B3448 - Methodologies of Observation and Pedagogical Reflexivity

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of the course, the student:

knows and is able to apply tools for the observation, interpretation and qualitative analysis of experience;
is able to use their own observations and descriptions in working relationships with other professionals and according to a logic of professional reflexivity;
starting from the analysis of experience, is able to identify the elements involved in the planning of educational pathways;
knows and is able to apply the concepts of “network-based work,” “active listening,” “needs analysis,” “integrative background,” and “narrative documentation and evaluation”;
is able to reflect on the construction of the professional identity of socio-pedagogical educators;
knows the role, fields of intervention and distinctive professional characteristics of the socio-pedagogical educator;
is able to analyse the context and identify its institutional, social, cultural, educational and individual dimensions;
is able to reflect critically on action, with appropriate critical distance and on the basis of their disciplinary and relational competences, taking into account the constraints, critical issues, problems and/or resources and potential of the context;
is able to identify and analyse educational emergencies within the socio-historical and cultural context in which they are called upon to work;
is able to recognise and understand the dimensions of environmental and social sustainability connected with the profession of the socio-pedagogical educator.

Course contents

The course will explore pedagogical reflexivity through the practice and analysis of six gestures:

1. Observing and listening in a given situation—or, one might say, “catching an action in the act.”
2. Describing the social, historical, political, economic and cultural contexts in which we are immersed, which condition us and from which we seek to escape: structures.
3. Writing oneself: questioning one’s own position in the act of encountering another person and in the act of educating; writing within the institution, against the institution, despite the institution, in order to deinstitutionalise: intentions, yearnings, forms and speakability.
4. Having others write: using writing as an educational tool to construct spaces for relationships and speaking out, and to experiment with collective writing practices: techniques.
5. Reading: encountering the writings and words of others, particularly those who have historically been excluded from the authority of the written word; seeking out and gathering traces of these writings, including unexpected ones: research, encounters with groups and experiences, unexpected writings.
6. Questioning ourselves: what do we do with the words and writings we collect? How do we put them into circulation? How do they become—or fail to become—knowledge, memory and archive within the social field? Why are they spoken or addressed to us?

Through this final gesture—which will, in fact, run throughout the entire course—the aim is to practise an analytical approach capable of continually bringing educators back to the question formulated by Jean Oury:

« Qu’est-ce que je fous là ? »

Readings/Bibliography

Social inquiry will be adopted in the course as one of the methodological frameworks through which educational practices will be examined.

Core readings:

1- Pugliese, E. (a cura di) (2025), L'inchiesta sociale in Italia, Roma, Carocci.

Together with one of the following three texts, to be selected by the student:

1- Deligny, F. (2020), I vagabondi efficaci e altri scritti, a cura di L. Monti, traduzione di C. Scorzoni, Roma, Edizioni dell'Asino.

2- Melazzini, C. (2023), Insegnare al principe di Danimarca, a cura di C. Moreno, con una nota di C. Giunta, Palermo, Sellerio.

3- Ramondino, F. (2000), Passaggio a Trieste, Torino, Einaudi.

 

Recommended reference text, particularly for students not attending classes:

Antonelli, F. (2025), Una rosa è una rosa è una rosa. Per una educazione popolare, di comunità, delle donne, Bologna, Bologna University Press.

(Freely available for download here: https://buponline.com/prodotto/una-rosa-e-una-rosa-e-una-rosa/)

 

During the classes, excerpts and materials from the following texts will be presented (the lecturer will make the extracts available in a digital course reader):

Bourdieu, P. (2015), La miseria del mondo, Milano, Mimesis.

Breton, P. (2004), Elogio della parola. Il potere della parola contro la parola del potere, Milano, Elèuthera.

Foucault, M. (2009), La vita degli uomini infami. Il potere sovrano e il corpo dei miserabili, prefazione di R. Bodei, Bologna, il Mulino.

