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Does Enactive Teaching Improve Inclusion of Immigrant Pupils? A Research in Northern Italy’s Schools:

Does Enactive Teaching Improve Inclusion of Immigrant Pupils? A Research in Northern Italy’s... Immigration in recent years has dramatically increased, especially in Europe. Countries have been coping with it in different ways, and this suggests that certain policies and approaches may work better than others. As a fact, a successful integration starts with the education system. This study investigates how the teacher’s approach toward his or her class influences the development of different ways of thinking in the students. Thirty-four primary school teachers were interviewed to identify which teaching approach they uphold among transmissive, constructivist, and enactive teaching. Then, a connection was searched between teachers’ beliefs and the average scores obtained by their 659 students in critical, creative, metacognitive, emotional, and contemplative thinking tests. The hypothesis argues that a more inclusive approach, such as enactivism can be an efficient strategy, as it views diversity as an asset rather than as a problem. Hence, this study attempts to demonstrate that enactive teaching is an effective approach that everyone should consider as it can help both native and immigrant students. Keywords enactive teaching, immigrant pupils, inclusion, teaching approaches, primary school migration welfares has forced state members to cooperate. Introduction However, two main points of conflict have appeared so far, a Immigration: A Great Challenge for the European North–South dispute given both by the migration and the Union (EU) refugee crisis in the Mediterranean and an East–West con- flict over the free movement in an extended Europe Between 2000 and 2012, the immigrant population in the EU (Hampshire, 2016). and the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co- operation Nonetheless, the discrepancy is enlarged also by the differ- and Development) has increased by more than 30%. By ent kind of immigrant populations received by each country. 2013, one person out of ten living in those areas was not These populations differ largely in terms of size, length of native. Therefore, all countries involved decided to put the residence, age, education level, language, origins—either issue of immigration as well as the integration of these peo- from high- or low-income countries. Because of these back- ple and their children high in their policy agenda (OECD & ground characteristics, four groups of EU countries can be EU, 2015). identified: Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom Since 1999, the EU institutions have progressively devel- host significant numbers of both recent and long-settled oped an interest in controlling migration flows. Then, after migrants; Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon, all state members have been try- host the so-called “guest workers,” mainly flows of low- edu- ing to conform their migration policies with decisions taken cated people; Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden mostly by the European Parliament, the Council and Qualified receive humanitarian immigrants. Finally, Greece, Italy, Majority Voting. As a matter of fact, the European Migration Portugal, Spain—if at the beginning of last century they were Governance is a complex mixture: It involves “multileveled destinations of large numbers of labor migrants who came to governance” ruled by multiple players and institutions, fill low-skilled jobs, now they represent the European which operate at different levels (on local, national, European, and international scales) and with different goals. Dealing with the topic is quite delicate as different national Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice, Italy and international laws cope with different types of migration, Corresponding Author: and the structures of migration governance are bent by con- Francesca Coin, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice, Dorsoduro 3246, 30123 tradictory constraints of openness and closure according to Venezia, Italy. the country regulations. This fragmentation of national Email: francesca.coin@ordinepsicologiveneto.it Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open external bound crossed by the victims of Arab Spring who are (Rosoli, 1978). As a matter of fact, immigration really began willing to enter in Europe (OECD & European Union, 2015). in Italy around the end of the seventies, when the govern- ment first took a decision about migration, “against general trend.” Whereas other European countries responded with an Integration: A Great Challenge for Schools increased severity of regulations toward immigration to the The link between education and migration is central in the great exodus from the Balkans and to the rise in inflows from context of European economic development, social cohe- Africa and Asia, Italy chose to maintain an “open doors” sion, and stabilization of democratic cultures. The education policy (Colombo & Sciortino, 2004). Since that point, immi- of children, adults, and communities plays such a crucial role gration in Italy has constantly been increasing, slowly at in the process of integration to become one of the main func- first, then faster and faster (Ministero del Lavoro e delle tions in the school system (Heckmann, 2008). “Many chil- Politiche Sociali, 2012). However, the reason why Italy has dren with an immigrant background face enormous become one of the main places where immigrants arrive is challenges at school” (OECD, 2015b, p. 1). In other words, obviously related to its geographical features. First of all, they quickly have to adjust their entire life to the new con- being a peninsula, most of the Italian territories are highly text: different academic expectations, a new language, new exposed and this makes a difference from other European friends, and nonetheless, a new social identity. These diffi- countries, which can be easily controlled. Second, Italy is culties in integrating into a new society are magnified by the located right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and it is risk of segregation, especially in those countries where the first border to Europe; hence, Italy ranked as the fifth immigrants are gathered in poor neighborhoods (Kleijnen, country in the EU for immigrant population in 2015 (with 5.8 Huysmans, & Elbers, 2015). On one hand, the diversity that million immigrants). As a result, 9% of students in Italian characterizes school classes can reveal fragility, but on the schools have not had the Italian citizenship yet (ISMU, other hand, it can spur resources and talents, which come 2015), and this is an important fact for what concerns this from different life experiences. As a consequence, the mere study. presence of immigrant pupils is not a sign of educational risk In other words, the situation in Italy can be summarized as of failure (Iniziative e Studi sulla Multietnicità [ISMU], complex: The country is dealing with migration as a recent 2015). and unmanageable phenomenon; it receives a wide variety of By observing the performance gap between immigrant and ethnic groups (more than 191) of which virtually no one nonimmigrant students, we can see that there are large differ- speaks Italian, and it houses a large number of foreigners of ences across countries, and this suggests that a valuable pol- first and second generation. Nonetheless, the greatest con- icy can play an important role in clearing such disparities. centration of immigrants are settled mainly in the Northern regions of the country, meaning that they are not well distrib- Immigrant students have the potential to perform as well as non- uted across the territory or concentrated in large cities as in immigrant students, despite the dual challenges of integration other European countries. In addition, according to the UN and socio-economic disadvantage. Education systems have to High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), they are all play a role in ensuring that immigrant students make the most people with a low sociocultural profile on average, made up out of the opportunities schools offer. (OECD, 2015a, p. 2) of both migrants in search of work and political refugees (UNHCR, 2015). However, each country has its own characteristics and its As a matter of fact, by abiding to the “open door” policy own history, hence it relates to the phenomenon of immigra- of the ministry (Ministry of Education, University and tion providing different strategies—mainly in regard to the Research [MIUR], 2006, 2014), school integration is an invi- integration of newcomers—which can be more or less olable right for every child who needs to be properly wel- successful. comed into his or her new class. No issue can prevent the child to be properly settled, neither the irregular state of the pupil’s family, nor if the school year has already started. The Italian Situation Due to the history and geography of Italy, which consider- Education Strategies ably differ from other European countries, there are some aspects to consider when dealing with immigration in our Education Policies country. First of all, Italy did not become a unitary state until 1861, Schools should be the main place where intercultural skills therefore causing complexity in the study of migration in the and the ability to dialogue in tolerance and respect with other periods prior to the second half of 1800. Unlike other cultures are developed; these attitudes are indispensable in European countries, which mainly invested in policies of our modern society (Council of Europe Ministers of Foreign colonial intervention, Italy has been a country that has expe- Affairs, 2008). Educational programs that address the cogni- rienced periods of high emigration during most of its history tive and psychosocial needs can be successful against social Coin 3 exclusion. “Immigrant students can become a vital part of It is important to consider that teachers do not adopt their education systems and a valuable resource for their host techniques according to the class’ needs only, but also country” (OECD, 2015a, p. 4). according to their beliefs and affinities: all information Since the nineties, the European Commission has been acquired in training courses, their practice, their own experi- pursuing initiatives to support the intercultural coexistence ence as students, previous activities with other classes, and as well as the fight against racism and the abolition of dis- their personal experience outside the school. All these fea- parities. These proposals, addressed to policy makers, admin- tures form the teacher’s convictions and beliefs, which are istrators, educators, medias, and to civil-society organizations, deeply rooted in their life and are difficult to be replaced, promote slogans as “All Different—All Equal” (Council of despite the constant update given by training courses. Europe Ministers of Foreign Affairs, 2008). Overall, it is evi- In 2009, Teaching and Learning International Survey dent that every form of segregation in the school would pre- (TALIS) examined a variety of teacher’s beliefs, practices, vent the education system