SIPED Study Day on Generative Pedagogy – Pedagogy and Politics: Democracy, the Constitution, Responsibility: a generative lexicon spanning pedagogy, politics, and the history of education
On 26 March 2026, at 10.30 am, in the Nicola Cilento LectureTheatre at the University of Salerno,the SIPED Intergroup Study Day“Generative Pedagogy – Pedagogy and Politics” will be held, entitled:Democracy, Constitution, Responsibility.Generative lexicon between pedagogy, politics and the history of education.
This initiative is part of the transdisciplinary seminar series “Generative Narratives”, coordinated byProf. Maria Grazia Lombardi, and aims to createdemocratic spaces for dialoguethat can generatetransformative practices within educational systems.
Scientific and cultural objectives
The study day arises from the collaboration between the SIPED groups:
•Generative Pedagogy
•Pedagogy and Politics
coordinated byEmiliana Mannese,Antonia Rubini, Maria Grazia Lombardi, Stefano Salmeri and Fabrizio Manuel Sirignano.
The aim is to promotetransdisciplinary academic dialogueamong scholars from various universities, in order to:
• highlight the findings of ongoing research;
• initiate new sharedresearch trajectories;
• reflect on theepistemological and social responsibility of pedagogy.
Keywords: Democracy, Constitution, Responsibility
The categories ofDemocracy, Constitution and Responsibilityrepresent the generative lexicon at the heart of the study day.
These terms, rich in pedagogical and political significance, enable us to:
• connect thehistorical dimensionwithcurrent educational issues;
• examine forms of educational and training planning;
• re-examine educational systems in theirinstitutional, social, and political contexts.
From this perspective, as already highlighted in the literature on Generative Pedagogy (Mannese, 2021; 2023), the individual is always interpretedas an end and never as a means, directing reflection towards a pedagogy of responsibility and transformation.
A shared epistemological framework
These three key terms constitute theconceptual frameworkof the initiative’s entire scientific structure, serving as:
•an epistemological bridgebetween pedagogy, politics, and the history of education;
•a point of convergencefor the various lines of research;
•a generative frameworkfor new theoretical and practical interconnections.
The conference therefore aims to provide a space for critical and strategic reflection, contributing to the development of moreequitable, responsible, and generative education systems.
Plan:
10:00
26/03
Registration of participants
10:30
26/03
Official greetings
Virgilio D’Antonio, Vice-Chancellor – University of Salerno
Paola Aiello, Director of DISUFF – University of Salerno
11:00
26/03
First Session
Introduction and coordination
Emiliana Mannese, Professor of General and Social Pedagogy – UNISA, UNESCO Chair in Generative Pedagogy and Educational Systems to Tackle Inequality
Antonia Rubini, Associate Professor of General and Social Pedagogy – University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’
Fabrizio Manuel Sirignano, Professor of General and Social Pedagogy – Suor Orsola Benincasa University
Presentations
Lucia Ariemma, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Fernando Sarracino, Suor Orsola Benincasa University
Learning to choose in order to teach others to choose
Gennaro Balzano, University of Messina
Work (and new forms of work) as a generative space for citizenship: pedagogical perspectives between democracy and responsibility
Vito Balzano, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”
Welfare as a pedagogical space for democracy: generativity, responsibility and the formation of citizenship within the constitutional framework
Gabriele Borghese, Suor Orsola Benincasa University
The generation and regeneration of democracy as a pedagogical issue from a historical-critical perspective
Maria Chiara Castaldi, University of Salerno
Democracy, education, the individual: Deweyan suggestions for a generative pedagogical approach
13:00
26/03
Light Lunch
14:30
26/03
Second Session
Introduction and coordination
Maria Grazia Lombardi, Associate Professor of History of Pedagogy and Education – University of Salerno, UNESCO Scientific Coordinator on Generative Pedagogy and Educational Systems to Tackle Inequality
Stefano Salmeri, Professor of General and Social Pedagogy – Kore University of Enna
Presentations
Giorgio Crescenza, University of Tuscia
Education and the democratic sphere: memory, citizenship and the pedagogical function
Stefania Maddalena, Suor Orsola Benincasa University
Fostering democracy: schools and universities as workshops for responsibility
Raffaela Marigliano, University of Salerno
The Principle of Responsibility in the Construction of a New Generative Lexicon between Pedagogy and Politics
Maria Federica Paolozzi, Suor Orsola Benincasa University
The Crisis of Democracy as a Cognitive Crisis: Pedagogical Perspectives between Epistemology and the Pedagogy of Engagement
Maria Ricciardi, University of Salerno
Constitutional responsibility and cognitive justice: the generative infrastructure of the missions of knowledge
Maria Volpicelli, University of Catania
Antonio Labriola between pedagogy and politics through a reading of the lecture on the people’s school (1888)