No time for complaints... in research of strategies

The complexity of contemporary society is characterised by multiple and intertwined changes at social, economic, cultural and political levels; their constant evolution is challenging because of new educational emerging needs and problems. Pedagogical research can contribute to acknowledge and face them in a proper way: a community-based collaborative approach among academic researchers and practitioners – working in socio-educational services and third sector organizations – is essential in the process of identification of effective strategies to guarantee the quality of educational interventions. The research project “Assalti al cielo e ritirate strategiche” [Sky assaults and strategic retreats] has moved in this direction: in a complex system of rules and implicit constraints, that produces dissonances between declared and acted educational and professional practices, how can educational interventions have a real impact on individuals, groups and territories? are we aware of the effects of the prominent economic logics, that seem to give more importance to organizational needs instead of people and their trajectories of life? what is possible to do in order to change this (dangerous) route? There are many critical aspects of the public social policies – e.g. the progressive reduction of resources and guarantees, the co-existence of multiple social mandates, the disparity of recognition and legitimacy among professional figures working in the educational and social field etc. – that should be analysed at different levels, by moving back and forward between the personal, the professional and the political one. No time for sterile complaints, but focus on critical issues in order to find different and effective ways to increase the awareness of the social and political meanings, implications and value of socio-educational work. The exploration of critical issues has been the premise for a transformative research project, that calls for the assumption of a shared responsibility among all subjects that participate (in formal or informal ways) in the process of construction of the meanings and the purposes of education and the professional educators’ identity: the universities, the organizations that are active in the socio-educational field, the professionals that define the social policies. The recognition of the need to deepen the dialogical and collaborative relationship among all these figures leads to the assumption of a collective responsibility, crucial for the (re)construction of a shared culture of education, based on inclusive and participatory democratic values and social justice purposes.