to succeed in one of its main and attitudes, considered to be important to understand and objectives: to create social inclusion, friendship, and societal improve educational processes (OECD, 2009). Researchers bonds, primarily among the first generation of immigrant observed teachers’ approaches in several countries, dividing pupils (European Commission, 2008). These students do not them in “direct transmission beliefs about learning and need a particular education designed especially for them. instruction” and “constructivist beliefs about learning and They would take instead more advantage from a new repre- instruction.” These dimensions of belief are well established sentation of the class: The school should identify them as an in educational research and are part of the literature of integral part of the system and not as a problematic minority. Western and non-Western countries (Kim, 2005; Sang et al., The preliminary stages of “welcome” and “integration” are 2009; Woolley, Benjamin, & Woolley, 2004). essential, but they are not enough. It is necessary to go fur- Based on a behaviorist model, the transmissive approach is ther, toward the “inclusion phase.” We have to recognize for- also labeled as “teacher-centered” or “subject matter oriented.” eign children as real components of the class and not as Students play a passive role as they have to imitate the teach- guests (Favaro, 2010). er’s actions to bring their performance closer to the standard The analysis produced by the Italian MIUR (Ismu, 2013, level. “These beliefs are adopted by teachers who are focused 2014, 2015) highlights the continuous and significant on transmitting their knowledge, arranging well-organised improvement of the immigrant students’ performance in teaching plans and adopting step- by step teaching methods” Italy. Although still marked, the indicators related to the (Sang et al., 2009, p. 365). According to this model, diversity admission rates, school delay, final exams results, and assess- (of knowledge, cultures, and skills) is seen as an obstacle to ment of skills show a gap between Italian and foreign stu- the achievement of consistent performance. Although there dents that is nowadays decreasing. It is a very complex are limitations in this approach, it is well spread and quite phenomenon and it is difficult to determine its causes. It is common, especially in Italian high schools (Bottero, 2013). In worth to analyze it: Is this improvement determined by natu- fact, results from TALIS survey show that Italy is the only ral mutations, such as the increasing number of pupils born country where the adoption of the transmissive approach is in Italy but without Italian citizenship? Or, alternatively, stronger than the constructivist one (OECD, 2009). does it depend on the actual effectiveness of integration strat- The constructivist approach, instead, is known as “stu- egies applied by teachers? In any case, it seems to show that dent-centered” approach. It suggests that every student has to what schools have done so far— promoting the inclusion of follow an own path of learning, with the teacher accompany- immigrant students—is giving encouraging results. ing him or her as a guide, arranging tools, techniques, and strategies tailored on the student’s characteristics; according to this model, diversity is a challenge and teachers have to Teaching Approaches cope with an increasingly wide variety of needs. As a matter There is another hidden change that is taking place, which is of fact, this line of thinking is common to various training not managed by any government or reported by any official courses and is currently the most used in Italian primary statistics: the change in the approach that teachers show toward schools (Varani, 2004). their students (Coin, 2016). Different expectations and atti- Some authors (Proulx, 2008; Riegler, 2005; Villalobos, tudes of the participants can consistently affect the climate and 2013) suggest a step forward has been taken toward these the interactions in the classroom; in other words, it is a delicate approaches. When Maturana and Varela proposed their “the- balance that can be easily compromised by an internal or ory of autopoietic systems” (Maturana & Varela, 1984), later external intervention. “Teachers’ beliefs represent the rich developed in the variant known as “enactivism” or “enactive store of knowledge which involve their instructional planning cognitive science” by Varela, Thompson and Rosch (Varela, and practices. Hence, a better understanding of teachers’ edu- Thompson, & Rosch, 1991) something new cational beliefs is essential to influence and improve teaching began. In other words, the mind was no longer conceived practices and the potential success of educational reforms” as the “classic sandwich” consisting of perception (input), (Sang, Valcke, Braak, & Tondeur, 2009, p. 363). cognition (information processing), and agency (output), but 4 SAGE Open rather something encompassing complex circular interac- “anticipation of the curriculum” (Begg, 2013): The teacher is tions between the brain, the body, and the environment willing to follow the variety of directions and multiple trajec- (Vörös, Froese, & Riegler, 2016). No longer perceived as the tories that a dialogue on a topic may take in response to a ability to derive world models reworked for thinking, cogni- “legitimate question” (Bocchi & Damiano, 2013). Let us tion was also perceived in a different way: a system that is pretend there is a discussion taking place in the peer group. constantly engaged in contexts of action and requires fast According to the enactivist tendency, the discussion will processing information through a constant sensorimotor ensure pupils use a simple lexicon, less complicated than the exchange (Stewart, Gapenne, & Di Paolo, 2010). However, teacher’s one. So children who show difficulties in the use of several points of conflict divide enactivism from previous language can better understand; this way encourages the par- theories: mainly the problem of (anti)representationalism, ticipation of children with expressive difficulties, those who the role of self-organization and self-maintenance (auton- are often inhibited in formal evaluation contexts, such as the omy) in the constitution of cognition, the exact nature of classic oral exam: As a matter of fact, they may feel freer to embodiment and its role in the brain–body–world dynamics intervene in a conversation with their classmates. In addi- (Vörös et al., 2016). tion, the teacher will have the opportunity to coordinate the Although the philosophical current of “enactivism” has speech turn, allowing everyone the time to share opinions, been known for several decades, its “connection” to educa- both respecting the pupils’ inclinations and personal skills tion has only recently been investigated (Begg, 1999, 2013; and taking into account the prior knowledge and personal Frauenfelder, Rivoltella, Rossi, & Sibilio, 2013; Rossi, 2011; perspectives, as the enactive dialogue has the advantage of Rossi, Prenna, Giannandrea, & Magnoler, 2013). For this starting from experiences and emotions. reason, it is not very well common among teachers and no training courses still deal with it. According to this perspec- The Study tive, the class is a space where students and teachers live together and exchange their knowledge and structures; the Research Questions interaction between the learning subject and the environ- The goal of this study is to check the most widespread ment—teachers and students included—creates “co-emer- approaches in the Italian primary school. Mainly, to under- gencies” and produces the “structural coupling” (Maturana stand whether a change is taking place in classes composed & Varela, 1984). Participants create a relationship character- by students from different nationalities. Is there a tendency ized by interdependence, in which it is not possible to recog- for teachers to apply innovative approaches similar to the nize direct action of an individual on another but only enactive method? Besides, are there correlations between reciprocal perturbations and compensations (Rossi et al., teachers’ personal characteristics (e.g., age, years of teach- 2013). Rossi in fact gives a description of some of the funda- ing, previous work experience, extracurricular activities) and mental concepts of “enactivism.” It is important to list some the educational approach they use? This could help to better of them: autopoiesis, when the system evolves by itself, so understand the factors that could facilitate or hinder the pupils learn according to their prior knowledge; structural coupling, namely, the relationship between the individual spread of this approach. And last, but not least, we are will- and the environment, so between the teacher and the class ing to explore how the teacher’s approach influences the and vice versa; circularity, pupils and teachers influence development of students. In other words, the aim is to detect each other; cognition, viewed as the essence of every pupil’s the following: action, not as a function to be activated; knowledge, seen as shared production and coemergency; action, pupils and a. a tendency of teachers’ attitude and belief toward an teacher act to exchange their knowledge; environment, seen innovative approach, as the enactive one; as a sort of trigger, especially when a simple question creates b. correlations between teachers’ biographical character- that imbalance, which harms the process of knowledge; istics and the teaching approach they use; and eventually, structural determinism, as it is not possible to c. correlations between the teachers’ educational ap- accurately predict what reaction follows an action, consider- proach and the average scores of pupils in critical, ing that the trajectories created by the system are various and creative, metacognitive, emotional, and contemplative independent. thinking tests. As a matter of fact, the teacher is no longer the one who holds the knowledge and has the task of transmitting it to the Materials and Procedure “tabula rasa pupils,” but becomes the coordinator of a pro- cess of growth. All participants are equally involved, no mat- This study adopted a combination of qualitative and quanti- ter what is the starting and the arrival level of each student. tative research methods. In the first part of the assessment, In this context, diversity is an asset, for every contribution information about some aspects of classroom life was col- enriches the growth of all. To provide a good sample, we lected through a semistructured interview administered to shall consider a typical enactive lesson, in particular the the teachers. After some questions about themselves (age, Coin 5 Table 1. Questions of Teacher’s Interview and Keywords Answer About “ Teaching” and “ Learning.” Questions\approach Transmissive Constructivist Enactive What does “ teaching” mean? Transmit information Accompany the student in his or Let a track in his or her life her learning path What does “ learning” mean? Receive information Dedicate (En)act What is the role of the teacher? Push information Advise, guide pupils Propose, he or she is a coordinator What is the role of the student? Receive information Elaborate Share What