**7. What's new in Italian law?**

*Education Systems Around the World*

and so forth.

ered minor works [9].

**the present time**

other expressions full of significance.

by other forms of knowledge or by other professions.

**6. Die Sozialpädagogik and its role**

classical roots.

in the Middle Age.

ancient Greece and Rome.

Comte as the first thinker and then to the Alsatian-Lorraine Durkheim for vast amounts of knowledge and content; and a psychotherapist first to Sigmund Freud,

The profession of the pedagogist too finds its foundation in the same world, to be precise, in the establishment of die Sozialpädagogik and in its first steps. We would then refer to Mager, Diesterweg, Natorp, and also the social sensitivity of some pedagogists like Pestalozzi, of course as a generalist or Durkheim himself, considering his character not less pedagogical than sociological, being one of the fathers of the Scientific Sociology. It should be kept in due consideration the fact that he had become a full professor at the Sorbonne in 1906 for the Chair of Pedagogy; it was in 1913 that the name of the course would become *Pedagogy and Sociology*, and at least in our context, his pedagogical works are not to be consid-

**5. Conceptual and operative pedagogist tools from ancient times until** 

This reference to the last centuries does not diminish the history of pedagogy, which traces its origins back to Western civilization and that must be considered a resource, as Dewey taught us since he traced it back to the Sophists "*the first body of professional educators in Europe*" [10], partly because the essential tools both of the reference knowledge and the professional practice are to be found precisely in those

We could begin with the classical Greek culture. We will start, therefore, with πάντων χρημάτων μέτρον ἐστὶν ἄνθρωπος, τῶν μὲν ὄντων ὡς ἔστιν, τῶν δὲ οὐκ ὄντων ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν by Protagoras; ουδέν εστίν, ει δ'εστίν ου νοητόν, ει δε νοητόν, αλλ'ου γνωστόν, ειδέ και γνωστόν, αλλ'ου δηλωτόν άλλους by Gorgias; φύσει μέν εστίν 'άνθρωπος ζωόν πολιτικόν by Aristotle; the role and importance of 'ρητορεία; the Socratic διάλογος in its two phases, that of ειρωνεία and of μαιευτική τέχνη; πολιτεία meant as socialization and active participation in political activities, in the broadest sense of the term; the classical logic with its rules; the γνϖθι σεαυτόν, with its full awareness of everybody's potentialities and limitations; finally the condemnation of 'ύβρις. We will, however, go on quoting

This does not diminish the necessity to refer to that long history, as for example with reference to Seneca, Quintilianus, Scholastics or part of it, and other authors

When we quote Comenius, we have already arrived at a modern perspective (i.e.,

We claim it should be better to understand deeply the reasons why professionals whose technical-scientific culture is pedagogy based, including the school staff, the historical dimension actually plays a fundamental role, which is not accomplished

*Die Sozialpädagogik* is a branch of the General Pedagogy, which, while going back to the mid-nineteenth century, in Italy has been largely ignored for nearly a century and a half, as pedagogy, not a direct and vocational school education, has

at the Modern Age) and not surprisingly in the field of an educational pedagogy practiced in schools, rather than social as it was the art of the Paedagogus in the

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In the Italian law and culture, school roles and functions have a strong definition and structure; instead, regulatory definitions and recognitions are missing long time as for other specifically pedagogic professions in the social field.

We had to wait until the end of the year 2017. December 27 2017, the Italian parliament approved in the comprehensive law 205 eight paragraphs of article 1 that finally gave a legal recognition to the pedagogist with a master's degree, as well as to the socio-pedagogical professional educator (3-year degree).

The pedagogist, at the apical level, should have received, after an initial MSc degree, further training with vocational qualification. On the contrary, the professional educator socio-sanitary, that is the operator of educational practice in the world of Health, and acts properly at an intermediate level, in Italy has a proper corresponding initial university education (a 3-year course) and a strong legalized legislation only in healthcare (after the Ministerial Decree 520/98), and follows degree programs that are still active in the faculty of Medicine and Surgery.

