EXISTING SCHOOL NETWORK AND TEACHERS’ SENSE OF AGENCY AS STEPPING- STONES TO ENHANCE THE SOCIOEDUCATIONAL ECOSYSTEM

Small and Rural Schools (SRS) are a key component of the Italian school system, not only for their number but also for their vital role in fostering social cohesion. The study focuses on primary and lower secondary schools and investigates the connections, established in the post-pandemic period, between each school and social services, educational and cultural associations, municipalities, and private citizens. A desk research based on the institute official reports and projects creates a preliminary vision of the socio-educational ecosystem. Using an interactive participatory approach, school staff and the researchers build each school specific mesogram (diagram displaying relations between school and other institutions) and the one that encompasses the whole institution. The researchers investigated whether differences in each school’s understanding of relations, as they emerged during the fieldwork, could be traced in specific teachers’ sense of agency, captured through a survey. Confirmation of this hypothesis could orient the school inclusive pedagogical leadership.