, who are not motivated or responsible for their learning processes.

The contribution examines the activities of an ongoing Erasmus+ research project - Unteachables. Helping the new generations of school teachers turn increasingly unteachable young students into young Learnables -, which involves school students (aged 12-16), university master students, in-training teachers and university researchers from seven European countries, aimed at experimenting teacher training activities designed to involve students in creating communities of motivated learners. This paper, profiling unteachables students, highlights the need of innovative teaching methods that can enhance motivation and participation of students.