It is an alternative choice to the traditional school system. At the organizational level, in the majority of cases they are associations consisting of groups of parents who decide to create a reality and select qualified professionals to whom to entrust the educational task. Let’s see what are the pros and cons of this choice
In recent years we hear a lot about “parental asylum“And”parental school“. In a historical period in which families ask themselves more and more about the best educational choices for their children, the birth of these peculiar realities has seen one strong growth in our country. But what exactly does they consist of? And what are the pedagogical principles to their base?
In this article we will make some clarity about the operating methodsto the organization and the values that are the basis of these realities.
What is and how does parental kindergarten work?
What is parental school? We could call it an alternative choice to the traditional school system. At the organizational level, in the majority of cases they are associations consisting of groups of parents who, moved by common interests and values, decide to create a reality and select educators, teachers and qualified professionals (music therapists, ateliers …) to whom to entrust the educational task.
In a sense, asylum and parental school are placed in an intermediate point between the well -known HomeSchooling or Home Education (in which the family unit itself dealing with the education of children directly) and the traditional public school.
In the majority of cases, these are educational projects involving boys and girls aged between 3 and 6 yearsin the case of parental kindergartens, and between 6 and 10 years, in the case of parental schools.
To make the birth of these realities possible in particular the Articles 30, 33 and 34 of the Italian Constitution. In fact, the legislation establishes the right to education of children and young people up to the completion of the compulsory schooling, but clarifies that there is no obligation to attend the public school; This obligation, in a nutshell, can be acquitted perfectly through the attendance of a private school or by means of parental education.
Be careful though: while for children up to 6 years of age there is no particular bureaucratic practice, from 6 years of age, it is necessary, every year, that the school manager of the reference institute and the mayor of the Municipality of residence are warned through compilation and sending a form regarding the choice of the family to resort to parental education.
COme works a parental kindergarten?
At the base, as we said, there is a more or less thick group of parents who They share educational values, pedagogical ideas and ideas. Once the legal form that is intended to be adopted (Association, Social Cooperative …) has been established and identified the place where the new educational reality arises (the suitability on the safety and insurance level must be ascertained), it is necessary to think about the selection of the educational staffdeciding, for example, if some of the parents will carry out this task or if external educators will be hired.
Resolved organizational and logistical issues, families will have to, possibly in collaboration with a pedagogical team, work on teaching aspects.
What are the pedagogical values of a parental kindergarten?
Generally kindergartens and parental schools refer to a precise pedagogical orientation. In our country, more and more realities inspired by the Steinerian pedagogy, the Montessorian pedagogy, the libertarian and democratic education and the pedagogy of the forest are born.
Regardless of the pedagogy at the basis of the specific parental asylum, a common point between the different realities seems to be attention not only to the cultural background of boys and girls, but above all to global growth of the person.
Analyzing the different projects, you can generally notice one Great attention to children’s needsto contact with nature, emotional and relational education and direct experience as a vehicle for learning. The values of the parental school are therefore marked by respect for the child, his times, his interests and his abilities.
Also the ways in which they come transmitted the teachings I am, in kindergarten and in the parental school, really peculiar. A teaching is generally preference that is based on experiences (learning starting from action) and on projects aimed for this purpose. In these realities, boys and girls have several tools available to find answers to their questions and they are given the opportunity to frequently get out of the classroom and achieve experiences in the outside world; Not only in nature, but also at the supermarket, on the farm, the theater and in all those contexts that can offer enrichment.
Among the most famous examples of Italian parental school they appear “Piccola Polis “the parental education project proposed by the association L’Silo in the woods, in Ostia Antica, and the educational project “Campovolo“, In the province of Ravenna, which is characterized by the zooanthropological approach and offers paths to boys and girls aged 3 to 14.
Advantages and disadvantages of parental kindergarten
Before evaluating whether or not to adhere to a Parental education project It would be appropriate to reflect first of all on the characteristics and needs of the child and the family in question and on what the territory has in terms of offer. It is essential, in fact, that at the basis of the choice made there is a conscious educational sensitivity.
Parental realities undoubtedly present some important advantages. For example, among the strengths of the parental kindergarten There is certainly the active involvement of families, the founding nucleus of parental education projects, which require parents to meet regularly, take part in decisions and offer your contribution even concretely (from the maintenance of the structures to the construction of the didactic material). Also not to be underestimated the fact that the groups tend to be made up of a Limited number of childrenwhich allows educators and teachers to better follow individual interests and learning rhythms, and to boys and girls to learn through many and different experiences.
Parental education projects are also characterized by a strong link with the territorypossible thanks to the collaboration with other realities and the formation of networks. This allows families and above all to boys and girls who attend schools and kindergartens to confront each other with multiple contexts and realitythus building an experiential baggage usually more diversified than the offer of the traditional school
In the same way, these realities also present Elements of “weakness”. One of the major is probably the risk to the parental realities of becoming “contexts bubbles“. Born from the cooperation of families having the same ideals and values, that plurality of guidelines, memberships and visions typically present in the public school that so much importance also cover for the cognitive and socio-emotional development of children would be more easily lacking.
Another element not to be overlooked is it poor control operable on these realities, as emerged from rather recent news events. For many families, kindergartens and parental schools have become an option, with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic and the established containment measures. The phenomenon has reached even worrying extremes when different families in northern Italy, contrary to green pass and/or vaccination against Covid-19, have decided to opt for the creation of parental realities not entirely in order where it was easier to circumvent the regulations for the containment of the pandemic (1). It is serious choicesassumed not for the pedagogical value attributed to parental realities for itself but as a strategy to evade health measures.
It is therefore really fundamental that the choice to create or adhere to a parental education project is based on a reflection and conscious research by families.
Not to be overlooked are then the organizational and management difficultiesas well as the long -term costs that these realities involve. Having to self-childhood the parental realities provide for the payment of monthly or annual fees of variable entity, which also calls into question the question of the right to education.
Also the management of relationships between families It is a central theme. As we have seen the birth of these realities is possible when a sharing of ideals and pedagogical and educational views exist. In the same way, disagreements and discord can lead to a rapid implosion of these projects.
That of kindergarten or parental school can therefore be an important opportunity both for boys and girls and for their families. It is, however, a choice to be considered and to be made informed. If on the one hand the public system has many weaknesses, it is equally true, in fact, that it represents a fundamental right and not to be devalued.
