Prerequisites for the admission.

Access to this Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Education for early childhood services and socio-pedagogical contexts requires a high school diploma or other qualification obtained abroad and officially approved, as they certify the standard knowledge required. Because of the specificity of the professional role of the Educator of Education for early childhood services and socio-pedagogical contexts and his/her future commitment in the interpersonal relationship, the language skills in terms of comprehension and writing of Italian texts are considered of primary importance.
The knowledge required for admission and the methods for assessment are specified in the Teaching Regulations of the degree programme, which also indicate the additional training obligations envisaged in the event that the student does not pass the assessment.

Skills associated with the function

Educator in nurseries and childhood services
The skills associated with the main functions of the educator in nurseries and childhood services (equally relating to the different possible contexts indicated in the professional opportunities) are:
- implement observation practices of children and of nurseries and early childhood services with regard to pre-literacy and socialisation processes and practices (among peer figures and with other reference figures such as adults, parents, and professionals) for the target;
- design prevention, education, recovery and support programmes for the family;
- carry out educational actions addressed to young children attending crèches and childhood services;
- develop and apply individualisation, personalisation and cooperation strategies, mainly relating also to the inclusion and integration of persons differing in gender, psycho-physical integrity, society of origin and own cultures;
- perform tests on processes and educational practices, involving children in crèches and early childhood services;
- document processes and educational practices, involving children in crèches and early childhood services;
- mediate and negotiate conflicts for any psycho-physical and socio-cultural differences;
- network, manage relations and create an educational alliance among services/agencies/parental and professional players;
- activate programmes and activities aimed at creating educational alliance and continuity between crèches and early childhood services and family;
- work at board and/or team level;
- contribute to programmes and refresher and in-service staff training activities.

Socio-pedagogical educator
The skills associated with the main functions of the social and pedagogical professional educator (equally relating to the different possible contexts indicated in the professional opportunities) are:
- implement observation practices of persons and contexts involved in socialisation and literacy processes and practices, with reference to different conditions and ages of life and/or education (children, teen-agers, youths, adults, and the elderly);
- implement the planning and design of prevention, education and recovery programmes, with reference to different conditions and ages of life and / or education ((children, teen-agers, youths, adults, and the elderly) and in particular for persons with disabilities and marginalisation;
- implement educational actions addressed to the recipients outlined above;
- develop and apply individualisation, personalisation and cooperation strategies, mainly relating to the inclusion and integration of persons differing in gender, generation, psycho-physical integrity, society of origin and own cultures;
- implement documentation and verification of educational processes and practices, with reference to different conditions and ages of life and / or education (children, teen-agers, youths, adults, and the elderly);
- mediate and negotiate conflicts for any psycho-physical and socio-cultural differences;
- network, manage relations and create an educational alliance among services/agencies/parental and professional players;
- implement paths and activities of academic and career guidance;
- work at board and/or team level;
- contribute to refresher and in-service staff training programmes and activities.

Function in a work context

Educator in nurseries and childhood services
The main functions of the Educator in nurseries and childhood services include the development and realisation of relevant and valid processes and education and socialisation practices aimed at providing children with a multidimensional training and help them reach their personal independence and social responsibility.
Such tasks/functions (equally relating to the different possible contexts indicated in the professional opportunities) are mainly:
- analyse, design and implement pedagogical and teaching actions in nurseries and childhood services;
- monitor, check and provide documentation for development processes and educational practices addressed to children;
- welcome and provide educational support to young children and their families;
- implement peer socialisation actions with the reference adults figures (relatives and professionals) for young children;
- implement inclusion and integration actions of genders, psycho-physical impairments, and cultures in nurseries and childhood services;
- implement conflict mediation and negotiation actions (for psycho-physical and socio-cultural differences) in nurseries and childhood services;
- implement networking, care and continuity actions based on the education partnership between nurseries and childhood services with other services/agencies/parental and professional players;
- develop educational continuity actions with pre-schools;
- participate in and contribute to collegial responsibility and team work;
- participate in further education and training activities for personnel.

The other figures with whom graduates can collaborate as nursery and early childhood educator are:
on a professional level: pre-school teachers (to guarantee training continuity), social and pedagogical professional educators of extra-school educational services (e.g. reading centres, game libraries, family centres, etc.), entertainers, atelierists, pedagogues, psychologists, child psychiatrists, cultural mediators, social assistants, experts in educational sciences (functional to further education); on a parental level: relatives, with specific reference to parents, grandparents, etc.