does the student learn? Content Strategies Changing himself or herself What does it mean if a student He or she does not He or she is editing the He or she is present, asks a question? understand or wants information participates, and shares additional information When is a student considered W hen he or she can W hen he or she can reelaborate Always, there is no ranking good? repeat what he or she has and applies what he or she has studied studied in new contexts Table 2. Questions of Teacher’s Interview and Keywords Answer About the Class. Questions\approach Transmissive Constructivist Enactive What is a class? A set of students who live A collaborative group An ecosystem together How to consider the presence of A problem A positive challenge A richness students with different cultures? How to consider the different They create problems A starting point The norm needs of students? When preparing the lesson of the W ith a very detailed playlist General topics ready to be Selecting the objectives but day, how to prepare topics and modified if students do not leaving them open to more materials? follow the general rhythm of possibilities the class What does “ evaluate” mean? Compare the performance Record the students’ point of Appreciate personal progress with standard requirements arrival in their learning path To whom and why are school They define the final level of They give a feedback to They encourage the students marks and comments useful? the student students, teachers, and parents years of teaching, general work experience, and hobbies), Through appropriate statistical surveys carried out by about their classes (number of pupils, immigrant pupils, SPSS software, correlations have been searched to investi- pupils with special educational need [SEN], and major diffi- gate whether the teaching approach designated by the teacher culties within the class), and about their work environment depends both on the particular features of the class and on the (classroom areas, arrangement of furniture, tools and activi- biographical profile of the teacher, to answer to the second ties), they were asked to fill out a survey and show their opin- query (b). ions. Their answers were accurately examined, in particular In the second part of the study, the pupils were given three through the frequency analysis technique (Gemini & Russo, questionnaires and a test to assess their current ability level 1998; Zhang & Wildemuth, 2005), to find out their profile of according to five different “forms of thinking”: critical think- approach and answer to the first point of inquiry (a). ing, creative thinking, metacognitive thinking, contempla- Tables 1 and 2 enclose the categories of questions and tive thinking, and caring thinking. This list, developed by some sample of teachers’ answers related to each approach. Andy Begg (2013), takes into consideration the reaction of Before submitting the survey, a brief review of the literature students when facing different teaching approaches. In par- was conducted to identify key concepts that better than oth- ticular, one questionnaire and the test were taken from the ers distinguishes the three approaches (Begg, 1999, 2013; available literature, that is, “Io e la mia mente” (Me and my Duffy & Cunningham, 1996; Ertmer & Newby, 1993; mind) for metacognitive thinking (Friso, Dusi, & Cornoldi, Hoover, 1996; Kim, 2005; Li, Clark, & Winchester, 2010; 2013) and “The Creativity Assessment Packet” by Frank McGee, 2005, 2006; Proulx, 2004, 2008; Proulx & Simmt, Williams, Italian version, for creative thinking (William, 2013; Rossi, 2011; Santoianni & Striano, 2003; Von 1994). The other two questionnaires were created on purpose Glaserfeld, 1989). for this study. 6 SAGE Open Table 3. Distribution of Participant Among Classes. Classes in Number and level of Italian Immigrant District Site the school participant classes Pupils pupils pupils 1st generation 2nd generation Venice Town center 14 2 classes 3rd 95 45 50 17 33 2 classes 5th Venice Town center 13 2 classes 4th 121 109 12 9 3 3 classes 5th Venice Hinterland 8 2 classes 3rd 62 57 5 0 5 2 classes 4th Brescia Town center 25 5 classes 3rd 336 235 101 24 77 5 classes 4th 5 classes 5th Brescia Hinterland 10 2 classes 3rd 123 72 51 13 38 2 classes 4th 2 classes 5th My class is tough, because there are many children who have To answer the third inquiry (c), ANOVA was conducted to different learning timings and modalities. At the beginning, their find out possible relations between the teachers’ approach level was very different and so it was really difficult. There are and the developmental level that their pupils show in the above-mentioned thinking forms. two or three leading children and the others follow. It is hard to have so many children who need an individualized path and compensatory instruments. Participants Another one adds, Thirty-four teachers and their 659 pupils took part in the project. They are all from the third, fourth, and fifth year of There are communication difficulties because of their lexical and primary school in five institutions in the districts of Brescia syntactic deficiency; their socio-cultural context is not enough and Venice. These cities in particular are part of two regions “stimulating”: children live very few extra-curricular experiences. of Northern Italy with the highest number of immigrant stu- In my class, there are students with a very low level of dents. Nonetheless, primary schools include the largest num- comprehension and are seldom using the Italian language. ber of students without Italian citizenship and often welcome Features of the class: 7 immigrant students (one pupil acquired the a large number of children newly arrived in the country. Italian citizenship two years ago), 3 pupils with a foreign mother. All teachers interviewed were female, aged between 27 I do not consider the composition of the class as a problem, but it and 62 years, with an average age of 49 years and an SD = is certainly a significant aspect when structuring the lesson. 9.5 years. They are all experienced teachers, with a range of 6 to 42 years of service, with an average of 27 years of teach- Teachers appear very sensitive about this theme: They tell ing and an SD = 9.7. about their frustration when faced with children’s needs they The children belonged to different classes (11 third year, cannot satisfy: 11 fourth year, and 12 fifth year) ranging from 8 to 11 years in age. All classes were invited to participate and the pupils’ It is difficult. One of the biggest difficulties is to be able to be efficient for everyone and many times there is a sense of guilt distribution among classes is shown in Table 3. when you can’t do the children’s best, for lack of time and Unfortunately, at the time when the test was handed in, resources or because sometimes parents obstacle the teacher’s some children were absent or lacking of parental permission. job and this is really sad, Other pupils were excluded from the final calculation as unable to complete the test because of cognitive or linguistic enlightens a teacher. problems. Six hundred fifty-nine children composed the final The teachers’ will to help these pupils is noticeable: A group of participants. great majority of them (67%) admit an approach focused on individual differences, such as constructivism. A certain per- Results centage (20%) is looking for a more inclusive approach, which has the features of enactivism (Figure 1). If we con- Considering the teachers’ answers, it is clear they recognize sider that nobody has had any formal training for it, there is the problem related to the presence of pupils with different a large percentage of teachers who choose this approach. backgrounds. According to the 47% of teachers, the most Only the remaining 9% remain anchored to a transmissive common difficulty is the gap in children’s skills, knowledge, approach, which does not consider individual differences. As language, and values. A teacher explains, Coin 7 A little gap persists between native and immigrant groups of students but anyway the average score is higher than in other classes (Figure 4). These data confirm that the enactive approach shows positive effects on both the two groups. The difficulties for the class due to the presence of immigrant pupils follow a strange trend: This difficult situation tends to increase when a great number of immigrant students com- pose the class, still less than a half of the total number of pupils. A particular phenomenon happens in this situation: When the number of foreign children is low (less than five pupils), the average scores of the tests are higher (Figure 5). If there is an intermediate number of immigrant pupils, the average scores of the tests become very low, but if the number of immigrant students exceed half of the class, they show a slight recovery. Many teachers tried to explain this trend. They suppose Figure 1. Percentage of teachers’ approach profile. that in the first case, the teacher expects the immigrant pupils to adapt to the class level. Conversely, in the third situation, the teacher adapts herself and her instructional method to the a matter of fact, the first inquiry about the tendency of teach- class’ needs. The second case is quite interesting: The teacher ers’ attitude and belief toward an innovative approach is well has to choose whether to help the disadvantaged children or confirmed. to carry the rest of the class forward. However, this choice is The questions that received the greatest number of enac- pointless, as simply by following an inclusive approach such tive answers were “What does ‘teaching’ mean?” and “How as enactivism can prevent her from having to make that to consider the presence of students with different cultures?” choice. The enactive approach is quite effective in all cases, (Figure 2). Very common replies to the first enquiry were but a significant difference of scores (p < .01) is achieved “Establish a relationship with the students that always especially when the classes host an intermediate (between 5 develop the desire to learn” and “Create the conditions for a and 10) or higher number of immigrant students, exceeding mutual learning.” Many teachers (60%) used in their sen- 10 (p <.05; Figure 6). It is important to emphasize this fact, tences words such as “Leave a mark,” “Training,” and “Grow because it reflects the condition of most of the classes emotionally,” which are usually linked to the enactive involved in the study. approach. Similarly, a great number of teachers (67%) affirm that the presence of immigrant children is “A wealth, an opportunity for discussion and growth.” A teacher said, Discussion A profound change is taking place in Italian schools: The It is an enrichment. It poses us, teachers, in front of different population of pupils is changing, and with it, the way teach- situations and makes us realize how lucky we are in some ers approach students. Classes are now made up of children aspects of our life and less in others, because we often overlook with different cultures, languages, knowledge, and skills, the value of what we have. and the criteria to consider them as a uniformed group are changing. This transformation is followed by a change in the There is no relation between the teacher’s work or place educational action exercised by the teachers, as confirmed by of living and her approach. The choice of approach, instead, the data relating to the first hypothesis (a). The teacher rec- is independent from factors such as location and size of the ognizes that it is no longer appropriate to continue practicing school, size and composition of the class, and her personal traditional models of transmission, because these approaches features. It disconfirms the second inquiry and suggests that consider the class as a homogeneous group of pupils and are enactive teaching is an approach that everybody can no longer functional to the current environment. However, it practice. is not possible to devote attention to each student’s individ- The results from the analysis on the average score obtained ual process, such as suggested by constructivism. Designing by the children show a prominent odd (Figure 3): The pupils, individualized learning paths for each student becomes an who study with an enactive teacher, have significantly higher excessive and unrealistic burden for the teacher; teachers test scores1 (p < .05). This is evident in all class levels and spontaneously recognize that they should not seek the solu- for all thinking forms, especially for creative and metacogni- tion to this problem in specific integration strategies, trying tive thinking (p < .01). According to Begg (2013), it is prob- to standardize immigrant students to the class, mostly unsuc- able that enactive teaching promotes a more balanced cessfully. Despite this, “People often resist change due to the development of different forms of thought. 