A Journey Toward Childism in Italian Educational Practice

by Maura Tripi, Adjunct professor of General and Childhood Pedagogy, LUMSA University (Palermo), Italy

The cultural construct of childhood and the dominant discourse that shapes and legitimises everyday injustices and discrimination by adults — expressed through words, gestures, and behaviours — have been a central focus of my research since the early years of the 21st century. This inquiry has intersected with the emerging paradigm of childhood sociology, which has gained increasing prominence in Italy. At the same time, I have engaged in fieldwork, exploring how daily educational practices with children can foster alternative relationships, deconstruct adultcentric frameworks, and recognize children’s words, actions, hypotheses, and decisions.

In this process, I discovered the history and practices of the New Education movement in Europe, particularly the Italian Movimento di Cooperazione Educativa (of which I am currently a member of the National Board). Additionally, I co-founded a nonprofit association in Sicily (Casa Officina), where research and practice are intertwined on a daily basis.

Over the past two decades, I have gained extensive professional experience in schools and various educational settings, working closely with both children and teachers. This experience has provided me with opportunities to observe and reflect on the everyday lack of respect and recognition that children face — manifested in diverse forms of adultist behaviours, gestures, gazes, and remarks, often endured simply because they are children. These acts, whether implicit or disguised, are frequently perpetuated unconsciously. The lack of awareness surrounding such adultcentric postures makes their persistence even more concerning, as they become deeply embedded in social norms.

At the same time, I have had the privilege of listening to hundreds of children — witnessing their disobedience as a response to adult oppression, their unique logic, and their hypotheses for expanding their own and others’ knowledge.

In 2024, I obtained my Ph.D. in Pedagogy and published my research on early childhood services in Sicily. My study reconstructs the processes that have led to significant national disparities in early childhood service coverage, highlighting the systemic inequalities that persist. Drawing from both field and archival research, this work documents the ongoing tension between experimental approaches that conceptualise nurseries as spaces of democracy, social emancipation, and territorial transformation — particularly in southern Italy — and the structural fragility of early childhood services, which require full societal recognition.

In this research as well, the conceptualisation of early childhood services is inextricably linked to prevailing perceptions of childhood among policymakers, families, and practitioners. The structure and function of these services are deeply influenced by socially constructed notions of childhood, which shape individual and institutional perspectives.

Furthermore, discussions about the marginalisation and lack of recognition of early childhood culture are intertwined with a persistent welfare-oriented and care-based approach to early childhood education, particularly in southern regions. Here, children are primarily viewed through the lens of vulnerability, with limited recognition of their capabilities.

At the same time, my field research in Sicily has identified noteworthy institutional and educational best practices that struggle to gain visibility — partly due to the enduring influence of a deficit model that portrays the South primarily in terms of its shortcomings.

To interpret these territorial dynamics and the adult-centric phenomena I have observed over the years, I found myself lacking a strong and coherent theoretical framework to guide my academic and professional engagement. As I continued to explore childhood studies and related disciplines, I encountered the work of Young-Bruehl (2012) and John Wall’s online courses and articles. While offering distinct interpretations, their scholarship provided the theoretical resonance I had been seeking to deepen my analysis of both research findings and professional experiences. Since then, I have continued to explore the work of various scholars who contribute to the study of childism.

This intellectual network, along with its alignment with my own hypotheses, has given rise to my current project: writing the first book on childism in the Italian language, which I plan to publish by next summer. This volume is intended for scholars in pedagogy and the social sciences, university students, and educators, with particular emphasis on those working in early childhood services.

The first part of the book will be dedicated to the concept of childism, exploring its various theoretical interpretations as well as its practical, political, and educational implications. It will address key themes such as children’s rights and the philosophy of education. In the second part, my focus will shift to the Italian context, beginning with an analysis of the prejudices and stereotypes about childhood embedded in Italian terminology. Whenever I have shared this aspect of my research with adults, their reactions have been both challenging and thought-provoking, as they recognise how deeply Italian language and discourse portray childhood as deficient, incomplete, or defective. I have discussed these issues extensively, both with teachers in training programs and with students in the General and Early Childhood Pedagogy course that I teach at LUMSA University (Palermo campus).

Despite the strong influence of democratic educational theories, the Italian school system remains deeply imbued with adultist behaviours. University-level pedagogy courses emphasise the necessity of child-centred education, and national policies governing the Integrated 0-6 System advocate for a fundamentally educational vision of early childhood services.

However, significant progress is still needed to achieve the full recognition of young children as active members of society, to amplify their voices, support their agency, and include them in collective transformations and decision-making processes.

Selected References

Tripi, M. (2024). Come cambiano i nidi d’infanzia. Modelli, percorsi e questioni aperte in Sicilia, Franco Angeli, https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/book/1219 (open access)

Ministry of Education, Document No. 334, 22 November 2021, Linee pedagogiche per il sistema integrato zerosei (Pedagogical guidelines for the Integrated 0-6 system), https://www.istruzione.it/sistema-integrato-06/allegati/decreto%20ministeriale%2022%20novembre%202021,%20n.%20334.pdf

Young-Bruehl, E. (2012). Childism: Confronting Prejudice Against Children, Yale University Press

Wall, J. (2023). What is Childism? In N. Brando, D. Lawson and H. Stalford (eds.) Children in Theory: Theoretical Methods and Approaches to the Study of Childhood. Online Masterclass Series. University of Liverpool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZJYAiCN9ik