ACADEMIC CAREER
Full Professor of History of Education, Department of Educational Sciences, University of Bologna
- 1982, Master Degree in Education, Faculty of Education, University of Bologna, final mark: 110/110 cum laude;
- 1989, PhD, with a thesis entitled La pedagogia del "nuovo" di Aldo Capitini (published in 1991);
- 1992-1994, two-year-long scholarship at the Department of Educational Sciences, University of Bologna for a research on L'insegnamento della Pedagogia, presso l'Università di Bologna, dall'Unità alla Seconda Guerra Mondiale (published in 1994);
-1998, Researcher in History of Education, M-Ped/02, at the Department of Educational Sciences;
- 2005, Associate Professor in M-Ped/02, University of Bologna;
- 2011 till now, Full Professor in M-Ped/02, University of Bologna.
INSTITUTIONAL ACTIVITY
- 2016-2022, Coordinator of the Doctoral School, Department of Educational Sciences, University of Bologna;
- 2012-2017, Coordinator of the Bachelor programme "Educator in childcare services", School of Psychology and Education, University of Bologna;
- 2006 till now, Member of the Faculty Board of the PhD School of Pedagogical Sciences, teacher and supervisor at the same PhD School;
- 2010-2015, Supervisor and responsible for the Commission of Training programs for Master degrees of the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Bologna;
- 2011 Member of the Study Commission for the Statute’s regulation of the Department of Educational Sciences, University of University of Bologna;
- 2011-2012, Member of the National Commission for the review of magazines on Education;
- 2013, President of the Commission of the Final exam for the Teacher’s training course;
- 2012/13-2016/17, Member of the Evaluation Committee of the University system (Anvur – VQR);
- 2013 till now, Official auditor for evaluation of research projects for MIUR (Ministry of Education);
- 2007 till now, on several occasions, Teacher at Doctoral school, member of Evaluation commissions for Doctoral degree at the Universities of Firenze, Reggio Emilia, Ferrara;
- 2016-17, Scientific responsible for the Master on the “Montessori’s pedagogy for nursery educators, kindergarten’s and primary school teachers, “ (agreement between University of Bologna, Municipality of Bologna, and Opera Nazionale Montessori);
- 2013, Member of the Commission for the preparation of the Pedagogical Manifesto for Children in the city of Bologna, established by the Department of Educational Sciences together with the Municipality of Bologna;
- 2007 till now, President and Member of the Selection Boards for comparative evaluation in competitions for research positions, associate professor and ordinary professor in various universities (Roma Tre, Bologna, Torino, Pavia, Macerata, Milano Bicocca, etc.).
ACADEMIC CHARGES
- 2016-2018, President or the CIRSE (Italian Centre for Historical-Educational research). CIRSE is the National scientific society, founded in 1980, for researchers belonging to the scientific disciplinary sector of M-Ped/02; President of the Jury of the CIRSE International Prize (2016 edition); 2018 till now member of the board of directors
SCIENTIFIC RESPONSIBILITY for National research projects eligible for funding, on the basis of competitive funds providing for peer review:
- 2005-2007 Responsible for the research group of the Bologna-based Prin-Cofin on School editors and books in Emilia Romagna during the 20th century.
SCIENTIFIC RESPONSIBILITY of research groups admitted to funding, University of Bologna:
- 2003-2005, Scientific responsible for the research project "Education and school in the Giolitti’s age. Moments, figures, and problems" (ex quota 60% Research of the Department of Educational Sciences, Bologna);
- 2005-2007, Scientific responsible for the research project “Women teachers, and educators in Italy during the King Umberto reign and the Giolitti’s age (turn-of-the-20th century)” (ex quota 60% Research of the Department of Educational Sciences, Bologna);
- 2018-20, Member of the biennial research project “Alma Idea Grant”, University of Bologna. Project title: From Orbis Pictus to next-generation non-fiction picture books for children. Teaching the world through wonder and beauty.
SCIENTIFIC PARTICIPATION in national research groups, winners of projects eligible for MIUR funding:
- 2017, Consultant of a project for the school of the city Casoria, winner of the second prize in the competition of ideas banned by the MIUR "innovative schools" http://www.istruzione.it/allegti/2017/vinciptori.zip
RESPONSIBILITY OF INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH GROUPS
- 2020 till now, member of the Doctoral school Educational Sciences, directed by Dr. Ketevan Chkuaseli, Professor, Head of Department of Education Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University;
-from 2010 till now, Referent for Italy and member of the scientific committee of an international research project "Ellen Key in Europe": project involving scholars belonging to five European universities (Finland, Germany, Italy, Sweden) to different subject areas (history of pedagogy, history of literature, history of women, history of philosophy, pedagogy, religious sciences).
