Aldo Capitini and the reform of the Italian public school in the 1960s

Abstract

This paper reconstructs Aldo Capitini's years of militancy in the ADESSPI (Association for Defence and Development of the Italian Public School) in the 1960s. By exploring the author's works (correspondence, university lectures, books, articles); various historical documents (including ministerial publications); critical literature and publications by the association itself, as well as other members of ADESSPI, the protagonist role that Capitini took on within the school reform movement of the 1960s emerges. He was instrumental in designing and drafting its policies, and using them as grounds for ADESSPI's fight against parliamentary decisions and defence of a democratic school. In particular, he promoted the school-community as an omnicratic environment, in which all stakeholders would be involved in decision-making, as well as teaching (rather than preaching) religion, civic education and continuous teacher training. These were issues through which Capitini, by implementing concrete educational practices, hoped to realise his theory of the coexistence of everyone - the theoretical premise of a universal education; in his view schooling should provide every student with the tools to actively participate in democratic life. His ideas about the «School of the Future», tasked with combating authoritarianism without recourse to violence, was a source of inspiration for the student movement which, in 1968, fought for school to be a place of human emancipation.