8 SAGE Open Figure 2. Distribution of answer per approach. Figure 3. Comparing average pupils’ scores in the different teaching approaches. Figure 5. Effect of presence of immigrant pupils on the average scores. Figure 4. Effects of teaching approach on the pupils’ score. cognitive dissonance related to their previous beliefs and Figure 6. Effect of teaching approach on classes with different behaviours. Conscious effort and perseverance are needed number of immigrant pupils. for a real change to take place” (Sandu, 2015, p. 2); as a con- sequence, the changing in their approach is slow to happen. A teacher explains the actual process of transition with these teachers identify (as Figure 2 showed and the result paragraph words: “In order to survive in an environment that changes explained) cultural difference as a source of enrichment for all the time, you need to adapt quickly and change perspec- the entire class, abandoning the search of homogeneity for the tive, rather than fight to try to keep things as they were.” benefits diversity can bring in the entire group. The school system needs a new vision of the class group, The concept of “education” is, thus, changing: This pro- cess is no longer defined as the transmission of contents, as which values each participant as a personal addition. Most Coin 9 driving through a designated route but aims at “leaving a and pedagogical features influence the outcome, producing sign,” “growing emotionally,” and “establishing a relation- differences at a national, local, and personal level. However, if ship,” which can be summed up as a more global training: only the teacher’s beliefs produce positive effects on students, This perspective is actually wider and constitutes the basis we can imagine how positive the result is when intentions for personalized learning, which considers the individual dif- become concrete actions. ferences of each pupil. To do so, teachers must trust “the pos- The respect, the equality, and collaboration among peers sibility of a cosmopolitan community where individuals on the base of the enactive approach allow both native and from varying locations and beliefs engage in relationships of immigrant students to develop their potential. Through this mutual respect” (Sparapani, Callejo Perez, Gould, Hillman, approach, the teacher helps students to participate and to & Clark, 2014, p. 2). express themselves, preventing them from having to make The results about the second hypothesis (b) reveal that uncomfortable choices. there were no significant correlations between the teachers’ approach and the institute’s or class’ characteristics. Conclusion Moreover, teachers carrying on the enactive profile are equi- tably distributed according to the institute size, location, and In the last decade, we used to think about “learning” as class composition: These data suggest that this approach is something that happens or should happen in a place where a potentially practicable by any teacher, without limitations teacher transmits notions. Some scholars have overlooked related to the work context. The teacher’s personal features the concept, dealing with a new idea of “here and now,” indicate, however, that young teachers with a high level of where the learning process, the context, and the teacher’s experience welcome the enactive approach. Probably, they approach are crucial in determining the student’s perfor- need a certain degree of confidence and classroom manage- mance (Di Tore & Corona, 2016). “Learning today is no lon- ment skills to undertake activities that leave pupils the free- ger related to the ‘classroom’ as the physical environment; it dom of expression and choice. This fact is confirmed by the is instead an ‘across spaces’ place characterized by the pos- OECD data: sibility to build serendipitous, pervasive and seamless expe- riences” (p. 421), the authors explain. Years of professional experience have a significant clear effect A small part of the Italian scientific community on teaching practices. . . . Indices on participation in co- involved in educational research is following this alterna- operative activities are positively associated with on-the-job tive direction. They give meaning and value both to the experience. . . . However, for classroom disciplinary climate and context and to the teacher’s approach as their main object self-efficacy, consistent effects are found. . . . In a majority of of investigation of the learning process (Aiello, Carenzio, Countries experienced teachers report a better classroom Di gennaro, Di Tore, & Sibilio, 2013; Aprile, 2012; climate. (OECD, 2009, p. 115) Francesconi & Tarozzi, 2012; Frauenfelder et al., 2013; Giaconi, Rodrigues, Rossi, Aparacida, & Vastola, 2013; The teachers who understand this critical step aim to break down any kind of cultural and personal barriers in the Prenna, 2014; Rivoltella, 2012; Rossi, 2011; Rossi et al., classroom. The emphasis is on evaluating the person, 2013). Some of them belong to the TincTec group heedless of their social hierarchy or their nationality of ori- (Research Center of Teaching and Learning, Inclusion, gin. In the classrooms of teachers who have spontaneously Disability, and Educational Technology) of Macerata. They also are establishing relations with the Swiss developed an enactive approach, the personal contribution research group led by Marc Durand of University of of each pupil is recognized and valued, and children feel Genève and with the research group led by Maurizio free to express themselves and to participate. They are, Sibilio (Università degli studi di Salerno) and the Pier thus, creating environments rich in incitements and posi- Cesare Rivoltella (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di tive relationships. Milano) in Italy. Together, they formed the Società Italiana The outcomes of the third assumption (c) show that pupils who study with an enactive teacher have significantly higher di Pedagogia (Italian Society of Pedagogy) Nonlinear test scores. However, we investigated only teachers’ beliefs Trajectories group, investigating about emerging issues in without going deeper into the activities they effectively con- the educational research, for example, enactivism, sim- duct in the classroom; nonetheless, teachers affirm there is a plexity, and neuroscience. A lot of their works are dedi- great difference between what they would do and what they cated to outline the typical features of enactive education can do with the pupils. Limited resources, strict regulations, (Prenna, 2014; Rossi, 2011; Rossi et al., 2013), whereas and little collaborative colleagues do not allow them to realize some others are focused on the teachers’ perspectives their proposals. As remembered by Sang (Sang et al., 2009), (Rossi & Pezzimenti, 2015). what a teacher believes is really powerful in its impact on the The above study contributed to this very study, showing students, even when it is not followed by the teacher’s action. the spontaneous diffusion of a new approach among primary As OECD’s researches argue (OECD, 2009), historical, social, school teachers and highlighting its positive effects on pupils. 10 SAGE Open Unfortunately, there is a lack of literature available, and References based on enactive teaching in schools, therefore, it was not Aiello, P., Carenzio, A., Di gennaro, D. C., Di Tore, S., & Sibilio, possible to compare this study with other experiences in dif- M. (2013). Transmedia digital storytelling to match students’ ferent contexts. cognitive styles in special education. Research on Education This search considers certain classes selected by region, and Media, 5, 123-133. Aprile, F. (2012). L’alunno furgoncino e l’alunno carrarmato. 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Qualitative analysis of Stewart, J. R., Gapenne, O., & Di Paolo, E. A. (2010). Enaction: content by. Retrieved from http://philpapers.org/rec/ZHAQAO Toward a new paradigm for cognitive science. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=it&lr=&id=UtFDJx- Author Biography gysQC&pgis=1 Francesca Coin obtained a degree in developmental psychology at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2015). Asilo the University of Padua (2009) and a PhD in cognitive sciences and e Migrazioni: Flussi misti [Asylum and Migration: Mixed education at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (2016). She car- flows.]. Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.it/cosa-facciamo/ ries out training activities and teaching in master’s course and in protezione initial training course for support teachers. As a freelancer, she Varani, A. (2004). La scuola tra didattica e formazione [The school between education and training]. Dirigenti—Scuola. Retrieved deals with children with learning difficulties or disabilities. She from http://www.costruttivismoedidattica.it/articoli/Varani/ works for inclusion of foreign students, with particular attention to Varani_didattica-formazione.pdf the development of inclusive educational models and enactivism. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png SAGE Open SAGE

Does Enactive Teaching Improve Inclusion of Immigrant Pupils? A Research in Northern Italy’s Schools:

Coin, Francesca
SAGE Open , Volume 7 (2): 1 – May 13, 2017
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Abstract

