Facing the high tide of immigration : a challenge for education in Italy

Abstract

In a volume dedicated to educational responses to deeply felt challenges in the Mediterranean region, this chapter will focus on the 'what could' and the 'what should' be rather than the 'what is'. In other words, I will not be describing an innovation as much as making an argument in favor of an open-minded multicultural education, one inspired by the original calling of schools as community-builders. In doing this, I will be considering migration flows in a historical perspective, noting their recurrent character, as well as the options that societies-and particularly school systemshave in responding to the phenomenon of the mobility of peoples. Specifically, I will focus on Italy's relatively recent experience of mass immigration, to make the case that there could be much to learn from the spontaneous innovations that sprouted in schools when they had to deal with internal migration after the second World War.