Nowadays, one of the pivotal tasks of pedagogy is to bring the Social Pedagogy back to its origins and to its specific nature, taking into account today's emerging needs for social and higher intellectual pedagogy professionbased and for the academic induction-oriented courses. On this task and on its fulfilling, the role of pedagogy is basically played within the culture and society in progress.

#### **8. The pedagogist's professional practice 'in between'**

A mistake to avoid carefully in the profession of pedagogists is falling in the dualism between theory and praxis. It is a sort of dualism spread in the nineteenth century or before, typically philosophical, belonging to those that John Dewey systematically fought against. Pedagogy cannot be reduced only to a theoretical level or just to the level of praxis, or to some contrasts between them. It is rather a dimension in between theory and practice, synthesis and chance of communication between the two levels mutually irreducible.

The level in between can be defined with the term *applicativity*. The terminological issue has a very important strength if we consider the persistence of phrases

#### *Education Systems Around the World*

belonging to philosophy in the pedagogical debate with their unsuitable content that produces misunderstanding, such as that of 'practical science,' which is still referred not infrequently to pedagogy. The theory-practice sort of dualism was born and raised in philosophy: we do not argue here of its values in that context or of its limits in a broad sense; we simply mean to point out how it is clearly inadequate when applied to pedagogy.

If we remain on the level of theory, we can place in it a number of other scholars and proponents even in a different professional position. We think, for example, of those large companies' managers who plan the main lines of professional training, recruitment, internal relations, or cultural image of the company, its history, its archives, or also the human resources management. Other examples of professional on the theorical plane of Pedagogy can be public Managers (in ministries, local government, health, etc.) who fulfill some actual pedagogical or direction guideline functions on a well-established political plan, or those in large agencies who are in charge for training (in the broadest sense), from whose theories, educational actions are performed; or intellectuals whose creativity directly influences education, or of those who address educational issues from a more general perspective.

At the level of theory, in short, extensive types of subjects can be placed: those who, shall we say, work to develop general views of education that are likely to have a not sudden impact on the educational act.

Nevertheless, it is equally important to grasp the existence of a praxical level with some efforts. The term 'educator' means, even in everyday language, anyone who educates or teaches, that is, any person acting on this level. In this regard, despite the general and specific cultural background, the projects, and even the will of the act, we could say that we are all "*educators*" for the fact that we are human beings, that is, a place of values, social subjects, knots of a network of interpersonal relationships.

At this level, we can place those who, among the action-oriented ones, practice professionally their function with awareness, according to a plan (not necessarily drawn by themselves) and with some cultural foundation inside a work or planned performance or somehow structured. In this case, it is feasible to apply some adjective or periphrastic qualification to the noun, till to talk of educational operators: in Italy, we saw, the term '*professional educator*' pointed out a professional who deals with health, and now many things can change, with the reform processes recently started. It is a sort of a diverse and consistent world: the world of different types of performers: from the private teachers to tutors, governors, community or boarding school assistants and keepers, Betreuer, *(jugend)lehrer*, prefects, and so forth. As a general rule, they are people who exercise their educational activity with a large predominance (if not exclusive) of the practice level.

But the profession of the pedagogist in action, unlike the ones in the quoted examples, lacks a general framework as for the induction training, although he started having his first legal recognition and status in Italy 2 years ago.

It is useful to draw a fundamental distinction between the general and generic acting in the field of education or 'Erziehung,' and a practical action based on a well-defined theoretical and general reference, after having set a plan based on the awareness of the whole. This second articulation of educational professionalism requires a qualification that is not guaranteed either by the current high schools and institutes or by the Socio-Psycho-Pedagogical secondary school curriculum reformed in 2010, which in fact does not have any of the vocational values that are now non-existent also in other types of pre-university schools. For this reason, it seems good a qualification as a university degree, exactly as it is for other technical professions, which in the past decades relied on an education course ending with a high school diploma, and as happened for primary school teachers having a specific degree since 1999**.**