Immigration in recent years has dramatically increased, especially in Europe. Countries have been coping with it in different ways, and this suggests that certain policies and approaches may work better than others. As a fact, a successful integration starts with the education system. This study investigates how the teacher’s approach toward his or her class influences the development of different ways of thinking in the students. Thirty-four primary school teachers were interviewed to identify which teaching approach they uphold among transmissive, constructivist, and enactive teaching. Then, a connection was searched between teachers’ beliefs and the average scores obtained by their 659 students in critical, creative, metacognitive, emotional, and contemplative thinking tests. The hypothesis argues that a more inclusive approach, such as enactivism can be an efficient strategy, as it views diversity as an asset rather than as a problem. Hence, this study attempts to demonstrate that enactive teaching is an effective approach that everyone should consider as it can help both native and immigrant students. Keywords enactive teaching, immigrant pupils, inclusion, teaching approaches, primary school migration welfares has forced state members to cooperate. Introduction However, two main points of conflict have appeared so far, a Immigration: A Great Challenge for the European North–South dispute given both by the migration and the Union (EU) refugee crisis in the Mediterranean and an East–West con- flict over the free movement in an extended Europe Between 2000 and 2012, the immigrant population in the EU (Hampshire, 2016). and the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co- operation Nonetheless, the discrepancy is enlarged also by the differ- and Development) has increased by more than 30%. By ent kind of immigrant populations received by each country. 2013, one person out of ten living in those areas was not These populations differ largely in terms of size, length of native. Therefore, all countries involved decided to put the residence, age, education level, language, origins—either issue of immigration as well as the integration of these peo- from high- or low-income countries. Because of these back- ple and their children high in their policy agenda (OECD & ground characteristics, four groups of EU countries can be EU, 2015). identified: Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom Since 1999, the EU institutions have progressively devel- host significant numbers of both recent and long-settled oped an interest in controlling migration flows. Then, after migrants; Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon, all state members have been try- host the so-called “guest workers,” mainly flows of low- edu- ing to conform their migration policies with decisions taken cated people; Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden mostly by the European Parliament, the Council and Qualified receive humanitarian immigrants. Finally, Greece, Italy, Majority Voting. As a matter of fact, the European Migration Portugal, Spain—if at the beginning of last century they were Governance is a complex mixture: It involves “multileveled destinations of large numbers of labor migrants who came to governance” ruled by multiple players and institutions, fill low-skilled jobs, now they represent the European which operate at different levels (on local, national, European, and international scales) and with different goals. Dealing with the topic is quite delicate as different national Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice, Italy and international laws cope with different types of migration, Corresponding Author: and the structures of migration governance are bent by con- Francesca Coin, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice, Dorsoduro 3246, 30123 tradictory constraints of openness and closure according to Venezia, Italy. the country regulations. This fragmentation of national Email: francesca.coin@ordinepsicologiveneto.it Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open external bound crossed by the victims of Arab Spring who are (Rosoli, 1978). As a matter of fact, immigration really began willing to enter in Europe (OECD & European Union, 2015). in Italy around the end of the seventies, when the govern- ment first took a decision about migration, “against general trend.” Whereas other European countries responded with an Integration: A Great Challenge for Schools increased severity of regulations toward immigration to the The link between education and migration is central in the great exodus from the Balkans and to the rise in inflows from context of European economic development, social cohe- Africa and Asia, Italy chose to maintain an “open doors” sion, and stabilization of democratic cultures. The education policy (Colombo & Sciortino, 2004). Since that point, immi- of children, adults, and communities plays such a crucial role gration in Italy has constantly been increasing, slowly at in the process of integration to become one of the main func- first, then faster and faster (Ministero del Lavoro e delle tions in the school system (Heckmann, 2008). “Many chil- Politiche Sociali, 2012). However, the reason why Italy has dren with an immigrant background face enormous become one of the main places where immigrants arrive is challenges at school” (OECD, 2015b, p. 1). In other words, obviously related to its geographical features. First of all, they quickly have to adjust their entire life to the new con- being a peninsula, most of the Italian territories are highly text: different academic expectations, a new language, new exposed and this makes a difference from other European friends, and nonetheless, a new social identity. These diffi- countries, which can be easily controlled. Second, Italy is culties in integrating into a new society are magnified by the located right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and it is risk of segregation, especially in those countries where the first border to Europe; hence, Italy ranked as the fifth immigrants are gathered in poor neighborhoods (Kleijnen, country in the EU for immigrant population in 2015 (with 5.8 Huysmans, & Elbers, 2015). On one hand, the diversity that million immigrants). As a result, 9% of students in Italian characterizes school classes can reveal fragility, but on the schools have not had the Italian citizenship yet (ISMU, other hand, it can spur resources and talents, which come 2015), and this is an important fact for what concerns this from different life experiences. As a consequence, the mere study. presence of immigrant pupils is not a sign of educational risk In other words, the situation in Italy can be summarized as of failure (Iniziative e Studi sulla Multietnicità [ISMU], complex: The country is dealing with migration as a recent 2015). and unmanageable phenomenon; it receives a wide variety of By observing the performance gap between immigrant and ethnic groups (more than 191) of which virtually no one nonimmigrant students, we can see that there are large differ- speaks Italian, and it houses a large number of foreigners of ences across countries, and this suggests that a valuable pol- first and second generation. Nonetheless, the greatest con- icy can play an important role in clearing such disparities. centration of immigrants are settled mainly in the Northern regions of the country, meaning that they are not well distrib- Immigrant students have the potential to perform as well as non- uted across the territory or concentrated in large cities as in immigrant students, despite the dual challenges of integration other European countries. In addition, according to the UN and socio-economic disadvantage. Education systems have to High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), they are all play a role in ensuring that immigrant students make the most people with a low sociocultural profile on average, made up out of the opportunities schools offer. (OECD, 2015a, p. 2) of both migrants in search of work and political refugees (UNHCR, 2015). However, each country has its own characteristics and its As a matter of fact, by abiding to the “open door” policy own history, hence it relates to the phenomenon of immigra- of the ministry (Ministry of Education, University and tion providing different strategies—mainly in regard to the Research [MIUR], 2006, 2014), school integration is an invi- integration of newcomers—which can be more or less olable right for every child who needs to be properly wel- successful. comed into his or her new class. No issue can prevent the child to be properly settled, neither the irregular state of the pupil’s family, nor if the school year has already started. The Italian Situation Due to the history and geography of Italy, which consider- Education Strategies ably differ from other European countries, there are some aspects to consider when dealing with immigration in our Education Policies country. First of all, Italy did not become a unitary state until 1861, Schools should be the main place where intercultural skills therefore causing complexity in the study of migration in the and the ability to dialogue in tolerance and respect with other periods prior to the second half of 1800. Unlike other cultures are developed; these attitudes are indispensable in European countries, which mainly invested in policies of our modern society (Council of Europe Ministers of Foreign colonial intervention, Italy has been a country that has expe- Affairs, 2008). Educational programs that address the cogni- rienced periods of high emigration during most of its history tive and psychosocial needs can be successful against social Coin 3 exclusion. “Immigrant students can become a vital part of It is important to consider that teachers do not adopt their education systems and a valuable resource for their host techniques according to the class’ needs only, but also country” (OECD, 2015a, p. 4). according to their beliefs and affinities: all information Since the nineties, the European Commission has been acquired in training courses, their practice, their own experi- pursuing initiatives to support the intercultural coexistence ence as students, previous activities with other classes, and as well as the fight against racism and the abolition of dis- their personal experience outside the school. All these fea- parities. These proposals, addressed to policy makers, admin- tures form the teacher’s convictions and beliefs, which are istrators, educators, medias, and to civil-society organizations, deeply rooted in their life and are difficult to be replaced, promote slogans as “All Different—All Equal” (Council of despite the constant update given by training courses. Europe Ministers of Foreign Affairs, 2008). Overall, it is evi- In 2009, Teaching and Learning International Survey dent that every form of segregation in the school would pre- (TALIS) examined a variety of teacher’s beliefs, practices, vent the education system to succeed in one of its main and attitudes, considered to be important to understand and objectives: to create social inclusion, friendship, and societal improve educational processes (OECD, 2009). Researchers bonds, primarily among the first generation of immigrant observed teachers’ approaches in several countries, dividing pupils (European Commission, 2008). These students do not them in “direct transmission beliefs about learning and need a particular education designed especially for them. instruction” and “constructivist beliefs about learning and They