Contrasting and preventing school drop-out in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods from early childhood education

As part of the MUSA Spoke 6 project Innovation for Sustainable and Inclusive Societies, the research-intervention adopts an ecological paradigm and a perspective of democratic, inclusive citizenship. It explores the synergy between school and extra-school contexts to integrate formal and non-formal education against school drop-out. The study unfolds in phases: 1) exploratory action-research, with focus groups and participatory observation, to detect needs and existing interventions on educational poverty; 2) creation of a multiprofessional team to analyze contextual conditions and reinforce L’ABC del quartiere, a multifunctional service engaging families, teachers and students in Teacher Professional Development Research; 3) research-intervention in lower secondary schools, with teachers, to test innovative curricula improving competences and social climate, within a national PRIN project.