Teachers, Multigrade Classes and Technological Imagination: Reflec-tive Scenarios for a Pedagogy of the Future
Parole chiave:
technological imagination; multigrade classrooms; teacher professional agencyAbstract
Small and multigrade schools offer a distinctive perspective for examining the digital transformation of education. Situated in rural or peripheral areas, they expose both the promises and contradictions of technological innovation in non-standard contexts. This study explores how Italian teachers working in multigrade classrooms imagine the pedagogical role of digital technologies, interpreting imagination itself as a form of situated professional knowledge. A national questionnaire conducted by INDIRE in 2024–2025 collected 1,061 responses, including an open-ended item inviting teachers to envision an ideal technology for their entire class. Ninety-seven narratives were selected for their conceptual richness and analyzed through qualitative content analysis supported by reflexive dialogue with a generative AI model used as an interpretive partner. The analysis revealed six macro-visions of technology converging into three interpretive postures—care, orchestration, and creativity—which express ethical, organizational, and design-oriented ways of reimagining teaching in multigrade settings. Teachers envision technologies that extend rather than replace professional judgment, emphasizing relational proximity, visibility of learning processes, and collaborative creation. By linking technological imagination, multigrade pedagogy, and teacher professional agency, the study highlights how imaginative reflection becomes a resource for rethinking digital innovation in small and rural schools.
Riferimenti bibliografici
Beetham, H., & Sharpe, R. (Eds.). (2019). Rethinking pedagogy for a digital age: Principles and practices of design. Routledge.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Sage Publications.
De Santis, F., & Mangione, G. R. J. (2025). Digital technologies and multigrade classrooms: A national study on teaching practices, challenges, and future scenarios. In EDULEARN25 Proceedings (pp. 6887–6898). IATED.
Facer, K. (2019). Learning futures: Education, technology and social change. Routledge.
Haraway, D. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575–599. https://doi.org/10.2307/3178066
Holmes, W., Porayska-Pomsta, K., & Holstein, K. (2024). Teaching with and about generative AI: An integrative model for educators. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 7, 100259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2024.100259
Laurillard, D. (2012). Teaching as a design science: Building pedagogical patterns for learning and technology. Routledge.
Luckin, R. (2018). Machine learning and human intelligence: The future of education for the 21st century. UCL Institute of Education Press.
Mangione, G. R. J. (2024). The Small and Rural School Italian Network for Digital Technologies Flourishing in “Non Standard” Educational Context: Before, During, and After the Pandemic Era. In Disruptive Tech-nologies in Education and Workforce Development (pp. 136-164). IGI Global.
Mangione, G. R. J., & Cannella, G. (2021). Small school, smart schools: Distance education in remoteness con-ditions. Technology, Knowledge and Learning, 26(4), 845-865.
Mangione, G. R. J., De Santis, F., Zampolini, L., & Gentile, M. (2025). Future-proofing small schools: Rethinking education with AI. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2025) (Vol. 2, pp. 151–162). SCITEPRESS.
Mangione, G. R. J., Parigi, L., & Iommi, T. (2022). Insegnare nella pluriclasse: La dimensione tecnologica nell’indagine nazionale su pratiche e fabbisogni dei docenti. Journal of Inclusive Methodology and Technology in Learning and Teaching, 2(1), 1–18.
Mangione, G. R. J., Pieri, M., & De Santis, F. (2024). Revitalizing education in rural and small schools: The role of AI in teachers’ professional development. Italian Journal of Educational Technology, 32(1), 21–35. https://doi.org/10.17471/ijes-32-1-a2
Mayring, P. (2021). Qualitative content analysis: A step-by-step guide. Sage Publications.
Mortari, L. (2003). Apprendere dall’esperienza. Il pensare riflessivo nella formazione. Carocci.
Mortari, L. (2015). Filosofia della cura. Raffaello Cortina Editore.
Noddings, N. (1984). Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education. University of California Press.
OECD (2020), Back to the Future of Education: Four OECD Scenarios for Schooling, Educational Research and Inno-vation, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/178ef527-en.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
##submission.downloads##
Pubblicato
Come citare
Fascicolo
Sezione
Licenza
Copyright (c) 2025 Francesca De Sanctis, Giuseppina Rita Jose Mangione
Questo lavoro è fornito con la licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 4.0 Internazionale.