would take instead more advantage from a new repre- instruction.” These dimensions of belief are well established sentation of the class: The school should identify them as an in educational research and are part of the literature of integral part of the system and not as a problematic minority. Western and non-Western countries (Kim, 2005; Sang et al., The preliminary stages of “welcome” and “integration” are 2009; Woolley, Benjamin, & Woolley, 2004). essential, but they are not enough. It is necessary to go fur- Based on a behaviorist model, the transmissive approach is ther, toward the “inclusion phase.” We have to recognize for- also labeled as “teacher-centered” or “subject matter oriented.” eign children as real components of the class and not as Students play a passive role as they have to imitate the teach- guests (Favaro, 2010). er’s actions to bring their performance closer to the standard The analysis produced by the Italian MIUR (Ismu, 2013, level. “These beliefs are adopted by teachers who are focused 2014, 2015) highlights the continuous and significant on transmitting their knowledge, arranging well-organised improvement of the immigrant students’ performance in teaching plans and adopting step- by step teaching methods” Italy. Although still marked, the indicators related to the (Sang et al., 2009, p. 365). According to this model, diversity admission rates, school delay, final exams results, and assess- (of knowledge, cultures, and skills) is seen as an obstacle to ment of skills show a gap between Italian and foreign stu- the achievement of consistent performance. Although there dents that is nowadays decreasing. It is a very complex are limitations in this approach, it is well spread and quite phenomenon and it is difficult to determine its causes. It is common, especially in Italian high schools (Bottero, 2013). In worth to analyze it: Is this improvement determined by natu- fact, results from TALIS survey show that Italy is the only ral mutations, such as the increasing number of pupils born country where the adoption of the transmissive approach is in Italy but without Italian citizenship? Or, alternatively, stronger than the constructivist one (OECD, 2009). does it depend on the actual effectiveness of integration strat- The constructivist approach, instead, is known as “stu- egies applied by teachers? In any case, it seems to show that dent-centered” approach. It suggests that every student has to what schools have done so far— promoting the inclusion of follow an own path of learning, with the teacher accompany- immigrant students—is giving encouraging results. ing him or her as a guide, arranging tools, techniques, and strategies tailored on the student’s characteristics; according to this model, diversity is a challenge and teachers have to Teaching Approaches cope with an increasingly wide variety of needs. As a matter There is another hidden change that is taking place, which is of fact, this line of thinking is common to various training not managed by any government or reported by any official courses and is currently the most used in Italian primary statistics: the change in the approach that teachers show toward schools (Varani, 2004). their students (Coin, 2016). Different expectations and atti- Some authors (Proulx, 2008; Riegler, 2005; Villalobos, tudes of the participants can consistently affect the climate and 2013) suggest a step forward has been taken toward these the interactions in the classroom; in other words, it is a delicate approaches. When Maturana and Varela proposed their “the- balance that can be easily compromised by an internal or ory of autopoietic systems” (Maturana & Varela, 1984), later external intervention. “Teachers’ beliefs represent the rich developed in the variant known as “enactivism” or “enactive store of knowledge which involve their instructional planning cognitive science” by Varela, Thompson and Rosch (Varela, and practices. Hence, a better understanding of teachers’ edu- Thompson, & Rosch, 1991) something new cational beliefs is essential to influence and improve teaching began. In other words, the mind was no longer conceived practices and the potential success of educational reforms” as the “classic sandwich” consisting of perception (input), (Sang, Valcke, Braak, & Tondeur, 2009, p. 363). cognition (information processing), and agency (output), but 4 SAGE Open rather something encompassing complex circular interac- “anticipation of the curriculum” (Begg, 2013): The teacher is tions between the brain, the body, and the environment willing to follow the variety of directions and multiple trajec- (Vörös, Froese, & Riegler, 2016). No longer perceived as the tories that a dialogue on a topic may take in response to a ability to derive world models reworked for thinking, cogni- “legitimate question” (Bocchi & Damiano, 2013). Let us tion was also perceived in a different way: a system that is pretend there is a discussion taking place in the peer group. constantly engaged in contexts of action and requires fast According to the enactivist tendency, the discussion will processing information through a constant sensorimotor ensure pupils use a simple lexicon, less complicated than the exchange (Stewart, Gapenne, & Di Paolo, 2010). However, teacher’s one. So children who show difficulties in the use of several points of conflict divide enactivism from previous language can better understand; this way encourages the par- theories: mainly the problem of (anti)representationalism, ticipation of children with expressive difficulties, those who the role of self-organization and self-maintenance (auton- are often inhibited in formal evaluation contexts, such as the omy) in the constitution of cognition, the exact nature of classic oral exam: As a matter of fact, they may feel freer to embodiment and its role in the brain–body–world dynamics intervene in a conversation with their classmates. In addi- (Vörös et al., 2016). tion, the teacher will have the opportunity to coordinate the Although the philosophical current of “enactivism” has speech turn, allowing everyone the time to share opinions, been known for several decades, its “connection” to educa- both respecting the pupils’ inclinations and personal skills tion has only recently been investigated (Begg, 1999, 2013; and taking into account the prior knowledge and personal Frauenfelder, Rivoltella, Rossi, & Sibilio, 2013; Rossi, 2011; perspectives, as the enactive dialogue has the advantage of Rossi, Prenna, Giannandrea, & Magnoler, 2013). For this starting from experiences and emotions. reason, it is not very well common among teachers and no training courses still deal with it. According to this perspec- The Study tive, the class is a space where students and teachers live together and exchange their knowledge and structures; the Research Questions interaction between the learning subject and the environ- The goal of this study is to check the most widespread ment—teachers and students included—creates “co-emer- approaches in the Italian primary school. Mainly, to under- gencies” and produces the “structural coupling” (Maturana stand whether a change is taking place in classes composed & Varela, 1984). Participants create a relationship character- by students from different nationalities. Is there a tendency ized by interdependence, in which it is not possible to recog- for teachers to apply innovative approaches similar to the nize direct action of an individual on another but only enactive method? Besides, are there correlations between reciprocal perturbations and compensations (Rossi et al., teachers’ personal characteristics (e.g., age, years of teach- 2013). Rossi in fact gives a description of some of the funda- ing, previous work experience, extracurricular activities) and mental concepts of “enactivism.” It is important to list some the educational approach they use? This could help to better of them: autopoiesis, when the system evolves by itself, so understand the factors that could facilitate or hinder the pupils learn according to their prior knowledge; structural coupling, namely, the relationship between the individual spread of this approach. And last, but not least, we are will- and the environment, so between the teacher and the class ing to explore how the teacher’s approach influences the and vice versa; circularity, pupils and teachers influence development of students. In other words, the aim is to detect each other; cognition, viewed as the essence of every pupil’s the following: action, not as a function to be activated; knowledge, seen as shared production and coemergency; action, pupils and a. a tendency of teachers’ attitude and belief toward an teacher act to exchange their knowledge; environment, seen innovative approach, as the enactive one; as a sort of trigger, especially when a simple question creates b. correlations between teachers’ biographical character- that imbalance, which harms the process of knowledge; istics and the teaching approach they use; and eventually, structural determinism, as it is not possible to c. correlations between the teachers’ educational ap- accurately predict what reaction follows an action, consider- proach and the average scores of pupils in critical, ing that the trajectories created by the system are various and creative, metacognitive, emotional, and contemplative independent. thinking tests. As a matter of fact, the teacher is no longer the one who holds the knowledge and has the task of transmitting it to the Materials and Procedure “tabula rasa pupils,” but becomes the coordinator of a pro- cess of growth. All participants are equally involved, no mat- This study adopted a combination of qualitative and quanti- ter what is the starting and the arrival level of each student. tative research methods. In the first part of the assessment, In this context, diversity is an asset, for every contribution information about some aspects of classroom life was col- enriches the growth of all. To provide a good sample, we lected through a semistructured interview administered to shall consider a typical enactive lesson, in particular the the teachers. After some questions about themselves (age, Coin 5 Table 1. Questions of Teacher’s Interview and Keywords Answer About “ Teaching” and “ Learning.” Questions\approach Transmissive Constructivist Enactive What does “ teaching” mean? Transmit information Accompany the student in his or Let a track in his or her life her learning path What does “ learning” mean? Receive information Dedicate (En)act What is the role of the teacher? Push information Advise, guide pupils Propose, he or she is a coordinator What is the role of the student? Receive information Elaborate Share What does the student learn? Content Strategies Changing himself or herself What does it mean if a student He or she does not He or she is editing the He or she is present, asks a question? understand or wants information participates, and shares additional information When is a student considered W hen he or she can W hen he or she can reelaborate Always, there is no ranking good? repeat what he or she has and applies what he or she has studied studied in new contexts Table 2. Questions of Teacher’s Interview and Keywords Answer About the Class. Questions\approach