The Infant School on Set. The Film "Chiedo asilo" by Marco Ferreri and the Educational Imaginary in 1970s Italy

This study will examine the film Chiedo asilo directed by Marco Ferreri in 1979, investigating its contribution to the representation and construction of the collective mindset in 1970s Italy. Most films for cinema and television on the theme of schools and teachers focus mainly on primary and secondary schools; in contrast, there has been little exploration of nursery school, which is not part of the compulsory education cycle. Chiedo asilo is one of the rare movies that portrays nursery school, offering insights into its teachers, pupils, and educational function. In light of recent advances in educational historiography and the relevant background literature, the research presented here will analyse the dynamics associated with the institution of nursery school and its key actors, devoting particular attention to the relationship between the filmic source under study and the socio-educational context of the period. This analysis will concentrate on teaching methods, and on the representation of the figure of the teacher and of the class, who were not actors in this case but rather real-life pupils at P.E.E.P. Bentini nursery school in Corticella, a district then located on the outskirts of Bologna. It appears that the aim of the film is to challenge the inessential trappings of the school, family, and other traditional institutions of the day: the eccentric approach of the young male teacher thus becomes an expression of, and vehicle for, innovative and unconventional educational methods, which stand in sharp contrast with traditional educational approaches and are inspired by ideals of freedom, the importance of cultivating children’s imagination, and the need to ground teaching in the encounter with the real world. The film also points up the redefinition of the figure of the nursery school teacher, no longer associated with a predominantly maternal role, but rather with specific educational, psychological, and cultural competences, as well as prompting reflection on the entry of male teachers into nursery schools, a development fostered by the cultural movements of the 1960s and totally new and unprecedented at the time.