The contemporary relevance of “Ragazzi difficili”. Educational dispositives and rehabilitation practices

The work of Piero Bertolini crucially influenced the pedagogical study of juvenile delinquency in Italy. His theoretical contribution changed the dominant interpretative paradigm, which had previously been informed by a psychological/medical and corrective model. By redefining rehabilitation and introducing the key notion of “intentional consciousness” as a basis for helping subjects to take responsibility for their conduct, Bertolini prompted educators to adopt a new perspective and to reconsider their own stance within their educational work with teenage offenders. Although this novel educational focus demands a different emphasis on the young person’s subjectivity, it is not enough to reflect on the “subject”: the importance attributed by Bertolini to “education as a field of experience” means that, in engaging with his “tough kids”, we must also take due account of the “materiality” of education, while remaining within a phenomenological framework. This is one aspect of the contemporary relevance of “Per una pedagogia del ragazzo difficile” (Pedagogy for troublesome juvenile, 1965) for a book that speaks directly and meaningfully to the professional development of today’s new generations of education practitioners.