(by Biagino Costanzo) On the last day of August 1870 he was born Maria Montessori. Presented at an American congress as "the most interesting woman in Europe", she was one of the first women to graduate in medicine and to engage in the battle - more current than ever - for women's emancipation. Its educational methods, based on responsibility and relational awareness as well as on the freedom of movement of students, soon became a universal common good.
To reconcile the Montessori revolution with the uncertain scenario of the surreal school year that awaits us, it is enough to go back to the deepest roots: after all these months, the school rediscovers the beating heart of society, where every young person, with his or her educational and cognitive baggage , contributes to the formation of a new community.
Adults, on the other hand, have, or rather, would have the noble task of supporting these children by applying a new and necessary method, that of “continuous safety”.
In this time, we have repeatedly heard the word Security, but the concept that it should not only be a response protocol, but always constitute a starting point, and accompany the entire life cycle of our actions, has been repeatedly reiterated.
So how can we make safety an integral part of education? And how much can technology help this issue?
The (inevitable) implementation of this organizational, infrastructural and economic logistics requires an increasingly incisive presence of digital and the safety of the school network.
The challenge lies in knowing how to grasp the potential and exploit its benefits.
We have had proof of this during the months of "lockdown": the distance teaching, albeit with the now known difficulties, it represented, for families, the most powerful impact with the educational digitalization of their children.
But precisely because of the profoundly relational vocation of the school, a collective effort is now fundamental to restart.
The variable that penalizes us - historically all Italian - is time. Too many compliments on how we were good at managing the epidemic peak, too many flattery to our civic sense, to full balconies, have exalted the most: instead of gritting our teeth and not stopping the organizational machine for the reopening, we considered our appointment urgent. with the sun, lingering on the rest.
Here in the meantime in France they thought about the training of teachers, school staff and to inform families by spreading the "Plan de continuuité pedagogique”, A little pandemic and very Montessori name.
Furthermore, on the digital issue, the country beyond the Alps has already identified the school system as one of the axes of intervention necessary to combine pedagogical training with the transformation of digital skills, with a view to preparing for the future job market.
In Spain, a European cousin that has always been similar to our country, where the rocks have been similar if not worse than the Italian ones, in the space of a few months the school reintegration of children has been facilitated, realizing that, much more than subsidies and a tantum, it was necessary to allow families to return to their activities trying to limit the damage that the forced closure has caused.
Here too the issue of digitization is well supported from an infrastructural point of view and is built on three main pillars which are teachers, families and pupils. To date, almost 70% of schools have access to new technologies.
Similarly in Finland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, school systems define digital as an essential aspect of training ...
In short, in many European countries the lectures have resumed and, although there have been episodes linked to cases of contagion that required the isolation of some groups, an attempt was made to have a preventive and response plan already available.
Bridge the gap
In a few hours, our children will also return to class and will be called to face the change with a new look: each will be his or her deskmate sitting on a throne of wheels, they will wear protective equipment and the entrances to the classroom will be staggered. . The need for greater precautions for oneself and for others, for the benefit of everyone's safety, will change our way of conceiving interpersonal interactions.
Digital is the fundamental support we need to face this further challenge and in this, calling young people as “digital natives” which until now has been - sometimes - used with a negative meaning, can only be useful.
Trusting in the fact that the protagonists of this restart are familiar with the issues related to technology is the opportunity that we must all be able to seize, allowing everything to happen, always, in safety.
The guidelines of the Ministry of Education have defined digital teaching as complementary to lectures.
Strengthened by this, it is therefore necessary to concentrate on the contents of teaching and on filling the social and educational gaps accumulated previously, since, to quote Maria Montessori, “associating brings new strengths; stimulates the energies. Human nature needs social life, both for thought and for action. "
Biagino Costanzo, AIDR Member and Professor in Criminological Sciences for Defense and Security