Conference “School & Religions. Good Practices in the Educational Offer of the Italian Public School”
In January the 26th in Palazzo Montecitorio, seat of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, has been held a Conference entitled “Scuola & Religioni. Buone pratiche dell’offerta didattica formativa della scuola pubblica italiana” (School & Religions. Good Practices in the Educational Offer of the Italian Public School).
IERS Project coordinators Massimo Raveri and Giovanni Lapis of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice have been invited as speakers by the promoter of the seminar, the deputy Hon. Davide Mattiello.
The Conference, inaugurated by a message from the Italian Minister of Education, University and Research, Hon. Stefania Giannini, was meant to map the various good practices dedicated to the spreading inside the public schools of the knowledge of contemporary cultural and religious pluralism. There was a strong concern on the need to reinforce the dialogue with political and institutional representatives in order to enhance the educational offer with additional pilot projects.
IERS Project coordinators has been therefore invited to present the Project and its outcomes, the Digital Modules, as examples of good practices aimed to create a school able to function as a place of cultural integration, anti-discrimination and citizenship education.
The meeting was attended by deputies of the Commission on Culture, Science, Education, such as Hon.Umberto D’Ottavio, and the Prefect Giovanna Maria Rita Iurato, head of the Central Directorate for Religious Affairs at the Ministry of Interior. Among the other speakers who took the floor there were professors of the University of Rome La Sapienza, University of Turin, University of Siena and University of Modena and Reggio-Emilia, who have studied the problem of teaching the history of religion in schools from different perspectives.
This event has been an extraordinary occasion for disseminating and exploiting IERS Project results at an institutional level, and it is a proof of a progressive awareness in Italy (as well as in other parts of Europe) of the increasing importance of tackling seriously the issue of religious pluralism in public education.
Here a video synopsis of the event (in italian)