Lorenzo Milani, The School of Barbiana and the Struggle for Social Justice

Federico Batini is a researcher at the University of Perugia. Founder and director of a training and guidance agency Pratika (www.pratika.net) and the centre of ideas and cultural productions Nausika (www.narrazioni.it), he is also a senior partner of Thélème (www.theleme.it). He has been dealing with stories and narratives in many formats for the past twenty years. He is working on a project of books and audio books of fairy tales and fables rewritten and adapted in collaboration with modern writers and experts. He has written plays and short stories, edited anthologies and written lyrics. He has devised a method of guidance through story telling called narrative guidance (Per un orientamento narrative, 2000) and has published articles, books, and other materials about this method. His most recent publications include L'orientamento narrativo a scuola. Lavorare sulle competenze per l’orientamento dalla scuola dell’infanzia all’educazione degli adulti (2008); Mettere in circolo. Una ricerca sui circoli di studio: Dalla pratica al metodo (2008); Competenze e diritto all’apprendimento (co-edited with A. Surian, 2008); L’Isola sconosciuta. Un progetto di orientamento narrativo: Metodi e risultati, Storientando: Un progetto e una ricerca con l’orientamento narrativo (with A. Surian, 2008); Storie, futuro e controllo (ed., 2011); Storie e orientamento. Percorsi per l'orientamento narrativo di gruppo (2011), Orientare per non disperdere: le storie siamo noi; Quando i figli scelgono (2011); Comprendere le differenze; Verso una pedagogia dell'identità sessuale (2011); Storie che crescono (2011).Peter Mayo is Professor in the Department of Education Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Malta. His many books include Gramsci, Freire and Adult Education (1999), subsequently published in translation in six languages; Liberating Praxis (2004), which won an AESA Critics Choice Award in 2005; Learning and Social Difference (with C. Borg, 2006); Adult Education in Malta (2007); Public Intellectuals, Radical Democracy and Social Change: A Book of Interviews (with C. Borg, Peter Lang 2007); Learning with Adults: A Critical Pedagogical Introduction (with L. English, 2007), winner of the 2014 C. Houle Award for outstanding literature in adult education; Politics of Indignation (2012); and Echoes from Freire for a Critically Engaged Pedagogy (2014). He was 2011 winner of the CIES Higher Ed SIG award for best paper in comparative/international Higher Ed. He co-edits Palgrave Macmillan’s book series on postcolonial studies in Education and edits the Sense book series on International Issues in Adult Education. He is co-editor of the refereed journal, Postcolonial Directions in Education.Alessio Surian is researcher at the University of Padova where he teaches Transformative Learning. He is co-coordinator of the Special Interest Group on Teaching and Learning in Culturally Diverse Settings of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction and a member of the executive committee of the World Education Forum. He is the author of several studies on participatory methodologies, collaborative learning and intercultural communication, including «Mr. Palomar and Youth 2.0: Beyond the Faustian Bargain» (Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 2014); «Transformative Learning and Youth Agency within Present and Future Urban Scenarios» (Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 3, 147–183, 2011); Making a Difference: Learning That Matters (ed.), Diversity Youth Forum, Strasbourg, 2007; and Traveling Cultural Diversity (ed.), British Council–SALTO, London, 2005.

«As this volume shows, there was quite sufficient material in the Letters to make them extremely significant resources for the development of a critical pedagogy which enabled a move beyond the curriculum as the crucial area of educational contestation.» (From the Preface by Roger Dale, Universities of Bristol and Auckland)«This cleverly written and sensible book reveals the soul of Lorenzo Milani as manifest throughout his life and action. During the past 46 years, we have seldom had occasion to read such a good and exhaustive summary of the concepts and facts that lie at the heart of Lorenzo Milani’s life and human experience. Hic est aut nusquam quod quaerimus.» (The ‘evergreen’ pupils of Don L. Milani, Don Milani & Barbiana School, Training & Research Center, Vicchio-Florence)«This rare contribution to the literature bears witness to the reasons educators around the globe must work to formidably rethink critical traditions derived primarily from North American theories of schooling. Through skillfully engaging the revolutionary force of Italian educator Lorenzo Milani’s pedagogy and the passion of Lettera a una Professoressa, Federico Batini, Peter Mayo, and Alessio Surian move us brilliantly toward an international vision of critical pedagogy – a humanizing vision firmly anchored upon the everyday lives of those who most suffer the ravages of capitalism’s discontent.» (Antonia Darder, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles; author of Culture and Power in the Classroom and Reinventing Paulo Freire: A Pedagogy of Love)«The pedagogical work of Lorenzo Milani is original, inspirational, and relevant for today’s realities. A radical democratic educator, he used collective writing as critical literacy production with his young students. His ideas and practices certainly deserve more international attention, and this book provides an engaging and thoughtful introduction to them. Batini, Mayo, and Surian make an important and timely contribution to the field of critical pedagogy. This is a must-read for all those interested in the connections between education and social justice.» (Daniel Schugurensky, School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University)

• Contents: Introduction: Lorenzo Milani’s Relevance to our Times – Don Milani and his Time – Lorenzo Milani and the School of Barbiana’s Pedagogical Approach – Writing as Collective Literacy.