Povertà educativa, diritto all’educazione e approccio alle capacità. La voce di educatrici e insegnanti dei servizi educativi per l’infanzia e di scuola primaria

Access to and attendance in high-quality educational services play a crucial role in tackling educational poverty, even representing a «generative welfare» factor (Vecchiato, 2014). The scientific community has long been reflecting on how to enhance ECEC and school protective action, and guarantee all children the opportunity to «learn, experiment, develop and freely foster their capacities, talents and aspirations» (STC, 2014, p. 4). This reflection has become even more urgent due to the current health emergency and the connected measures (e.g. ECEC/school closures, distance teaching...), that, albeit necessary, might bring along relevant negative effects for children, especially those from weaker socio-economic backgrounds. The present contribution is set within the broader departmental research project Education for Social Justice (E4SJ), which refers to the Capability Approach (Nussbaum, 2012; Sen, 2014) as applied in education. A set of qualitative interviews conducted with ECEC and primary school professionals offers significant insights and contributes to the discussion on this topic.