Ginsberg, A. (1972), Testimonianza a Chicago, a cura di F. Pivano, Torino, Einaudi.

Gorczyca, J. (2024), Storia di mia vita, Palermo, Sellerio.

Jesus, C. M. de (1962), Quarto de despejo. Il diario di una favela, prefazione di A. Moravia, Milano, Bompiani.

Montaldi, D. (2018), Autobiografie della leggera. Emarginati, balordi e ribelli raccontano le loro storie di confine, Milano, Bompiani.

Vasconcelos, J. S. (2026), Il soldato e il professore. I testi integrali degli interrogatori della dittatura brasiliana a Paulo Freire, traduzione di R. B. S. Pereira, Roma, Bibliotheka Edizioni.

Sennett, R. (2009), Rispetto. La dignità umana in un mondo di diseguali, Bologna, il Mulino.

Terkel, S. (2020), Lavorare. Le persone parlano di ciò che fanno tutto il giorno e di come si sentono a farlo, trad. it. di F. Pea, Roma, Minimum Fax.

Čechov, A. (2004), Scarpe buone e un quaderno di appunti. Come fare un reportage, a cura di P. Brunello, Roma, Minimum Fax, 2004

Boston Women's Health Book Collective (1974) Noi e il nostro corpo, Milano, Feltrinelli.

Lorde, A. (2022), Sorella outsider. Scritti politici, Milano, Meltemi.

 

 

Teaching methods

The course adopts an experiential teaching methodology applied to the observation, analysis, interpretation and writing of educational contexts, as well as to the analysis of and reflection on one’s own perspectives, projections and intersectional positionings.

Monographs, case studies, life histories, récits de vie, the critical exploration of language, narrative approaches to medicine and to the sciences and practices of care, methods enabling the people encountered in professional practice to take the floor—both orally and in writing—the collection, preservation and presentation of educational experiences in a communicable form through a plurality of interconnected languages and media (written texts, images produced by participants and audiovisual materials), collective writing practices, autobiographies, the archive as a repository, and “popular” cultural productions through which the processes whereby dominated groups are rendered subaltern can be examined: all these themes and questions will be explored through a practice-based approach within the writing-workshop format around which the course will be structured.

The work will be carried out in groups and will involve readings, discussions, and the analysis and interpretation of texts.

On some occasions, social-service practitioners will be invited to class to discuss their experiences.

Assessment methods

The examination will be oral and based on the core readings listed above.

All students, including those who do not attend classes, may submit an interview-based life history to be discussed during the oral examination.

Students choosing this option must send the completed interview-based life history to the lecturer at least 15 days before the date of the oral examination for which they have registered.

Teaching tools

During the classes, reference will be made to official documents, research reports, statistical surveys, audiovisual materials and multimedia tools.

Students who have questions about the degree programme or would like information about this or other courses may contact the programme tutors at edu.tutoresc@unibo.it [mailto:edu.tutoresc@unibo.it] . Further details are available at the following link:

Degree programme tutors https://corsi.unibo.it/laurea/ScienzeEducazioneSocialiCulturaliBologna/tutor-del-corso

Students experiencing difficulties with their study methods, with organising their work or preparing for the examination, or difficulties concerning their motivation to study or their university experience, may make use of the services provided by the University (Study Method Workshops and OrientaLab). Further details are available on this page:

University guidance services https://www.unibo.it/it/ateneo/organizzazione-e-sedi/servizi-di-ateneo/servizi-di-orientamento

Students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) or other disabilities are advised to contact the relevant University office well in advance:

Services for students with disabilities and SLDs https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it

The University service will propose any appropriate accommodations to the students concerned. These must nevertheless be submitted to the lecturer for approval at least 15 days in advance. The lecturer will assess their suitability in relation to the course’s learning outcomes.

Students may in any case contact the lecturer with specific requests or work with her to develop suitable accommodations, particularly regarding course materials and examination arrangements.

Office hours

See the website of Fulvia Antonelli