Socio-pedagogical educator
The main functions of the social and pedagogical educator include the development and realisation of relevant and valid education, socialisation and cultural literacy processes and practices aimed at providing children with a multidimensional training and help them reach their personal independence and social responsibility.
Such tasks/functions (equally relating to the different possible contexts indicated in the professional opportunities) are mainly:
- analyse, design and implement pedagogical and teaching actions for people living different conditions and of various ages (children, teen-agers, youths, adults, elderly);
- monitor, check and provide documentation for development processes and educational practices affecting different conditions and ages of life and/or education;
- implement peer literacy and socialisation actions with the reference adults figures (relatives and professionals);
- implement inclusion and integration actions of genders, generations, psycho-physical impairments, and cultures;
- implement conflict mediation and negotiation actions (for psycho-physical and socio-cultural differences);
- implement networking, care and continuity actions based on the education partnership with other services/agencies/parental and professional players;
- implement academic and career guidance;
- participate in and contribute to collegial responsibility and team work;
- participate in further education and training activities for personnel.

The other professional figures with whom graduates can collaborate as social and pedagogical educator are:
on a professional level: teachers of different school levels, nursery and early childhood services, social and pedagogical professional educators working in other educational services out of schools, pedagogues, entertainers, psychologists, psychiatrics and child psychiatrists, doctors, nurses, cultural mediators, social assistants, experts in educational sciences (functional to refresher courses); on a parental level: relatives, with specific reference to parents, grandparents, etc.

Educational goals

As regards the professional opportunities described above, the Degree Programme in Education for early childhood services and socio-pedagogical contexts, with its two curricula that are active from the second year after the first year in common is aimed at providing students with:

- a sound knowledge of theoretical and historical contents of educational and training issues (in the areas of psychology, teaching, languages, sociology, law and philosophy);

- knowledge of educational contexts, with particular reference to crèches and childhood services, educational services aimed at school-age and adult subjects experiencing discomfort, or disability or educational poverty, parenting support, schools, youth centres, disability centres, prisons, services for external criminal enforcement, family-type homes and communities (for minors, for women, for disabled people, for people with addiction problems, for social workers or people undergoing external criminal execution), street education, centres and / or adult education projects, vocational guidance and adult working contexts, services or centres for the elderly, cultural and territorial services and/ or decentralised teaching rooms (museums, libraries-art galleries, playrooms, workshops), services or centres for foreigners and / or for cultural integration, social cooperatives, international cooperation, media education).

- proper skills in terms of observation, analysis and interpretation methods of the contexts and relations in the various educational and training areas of intervention;

- adequate designing, implementation, management and assessment skills relating to educational, individual and collective actions, with special reference to educational issues of the times of life, situations of discomfort and disability, as well as those related to family and intercultural relationships;

-deep knowledge and acquisition of experiences in educational and social reintegration activities relating to deviancy and criminality sectors.

For the attainment of these objectives, a training programme is planned which includes a partial differentiation for nurseries and childcare services on the one hand, and the multiple contexts of the socio pedagogical educator on the other, and which we shall indicate briefly as the ‘nursery curriculum' and the 'socio pedagogical curriculum'.
Since the first year, the Programme ensures to both curricula a multidisciplinary instrumentation of historical-legal-cultural-phylosophical and psycho-social interpretation of educational phenomena, and the knowledge of the main types of educational structures and strategies implemented outside the school setting.
Since the second year, the ‘nursery' curriculum provides knowledge of the child’s condition with regard to the psychological sphere and its contexts, through a multidisciplinary perspective attentive to the dimensions of sociology, languages and ethics, which deals with the dynamics related to development and the needs of inclusion since childhood.
The third year provides knowledge on family dynamics and parenting, service culture and the history of childhood culture. An adequate number of teachings, together with the ad hoc workshops introduced, and the internship activity, ensure in the third year the affirmation of relational, communicative, methodological and heuristic skills, adapted to the profile of a nursery educator.

The socio-pedagogical educator curriculum develops, in the second year, psychological, pedagogical, sociological, historical, philosophical and juridical knowledge and skills necessary to analyse, design and conduct interventions in intercultural and group education, also promoting skills to manage, understand and prevent the multiple forms of discomfort disability dissimilarity and deviance that are typical of today's social contexts.
In the third students acquire additional tools for analysis and reading of the dynamics and educational conflicts and consolidate some operational skills, both through the internship and familiarisation with multiple cultural mediators of the educational relationship.


The specific training objectives will also be achieved with seminars in collaboration with local services and institutions and, above all, with laboratories as provided for by DM 378/18 Annex B.

In the curriculum addressed to educational figures working in the nursery and childcare services are included at least 5 CFUs of workshops for as many Pedagogical and Developmental Psychology teaching areas as required by DM 378/ 18, Annex B, and in accordance with the indications contained therein.