DIRECTION AND ORGANIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
- 2011, International Conference “Maria Montessori’s pedagogy: a resource for the school of the future” (University of Bologna);
- 2012, International study day “Maria Montessori’s pedagogy in Italy and Russia: a comparison of experiences” (University of Bologna).
- 2021, International Conference “Maria Montessori tra passato e presente. La diffusione della sua pedagogia in Italia e all’estero (University of Bologna) 16 december 2021).
PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEES AND CONFERENCES by invitation on an international level
- 2010 till now, reports to study days related to “Ellen Key in Europe”, in the University of Bologna, Goteborg, Stockholm, Frankfurt, Turku, Heidelberg;
- 2013, Introductive speech by invitation and coordination of the session’s work during the Conference "Holiday Spaces for Children and the transmission of Cultural Models. The Case of the Colonie in Italy" (Sixth Biennial Conference of the Society for the History of Children and Youth June 25-27 2013, University of Nottingham, Great Britain);
- 2015, Invited speech "Maria Montessori and the teacher training for the new school” 10th International Symposium on Montessori Education (ISME)e 4th Forum the Chinese Children's Education (QFCCE), 1-3 August 2015 in Qingdao, China;
- 2015, Editor of the Special Issue of the Journal of Theories and Research in Education, title “Ellen Key and the Birth of a new Children’s Culture, 2015, with Catharina Hällstrom (Centre for Children’s Culture Research, University of Stockholm, Hedda Jansson (Director of the “Ellen Key” Research Institute, Ödeshög, Sweden;
- 2015, Invited speech at the Aifref Congress in Bilbao 11-12 June 2015, on “Cities for education: child development through Family-school- Community Co-education;
- 2016, Invited speech at the Conference “From Mothers to Citizens: Italian Women from Unification to the Republic” Department of Italian, Raised Faculty Building. Cambridge, 29-30 September 2016;
- 2016, Speech "Maria Montessori: a pioneer of the world’s education" invitation at the 9th Congreso Internacional AUDEM Universidad de Murcia Facultad de Letras, Murcia, 20-21 October 2016 (published in: “Atti di Convegno in: Mujeres de letras pioneras: en el arte, el ensayismo y la educación”, 2016, pp. 876 – 881;
- 2017, Report "The Montessori Method of Education", by invitation of the Italian Consulate 23rd March 2017, at the Institute for Italian Culture, Melbourne (Australia);
- 2017, Member of the Scientific Committee of the 19th Conference of History of Education «Imágenes, discursos y textos en historia de la educación», organized by the Sociedad Española de Historia de la Educación (SEDHE) University El Escorial (Madrid), September 2017;
- 2018 Member of the Scientific Board of the magazine “Aula” by University of Salamanca;
- 2018, Scientific Committee ISCHE, 40, Berlin, 29th August-1st September 2018.
- 2019, Scientific Committee Congreso Internacional Iberoamericano "Influences belgas en la education espanola e Iberoamericana. Invited speech the Conference: "La ricezione di Ovidio Decroly nella pedagogia italiana del secondo dopoguerra (19 october 2019)
- 2021, Speech "Maria Montessori e gli ambienti milanesi dell'Unione Femminile e della Società Umanitaria Internazional Congress “150 anni dalla nascita di Maria Montessori” (Rome 24 october 2021).
PRIZES AND AWARDS FOR SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY
Italian Prize for Pedagogy (28th March 2013) by SIPED, Italian Society of Pedagogy. Book awarded: T. Pironi (2010), Femminismo ed educazione in età giolittiana. Conflitti e sfide della modernità, edizioni ETS, Pisa.
DIRECTION OF SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND EDITORIAL SERIES
- 2008 till now, Scientific responsible for the section "Editors, stories and narrative in education" of the magazine "Journal of Theories and Research in Education";
- 2016 till now, Co-director of the editorial “Storia/storie dell’educazione”, by the Editor Junior Spaggiari;
- 2016 till now, Co-director of the magazine "Pedagogia oggi", organ of SIPED;
- 2016 till now, Co-director of the magazine "Rivista di Storia dell'Educazione".
MEMBER OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH BOARDS AND EDITORIAL BOARDS
- Effective resident member of the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna
- Member of the Scientific Board of the "Gina Fasoli" Center for the Urban history, Department of Educational Sciences, University of Bologna;
- Member of the Scientific Board of the Research Centre Museo Officina dell'Educazione (MODE), Department of Educational Sciences, University of Bologna;
- Co-founder and member of the Research Centre for Gender and Education, Department of Educational Sciences, University of Bologna;
- Member of the Scientific committee of several editorial boards, magazines, research centres.
RESEARCH FIELDS
History of pedagogy, history of education, history of gender education, history of educational institutions. Among the different directions of studies addressed: Italian and European pedagogical positivism, school and pedagogy in the Giolitti’s age and after World War II; relationship between pedagogy and architecture in the twentieth century educational history; history of school publishing; history of educational and educational institutions for children; history of gender education.