Transmissive Constructivist Enactive What is a class? A set of students who live A collaborative group An ecosystem together How to consider the presence of A problem A positive challenge A richness students with different cultures? How to consider the different They create problems A starting point The norm needs of students? When preparing the lesson of the W ith a very detailed playlist General topics ready to be Selecting the objectives but day, how to prepare topics and modified if students do not leaving them open to more materials? follow the general rhythm of possibilities the class What does “ evaluate” mean? Compare the performance Record the students’ point of Appreciate personal progress with standard requirements arrival in their learning path To whom and why are school They define the final level of They give a feedback to They encourage the students marks and comments useful? the student students, teachers, and parents years of teaching, general work experience, and hobbies), Through appropriate statistical surveys carried out by about their classes (number of pupils, immigrant pupils, SPSS software, correlations have been searched to investi- pupils with special educational need [SEN], and major diffi- gate whether the teaching approach designated by the teacher culties within the class), and about their work environment depends both on the particular features of the class and on the (classroom areas, arrangement of furniture, tools and activi- biographical profile of the teacher, to answer to the second ties), they were asked to fill out a survey and show their opin- query (b). ions. Their answers were accurately examined, in particular In the second part of the study, the pupils were given three through the frequency analysis technique (Gemini & Russo, questionnaires and a test to assess their current ability level 1998; Zhang & Wildemuth, 2005), to find out their profile of according to five different “forms of thinking”: critical think- approach and answer to the first point of inquiry (a). ing, creative thinking, metacognitive thinking, contempla- Tables 1 and 2 enclose the categories of questions and tive thinking, and caring thinking. This list, developed by some sample of teachers’ answers related to each approach. Andy Begg (2013), takes into consideration the reaction of Before submitting the survey, a brief review of the literature students when facing different teaching approaches. In par- was conducted to identify key concepts that better than oth- ticular, one questionnaire and the test were taken from the ers distinguishes the three approaches (Begg, 1999, 2013; available literature, that is, “Io e la mia mente” (Me and my Duffy & Cunningham, 1996; Ertmer & Newby, 1993; mind) for metacognitive thinking (Friso, Dusi, & Cornoldi, Hoover, 1996; Kim, 2005; Li, Clark, & Winchester, 2010; 2013) and “The Creativity Assessment Packet” by Frank McGee, 2005, 2006; Proulx, 2004, 2008; Proulx & Simmt, Williams, Italian version, for creative thinking (William, 2013; Rossi, 2011; Santoianni & Striano, 2003; Von 1994). The other two questionnaires were created on purpose Glaserfeld, 1989). for this study. 6 SAGE Open Table 3. Distribution of Participant Among Classes. Classes in Number and level of Italian Immigrant District Site the school participant classes Pupils pupils pupils 1st generation 2nd generation Venice Town center 14 2 classes 3rd 95 45 50 17 33 2 classes 5th Venice Town center 13 2 classes 4th 121 109 12 9 3 3 classes 5th Venice Hinterland 8 2 classes 3rd 62 57 5 0 5 2 classes 4th Brescia Town center 25 5 classes 3rd 336 235 101 24 77 5 classes 4th 5 classes 5th Brescia Hinterland 10 2 classes 3rd 123 72 51 13 38 2 classes 4th 2 classes 5th My class is tough, because there are many children who have To answer the third inquiry (c), ANOVA was conducted to different learning timings and modalities. At the beginning, their find out possible relations between the teachers’ approach level was very different and so it was really difficult. There are and the developmental level that their pupils show in the above-mentioned thinking forms. two or three leading children and the others follow. It is hard to have so many children who need an individualized path and compensatory instruments. Participants Another one adds, Thirty-four teachers and their 659 pupils took part in the project. They are all from the third, fourth, and fifth year of There are communication difficulties because of their lexical and primary school in five institutions in the districts of Brescia syntactic deficiency; their socio-cultural context is not enough and Venice. These cities in particular are part of two regions “stimulating”: children live very few extra-curricular experiences. of Northern Italy with the highest number of immigrant stu- In my class, there are students with a very low level of dents. Nonetheless, primary schools include the largest num- comprehension and are seldom using the Italian language. ber of students without Italian citizenship and often welcome Features of the class: 7 immigrant students (one pupil acquired the a large number of children newly arrived in the country. Italian citizenship two years ago), 3 pupils with a foreign mother. All teachers interviewed were female, aged between 27 I do not consider the composition of the class as a problem, but it and 62 years, with an average age of 49 years and an SD = is certainly a significant aspect when structuring the lesson. 9.5 years. They are all experienced teachers, with a range of 6 to 42 years of service, with an average of 27 years of teach- Teachers appear very sensitive about this theme: They tell ing and an SD = 9.7. about their frustration when faced with children’s needs they The children belonged to different classes (11 third year, cannot satisfy: 11 fourth year, and 12 fifth year) ranging from 8 to 11 years in age. All classes were invited to participate and the pupils’ It is difficult. One of the biggest difficulties is to be able to be efficient for everyone and many times there is a sense of guilt distribution among classes is shown in Table 3. when you can’t do the children’s best, for lack of time and Unfortunately, at the time when the test was handed in, resources or because sometimes parents obstacle the teacher’s some children were absent or lacking of parental permission. job and this is really sad, Other pupils were excluded from the final calculation as unable to complete the test because of cognitive or linguistic enlightens a teacher. problems. Six hundred fifty-nine children composed the final The teachers’ will to help these pupils is noticeable: A group of participants. great majority of them (67%) admit an approach focused on individual differences, such as constructivism. A certain per- Results centage (20%) is looking for a more inclusive approach, which has the features of enactivism (Figure 1). If we con- Considering the teachers’ answers, it is clear they recognize sider that nobody has had any formal training for it, there is the problem related to the presence of pupils with different a large percentage of teachers who choose this approach. backgrounds. According to the 47% of teachers, the most Only the remaining 9% remain anchored to a transmissive common difficulty is the gap in children’s skills, knowledge, approach, which does not consider individual differences. As language, and values. A teacher explains, Coin 7 A little gap persists between native and immigrant groups of students but anyway the average score is higher than in other classes (Figure 4). These data confirm that the enactive approach shows positive effects on both the two groups. The difficulties for the class due to the presence of immigrant pupils follow a strange trend: This difficult situation tends to increase when a great number of immigrant students com- pose the class, still less than a half of the total number of pupils. A particular phenomenon happens in this situation: When the number of foreign children is low (less than five pupils), the average scores of the tests are higher (Figure 5). If there is an intermediate number of immigrant pupils, the average scores of the tests become very low, but if the number of immigrant students exceed half of the class, they show a slight recovery. Many teachers tried to explain this trend. They suppose Figure 1. Percentage of teachers’ approach profile. that in the first case, the teacher expects the immigrant pupils to adapt to the class level. Conversely, in the third situation, the teacher adapts herself and her instructional method to the a matter of fact, the first inquiry about the tendency of teach- class’ needs. The second case is quite interesting: The teacher ers’ attitude and belief toward an innovative approach is well has to choose whether to help the disadvantaged children or confirmed. to carry the rest of the class forward. However, this choice is The questions that received the greatest number of enac- pointless, as simply by following an inclusive approach such tive answers were “What does ‘teaching’ mean?” and “How as enactivism can prevent her from having to make that to consider the presence of students with different cultures?” choice. The enactive approach is quite effective in all cases, (Figure 2). Very common replies to the first enquiry were but a significant difference of scores (p < .01) is achieved “Establish a relationship with the students that always especially when the classes host an intermediate (between 5 develop the desire to learn” and “Create the conditions for a and 10) or higher number of immigrant students, exceeding mutual learning.” Many teachers (60%) used in their sen- 10 (p <.05; Figure 6). It is important to emphasize this fact, tences words such as “Leave a mark,” “Training,” and “Grow because it reflects the condition of most of the classes emotionally,” which are usually linked to the enactive involved in the study. approach. Similarly, a great number of teachers (67%) affirm that the presence of immigrant children is “A wealth, an opportunity for discussion and growth.” A teacher said, Discussion A profound change is taking place in Italian schools: The It is an enrichment. It poses us, teachers, in front of different population of pupils is changing, and with it, the way teach- situations and makes us realize how lucky we are in some ers approach students. Classes are now made up of children aspects of our life and less in others, because we often overlook with different cultures, languages, knowledge, and skills, the value of what we have. and the criteria to consider them as a uniformed group are changing. This transformation is followed by a change in the There is no relation between the teacher’s work or place educational action exercised by the teachers, as confirmed by of living and her approach. The choice of approach, instead, the data relating to the first hypothesis (a). The teacher rec- is independent from factors such as location and size of the ognizes that it is no longer appropriate to continue practicing school, size and composition of the class, and her personal traditional models of transmission, because these approaches features. It disconfirms the second inquiry and suggests that consider the class as a homogeneous group of pupils and are enactive teaching is an approach that everybody can no longer functional to the current environment. However, it practice. is not possible to devote attention to each student’s individ- The results from the analysis on the average score obtained ual process, such as suggested by constructivism. Designing by the children show a prominent odd (Figure 3): The pupils, individualized learning paths for each student becomes an who study with an enactive teacher, have significantly higher excessive and unrealistic burden for the teacher; teachers test scores1 (p < .05). This is evident in all class levels and spontaneously recognize that they should not seek the solu- for all thinking forms, especially for creative and metacogni- tion to this problem in specific integration strategies, trying tive thinking (p < .01). According to Begg (2013), it is prob- to standardize immigrant students to the class, mostly unsuc- able that enactive teaching promotes a more balanced cessfully. Despite this, “People often resist change due to the development of different forms of thought. 