History of Material for Disabled and Teacher Training on the use of Technologies in a Periodical for Teachers (1985)

In the Italian school, an explicit recognition of the importance of technology and media for education first appeared in the 1985 “Primary School Educational Programs”. As can be seen from the reading of many contributions published in the 1980s in the didactic and pedagogical periodical entitled "L'Educatore", this attention to technology and the electronic media was prompted by the spread of computers, by their entry into schools, by the heated debate that arose in those years on the effects of computers on children, and on new educational challenges. Mentioning computers and information technology, the 1985 Programs documented, in fact, the profound transformations that took place in the 30 years that separated them from the previous Programs of the 1955, and the challenges of complexity that have been posed to the school in the second half of the twentieth century.Within the most recent theoretical framework of Italian pedagogical historiography, which has begun to study pedagogical tools and teaching materials as historical sources, this contribution will analyze an article published in 1985 in the periodical for teachers “L’Educatore”, that reconstructs the history of pedagogical materials ‒ from historical ones to new technologies ‒ and discusses their implications for teaching. The article has revealed very clearly a lack of knowledge of the teaching materials and a teachers training reshaped, from generation to generation, on generic moral attitudes. As a result, the attitude of teachers towards the technologies was affected by a naive approach, oscillating between deep mistrust and infatuation or miraculous expectation. To renew teacher training, starting from special education teachers, the article proposed a thorough knowledge of all pedagogical materials, both historical and new technologies.ReferencesBocci F., Una mirabile avventura: storia dell’educazione dei disabili da Jean Itard a Giovanni Bollea, Firenze, Le Lettere, 2011. Caldin R., Sulla «storia emancipativa» dei giovani ciechi in Italia, in Sani R., Ascenzi A., a cura di, Inclusione e promozione sociale nel sistema formativo italiano dall’Unità ad oggi, Milano, FrancoAngeli, 2020, pp. 269-287.Canevaro A., Gaudreau J., L’educazione degli handicappati: dai primi tentativi alla pedagogia moderna, Roma, La Nuova Italia Scientifica, 1988. Canevaro A., Goussot A. (Eds.), La difficile storia degli handicappati. Roma, Carocci, 2000.Canevaro A., I materiali, in rubrica Pratica educativa: Per il sostegno, «L’Educatore. Periodico di pedagogia, didattica e problemi professionali per la scuola dell’obbligo», Milano, Fabbri editori, anno XXXII, n. 19, 1° aprile 1985, pp. 16-20. Chiosso G., La stampa pedagogica e scolastica in Italia tra Otto e Novecento, «Revista História da Educação», 2019, vol. 23, pp. 1-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2236-3459/84270 D.P.R. 12 febbraio 1985, n. 104. Programmi didattici per la scuola primaria. (G.U.R.I. n. 76 del 29 marzo 1985). https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/1985/03/29/085U0104/sg De Giorgi, F., Grandi, W., Trabalzini, P. (2021). Maria Montessori, her times and our years. History, vitality and perspectives of an innovative pedagogy, «Rivista di Storia dell’Educazione», 2021, vol. 8, n. 2, pp. 3-8. doi: 10.36253/rse-12307Debè A., Orfani dello Stato: le istituzioni assistenziali e rieducative per sordomuti, ciechi e tardomentali nell’Italia liberale, in Sani R., Ascenzi A., a cura di, Inclusione e promozione sociale nel sistema formativo italiano dall’Unità ad oggi, Milano, FrancoAngeli, 2020, pp. 212-215.Depaepe M., Simon F., Sources in the Making of Histories of Education: Proofs, Arguments, and Other Forms of Reasoning from the Historian’s Workplace, In P. Smeyers, M. Depaepe (Eds