Affective Education
Affective education is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary field that includes: gender pedagogy, sex education, psychology, civic education, and education on the web and digital devices.
It is a field that involves different methods of intervention depending on age groups (from preschool to upper secondary school) and that engages the entire teaching staff and families.
In Europe, there is no uniform regulatory framework regarding affective education in schools. Since the 1950s, in fact, each country has introduced sex education courses into its school systems in different ways, either mandatory or optional.
Italy, on the other hand, has never established a sex education class in schools, despite various bills introduced over the years. Today, moreover, this alone would no longer be enough. What our country should do is comply with the ratification of the Istanbul Convention which, in Chapter III, clearly sets out the prevention policies to be adopted, and in Art.14, paragraph 1, clearly states: “The Parties shall, where appropriate, take the necessary steps to include teaching material on issues such as equality between women and men, non-stereotyped gender roles, mutual respect, non-violent conflict resolution in interpersonal relationships, gender-based violence against women, and the right to personal integrity, adapted to the pupils’ evolving capacity, in formal curricula and at all levels of education.”
Schools that wish to embrace this initiative can unfortunately only support it partially. Some institutions choose to focus on teacher training, others request direct interventions with female and male students through workshops, and others still organize “spot” activities linked to institutional days against violence towards women or to women’s achievements (November 25 – March 8). The problem is that in the absence of a law introducing affective education in schools, with school autonomy, only principals or sensitive teachers take responsibility for these interventions. This creates further inequality in our school system, leading to a two-speed approach even in this area, when instead, faced with a phenomenon that shows no signs of retreating, a structural and not merely “voluntary” response is needed.
The Una Nessuna Centomila Foundation, strongly believing in this prevention tool, first of all makes available the experience gained by the founding members in the paths taken prior to the establishment of the Foundation (Celeste Costantino, in her parliamentary activity, was the first signatory of the bill on the introduction of emotional education in schools and, with the association daSud, of which she was a founder, launched the campaign #1orad’amore – Lella Palladino is the founder of the EVA Cooperative, an organization of women active in gender policies that currently manages in Campania 5 anti-violence centers, 3 shelters for the protection of women survivors of violence, and has always supported, alongside the anti-violence centers, initiatives within schools – Giulia Minoli, as vice president of the CO2 association, has promoted various educational interventions in schools and, as a representative of the Casa Internazionale delle Donne in Rome, has contributed to in-depth discussions on the need to bring this educational model into schools) and has established a thematic committee including figures who, in these years of institutional absence, have carried out training and activities in classrooms. Such as, for example, Monica Pasquino, founder of the Scosse Association and president of Educare alle differenze.
In addition to the structured partnerships that the Foundation has initiated or is in the process of activating, UNC wants to enhance high-quality experiences throughout Italy and collaborate to fully implement the project framework we have outlined above by age group and type of intervention: Universities (Gender Studies, Educational Sciences, Gender Pedagogy, Sociology, Medicine, Psychology); Anti-Violence Centers; Counseling Centers; Associations; Cultural workers; Artists.