Continuità. Prospettive pedagogiche per il curricolo zerosei, tra benessere e sostenibilità

The Integrated System of Education and Instruction for children from birth to six years of age is a significant step toward ensuring that all children have equal opportunities for care, upbringing, relationships, play, and education. It also marks the transition from the fragmented system that has characterized the Italian preschool sector until now. The Pedagogical Guidelines for the Integrated System zerosei state that enhancing and supporting a network of educational services and preschools for all, capable of innovation, of responding to new needs, of being places of well-being, of promoting equity, inclusion, cultural and social integration, and reconciliation represents an important contribution to the implementation of Articles 2, 3, and 31 of the Italian Constitution. In this context, it is necessary to work towards the development of a curriculum for well-being, based on the recognition of personal differences and facilitating transitions between different educational institutions, which is one of the five dimensions of quality for proactive childcare policies and consistent educational practices (A European Framework for Quality in Childcare and Educational Services, 2016). These orientations favor the construction of a more inclusive, sustainable, digital, enabling, and emancipating school, in line with recent pedagogical literature. This literature identifies the unity of the zerosei educational path as crucial for the development of basic skills and the acquisition of attitudes that influence an individual's subsequent personal and professional life, especially in terms of the relationships formed in their environment. Amid the multiple crises we are experiencing, educational and school systems are called to work synergistically to promote an ecological culture that supports more equitable and sustainable development. This ecological vision should encompass the entire lifespan, contributing to the integral well-being of individuals and the common good of society. To achieve this goal, it is essential to guarantee and support the right to education for everyone, ensure equal opportunities for educational success and lifelong learning for all citizens, combat socio-cultural inequalities, prevent school dropout and abandonment, and share best practices for genuine education for sustainability and well-being. This contribution, concluding a research project aimed at systematizing the practices of educational continuity for children aged 0-6 years in the Aosta Valley, intends to present the main results achieved. It also seeks to address some key questions regarding perspectives and research scenarios related to the challenge of sustainability education for early childhood, linking educational services, preschools, and the surrounding community.