8 SAGE Open Figure 2. Distribution of answer per approach. Figure 3. Comparing average pupils’ scores in the different teaching approaches. Figure 5. Effect of presence of immigrant pupils on the average scores. Figure 4. Effects of teaching approach on the pupils’ score. cognitive dissonance related to their previous beliefs and Figure 6. Effect of teaching approach on classes with different behaviours. Conscious effort and perseverance are needed number of immigrant pupils. for a real change to take place” (Sandu, 2015, p. 2); as a con- sequence, the changing in their approach is slow to happen. A teacher explains the actual process of transition with these teachers identify (as Figure 2 showed and the result paragraph words: “In order to survive in an environment that changes explained) cultural difference as a source of enrichment for all the time, you need to adapt quickly and change perspec- the entire class, abandoning the search of homogeneity for the tive, rather than fight to try to keep things as they were.” benefits diversity can bring in the entire group. The school system needs a new vision of the class group, The concept of “education” is, thus, changing: This pro- cess is no longer defined as the transmission of contents, as which values each participant as a personal addition. Most Coin 9 driving through a designated route but aims at “leaving a and pedagogical features influence the outcome, producing sign,” “growing emotionally,” and “establishing a relation- differences at a national, local, and personal level. However, if ship,” which can be summed up as a more global training: only the teacher’s beliefs produce positive effects on students, This perspective is actually wider and constitutes the basis we can imagine how positive the result is when intentions for personalized learning, which considers the individual dif- become concrete actions. ferences of each pupil. To do so, teachers must trust “the pos- The respect, the equality, and collaboration among peers sibility of a cosmopolitan community where individuals on the base of the enactive approach allow both native and from varying locations and beliefs engage in relationships of immigrant students to develop their potential. Through this mutual respect” (Sparapani, Callejo Perez, Gould, Hillman, approach, the teacher helps students to participate and to & Clark, 2014, p. 2). express themselves, preventing them from having to make The results about the second hypothesis (b) reveal that uncomfortable choices. there were no significant correlations between the teachers’ approach and the institute’s or class’ characteristics. Conclusion Moreover, teachers carrying on the enactive profile are equi- tably distributed according to the institute size, location, and In the last decade, we used to think about “learning” as class composition: These data suggest that this approach is something that happens or should happen in a place where a potentially practicable by any teacher, without limitations teacher transmits notions. Some scholars have overlooked related to the work context. The teacher’s personal features the concept, dealing with a new idea of “here and now,” indicate, however, that young teachers with a high level of where the learning process, the context, and the teacher’s experience welcome the enactive approach. Probably, they approach are crucial in determining the student’s perfor- need a certain degree of confidence and classroom manage- mance (Di Tore & Corona, 2016). “Learning today is no lon- ment skills to undertake activities that leave pupils the free- ger related to the ‘classroom’ as the physical environment; it dom of expression and choice. This fact is confirmed by the is instead an ‘across spaces’ place characterized by the pos- OECD data: sibility to build serendipitous, pervasive and seamless expe- riences” (p. 421), the authors explain. Years of professional experience have a significant clear effect A small part of the Italian scientific community on teaching practices. . . . Indices on participation in co- involved in educational research is following this alterna- operative activities are positively associated with on-the-job tive direction. They give meaning and value both to the experience. . . . However, for classroom disciplinary climate and context and to the teacher’s approach as their main object self-efficacy, consistent effects are found. . . . In a majority of of investigation of the learning process (Aiello, Carenzio, Countries experienced teachers report a better classroom Di gennaro, Di Tore, & Sibilio, 2013; Aprile, 2012; climate. (OECD, 2009, p. 115) Francesconi & Tarozzi, 2012; Frauenfelder et al., 2013; Giaconi, Rodrigues, Rossi, Aparacida, & Vastola, 2013; The teachers who understand this critical step aim to break down any kind of cultural and personal barriers in the Prenna, 2014; Rivoltella, 2012; Rossi, 2011; Rossi et al., classroom. The emphasis is on evaluating the person, 2013). Some of them belong to the TincTec group heedless of their social hierarchy or their nationality of ori- (Research Center of Teaching and Learning, Inclusion, gin. In the classrooms of teachers who have spontaneously Disability, and Educational Technology) of Macerata. They also are establishing relations with the Swiss developed an enactive approach, the personal contribution research group led by Marc Durand of University of of each pupil is recognized and valued, and children feel Genève and with the research group led by Maurizio free to express themselves and to participate. They are, Sibilio (Università degli studi di Salerno) and the Pier thus, creating environments rich in incitements and posi- Cesare Rivoltella (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di tive relationships. Milano) in Italy. Together, they formed the Società Italiana The outcomes of the third assumption (c) show that pupils who study with an enactive teacher have significantly higher di Pedagogia (Italian Society of Pedagogy) Nonlinear test scores. However, we investigated only teachers’ beliefs Trajectories group, investigating about emerging issues in without going deeper into the activities they effectively con- the educational research, for example, enactivism, sim- duct in the classroom; nonetheless, teachers affirm there is a plexity, and neuroscience. A lot of their works are dedi- great difference between what they would do and what they cated to outline the typical features of enactive education can do with the pupils. Limited resources, strict regulations, (Prenna, 2014; Rossi, 2011; Rossi et al., 2013), whereas and little collaborative colleagues do not allow them to realize some others are focused on the teachers’ perspectives their proposals. As remembered by Sang (Sang et al., 2009), (Rossi & Pezzimenti, 2015). what a teacher believes is really powerful in its impact on the The above study contributed to this very study, showing students, even when it is not followed by the teacher’s action. the spontaneous diffusion of a new approach among primary As OECD’s researches argue (OECD, 2009), historical, social, school teachers and highlighting its positive effects on pupils. 10 SAGE Open Unfortunately, there is a lack of literature available, and References based on enactive teaching in schools, therefore, it was not Aiello, P., Carenzio, A., Di gennaro, D. C., Di Tore, S., & Sibilio, possible to compare this study with other experiences in dif- M. (2013). Transmedia digital storytelling to match students’ ferent contexts. cognitive styles in special education. Research on Education This search considers certain classes selected by region, and Media, 5, 123-133. Aprile, F. (2012). L’alunno furgoncino e l’alunno carrarmato. Una area, size of the institution, and age of pupils, but it would didattica enattiva per ridurre gli errori in educazione [The stu- be very interesting to further investigate the phenomenon dent van and the crowded pupil. An enactive teaching to reduce within a larger group of participants, carrying on a study in mistakes in education]. Roma, Italy: Armando Editore. a broader perspective. There are many questions, in fact, Begg, A. (1999). Enactivism and mathematics education. In Making that remain open; thus, it would be worth conducting longi- the difference: Proceedings of the twenty-second annual con- tudinal and cross-sectional studies to find out more details ference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of about this topic. Australasia Incorporated (MERGA) (Vol. 22, pp. 68-75). New analysis could provide more information about the Adelaide, Australia: MERGA. evolution of this shift of approach, which is currently at the Begg, A. (2013). 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Qualitative analysis of Stewart, J. R., Gapenne, O., & Di Paolo, E. A. (2010). Enaction: content by. Retrieved from http://philpapers.org/rec/ZHAQAO Toward a new paradigm for cognitive science. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=it&lr=&id=UtFDJx- Author Biography gysQC&pgis=1 Francesca Coin obtained a degree in developmental psychology at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2015). Asilo the University of Padua (2009) and a PhD in cognitive sciences and e Migrazioni: Flussi misti [Asylum and Migration: Mixed education at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (2016). She car- flows.]. Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.it/cosa-facciamo/ ries out training activities and teaching in master’s course and in protezione initial training course for support teachers. As a freelancer, she Varani, A. (2004). La scuola tra didattica e formazione [The school between education and training]. Dirigenti—Scuola. Retrieved deals with children with learning difficulties or disabilities. She from http://www.costruttivismoedidattica.it/articoli/Varani/ works for inclusion of foreign students, with particular attention to Varani_didattica-formazione.pdf the development of inclusive educational models and enactivism.

Journal

SAGE Open – SAGE

Published: May 13, 2017

Keywords: enactive teaching; immigrant pupils; inclusion; teaching approaches; primary school

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