Also the curriculum addressed to the socio pedagogical educator includes workshop credits referring to distinctive teachings of the underlying profile, and aimed at introducing operational knowledge and preparatory professional practices of importance to the figure of the socio pedagogical educator.

A focused internship activity is also provided. This internship activity will be divided into two phases (for a total of 14 CFUs): - guidance internship: students will have the opportunity, among other things, to get to know the local institutions/associations where they will carry out their subsequent training internship.

 The trainee will be informed about the nature and modalities of the internship within the structure, as well as the educational project in which he/she might be involved. 
- direct training internship, consisting in a long period of time working in an organisation, during which trainees will recreate the objectives, the organisation, the working methodologies of the service and the role of the educator (tasks and functions) though the observation, document analysis, interviews to privileged individuals (coordinators, educators, other types of personnel of the multi-professional team) on one hand; on the other hand they will start gaining experience as educators within the service through shadowing (working side by side with the educator: including team and supervision meetings) and daily educational activities. Such activities will be carried out based on the project previously agreed with the internship office.
In the specific “nursery curriculum” case, 50% of the direct internship shall be carried out in crèches or childhood educational services, in accordance with regulations (att. B of DM 378/2018).

Communication skills

Graduates in “Education for early childhood services and socio-pedagogical contexts” are able to:
- agree on assumptions and action modes, networking with peer professionals in terms of levels and functions, internal and external to the service, and involved in the educational project both as professional social and pedagogical educator and in charge of the pedagogical area;
- start a relationship with people under an educational programme and their reference figures (parents and/or parental figures, teachers, healthcare, social-care, specialist figures, etc.) to create synergy and educational alliance, even in situations of intercultural communication;
- adopt verbal and non-verbal communication modes, using multiple registers of verbal interaction, with particular attention to listening modes and emotional support;
- communicate and work in multi-professional and interdisciplinary teams;
- develop individual and group projects, write reports and opinions (which may be requested even by the Surveillance Court), draw up meeting minutes, observe subjects and contexts, and document the experiences using different suitable modes according to the various recipients;
- possess adequate English language skills, also in terms of specific lexicon, and IT skills for teaching and education activities.

Such skills can be acquired through the teachings provided for by the Study Manifesto and related seminars, as well as laboratories and research-action projects included in some teachings.In order to prove that they have gained the skills described above, students will have to pass written (multiple-choice tests, open questionnaires, short essays, reports, drawing up projects) and/or oral tests, as well as obtain positive assessments on their internship programme and draw up a final paper. Students will be clearly and exhaustively informed on testing and evaluation modalities.

Making Judgements

Graduates in “Education for early childhood services and socio-pedagogical contexts” are able to:
- think about both broad-ranging educational topics and specific educational phenomena;
- understand the educational needs of the individual, including those relating to bio-psychological and socio-cultural aspects;
- consistently link the subjects and the times of life (children, adolescents, young people, adults, and the elderly), to the educational contexts;
- design and evaluate adequate educational choices (also of prevention and recovery/rehabilitation) to readdress them if required (also with particular reference to the issues related to differences of gender, generation, psycho-physical profile, social discomfort and marginality, educational poverty, ethnic diversity);
- evaluate educational contexts, programmes, projects, strategies, materials and tools, and analyse their results and effectiveness and redesign individual and collective educational actions.

Such skills can be acquired through the teachings provided for by the Study Manifesto and related seminars, as well as laboratories and research-action projects attached to some teachings. In order to prove that they have gained such independent judgement, students will have to pass written (multiple-choice tests, open questionnaires, short essays, reports, projects) and/or oral tests, as well as obtain positive assessments on their internship programme and draw up a final paper. Students will be clearly and exhaustively informed on testing and evaluation modalities.

Learning skills

Graduates in “Education for early childhood services and socio-pedagogical contexts” are able to:
- critically access multiple information sources;
- envisage training and refresher courses to improve their educator knowledge/skills/competences;
- conduct individual and/or group researches, starting from observing, analysing and collecting documentation of educational cases truly experienced daily;
- think about their own oral communication both on the pragmatic and interpersonal relationship point of view, and the language aspects of oral and written statements that are typical of professional communication.

Such skills can be acquired through the teachings provided for by the Study Manifesto and related seminars, as well as laboratories and research-action projects attached to some teachings. In order to prove that they have gained such independent judgement, students will have to pass written (multiple-choice tests, open questionnaires, short essays, reports, projects) and/or oral tests, as well as obtain positive assessments on their internship programme and draw up a final paper. Students will be clearly and exhaustively informed on testing and evaluation modalities.