13220 - General and Social Pedagogy

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student:

- Knows the epistemological status of General Pedagogy: the conceptual nodes of the discipline, the areas of interest and the related research and intervention methodsand the main authors of tradition and contemporaneity;

- will be able to identify and analyze educational emergencies in our socio-historical-cultural context; - masters the notion of personal identity, its polysemy in the various disciplinary fields, its plural declinations in the contemporary context and the related processes of discovery-elaboration-construction-comparison from the pedagogical point of view; - will be able to research the elements of the historical-social-cultural context that influence both the daily work of educators / animators / socio-educational operators and the overall system of the educational services of a territory; - will be able to design and implement educational paths that can support an autonomous personal construction of subjects who turn to social, socio-health, cultural services; - will be able to manage collaboration with other professionals, in particular to face processes of change in the “problem-system” that encompasses educational subjects; - is able to create, in the services in which it operates, an atmosphere and contexts of active listening; - is able to educate to empathy; - is able to reflect on the construction of the professional identity of educators / animators / socio-educational operators, at the crossroads between: social negotiations, cultural elements, conditioning, historical phases, belonging, individual and group encounters and clashes, family identity modeling, etc .; - knows the role and educational specificity of the professional who works in social and socio-health services, in cultural, recreational and sports services; - will be able to analyze and use, from a systemic point of view, the training system that exists in a given territory; - knows the main characteristics of the educational relationship - is able to enhance, in himself and in others, the intertwining of emotional and cognitive processes in the educational relationship; - is able to exercise critical and meta-reflective functions towards disciplinary knowledge and one's ability to know in relation, also, to the constraints, problems, potentials, modifications of the context.

Course contents

The teaching approach will be inductive. It will begin with the analysis of specific cases, experiences, and concrete issues inherent to the professional role of the Educator. It will then gradually identify the pedagogical frameworks, heuristic trajectories, and theoretical references that can guide educational practice and contribute to defining the professional status of the Educator.

During the first phase, several emblematic and indicative experiences will be presented with respect to the skills and specificities of the Educator profession. Based on these stimuli, and also drawing on the students' prior experiences and latent skills, certain conceptual and methodological categories that comprise the professional epistemology of the Educator will be highlighted. From a methodological perspective, the aim of this phase will be to stimulate individual and group reflection, meta-cognitive and meta-communicative practice, and participatory learning on the topics in question. With respect to content, specific categories such as existential planning, the possible, commitment, difference, empathy, existential protagonism, the maieutic approach, awareness-raising, active listening, and other possible themes will be examined. Subsequently, students will be involved in group study and research activities to further develop their analysis of contemporary political, social, and cultural emergencies and their connections to the educational context, to highlight the meaning of Educators' pedagogically grounded action, and to outline their core competencies and professional expertise. Finally, the frameworks of Pedagogical Problematism, Empowerment, and the Epistemology of Complexity will be used as hermeneutical tools to deconstruct and relocate the concepts developed previously within the broader general pedagogical framework and to trace their theoretical foundations.

Readings/Bibliography

A. Tolomelli, Il valore pedagogico delle divergenza, Guerini, Milano 2023

A. Tolomelli, Rimuovere gli osatcoli, ETS, Pisa, 2019.

Teaching methods

Lessons, seminars with experts and study of documents and other sources.

Assessment methods

The exam will be written with multiple-choice and open-ended questions.


The final grade will take into account the correct answers to the multiple-choice questions and, for the open-ended questions, the candidate's ability to summarize, consistency with the theories and content presented in the course, the ability to critically read these theories, and clarity of presentation.


Each question in the exam assignment corresponds to a score out of 30 (indicated in the assignment). The total score obtained for the answers will give the final grade out of 30:


18-20: Sufficient
21-24: Fair/Satisfactory
25-27: Good/Excellent
28-30: Excellent
30 cum laude: Excellent with distinction

Students with DSA or disabilities: it is recommended that they contact the responsible University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students) as soon as possible. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, considering the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

Audiovisual contents, powerpoint presentations will be proposed and also active teaching laboratory activities will be proposed.

Office hours

See the website of Alessandro Tolomelli