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*Pedagogist as Social Professional: Sozialpädagogik and Professional Pedagogy*

**9. More thoroughly about** *Erziehung* **and** *Pädagogik***: education and** 

One of the basic problems of current practices in education is made up of different types of action that do not actually appear to be inscribed in a theoretical framework and a well-set planning of reference, nor do they seem to be carried out by suitably qualified practitioners: this order of problems is also complicated in the compliance with the principles that still recall the Italian Neoidealism, and its refusal to consider the educational dimension scientifically and technically as, well as, teaching itself. In other words, a transition from Erziehung to Pädagogik, and from the Erzieher to Pädagoge, is necessary for all that part, which is fundamental and appropriate to fulfill, that is for an increasingly significant and growing aspect of the educational reality. Considerations like these would be sufficient to throw light on the existence and importance of the vital intermediate level of pedagogy or, better, the human

It would be enough to reflect on the distance between theory and practice as for the specific part of education, leaving no room for illusions (above all the ones groundless in principle) according to which this space is filled by itself, or for educators' voluntary pursuit to theory, or for the theoretical pedagogists' voluntary access to practice.

Short in-service qualification courses also held in agreement with the university

serve to cover up an existing problem of an illusory smokescreen and to allow promotions without real consideration for the skilled personnel who will remain qualified only on paper, besides the perpetuation of a neglect educational policy of

Professional Pedagogist took place in the world of trade associations.

**10. From Pedagogy as social science to pedagogist as professional** 

The following pages of this paper will be addressed to take some general guidelines and methodologies into consideration in the practice of the Professional

**practice in society: so that it is democracy and not authoritarianism**

asking for at least 5 years of university study.

Pedagogy, as well as how it is actually experienced.

We always remember that an essential characteristic of the Italian school and university is the full legal value of the qualification, the centrality of the conquest of the "piece or sheet of paper," which is at the same time strength,

Pedagogy is not limited to the confined dualism theory-practice but is qualified in its own autonomy with the presence of a dimension in between, with an intermediate level, which allows communication and mutual integration of theory and practice for achieving something else significantly different. The Italian Pedagogy today has a wide awareness of this as well as the dangers of reductionism in a way or another [11]. Hence the Professional Pedagogists' own dimension appears, precisely the dimension of *Empirie* or *Anwendungsmöglichkeit*. Far from being the Hegelian 'synthesis,' it is the level of the dialectic continuous interaction between theory and practice that admits the usage of the Frankfurt School critical theories, in order to be understood. A few years of an intense debate on the qualification of the

At present, there is a general agreement in claiming that it corresponds to the post-graduate level, with a few more years of study, training, development, and one or more passages. However, the 3-year course graduate student in the field of the Sciences of Education is not properly a 'pedagogist,' as a law degree student is not a 'lawyer.' The remembered Italian law 205/2017 finally recognized the profession,

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.91335*

**pedagogy**

mediation of the pedagogist.

social and health institutions.

weakness and problematic.

*Education Systems Around the World*

when applied to pedagogy.

a not sudden impact on the educational act.

belonging to philosophy in the pedagogical debate with their unsuitable content that produces misunderstanding, such as that of 'practical science,' which is still referred not infrequently to pedagogy. The theory-practice sort of dualism was born and raised in philosophy: we do not argue here of its values in that context or of its limits in a broad sense; we simply mean to point out how it is clearly inadequate

If we remain on the level of theory, we can place in it a number of other scholars and proponents even in a different professional position. We think, for example, of those large companies' managers who plan the main lines of professional training, recruitment, internal relations, or cultural image of the company, its history, its archives, or also the human resources management. Other examples of professional on the theorical plane of Pedagogy can be public Managers (in ministries, local government, health, etc.) who fulfill some actual pedagogical or direction guideline functions on a well-established political plan, or those in large agencies who are in charge for training (in the broadest sense), from whose theories, educational actions are performed; or intellectuals whose creativity directly influences education, or of those who address educational issues from a more general perspective. At the level of theory, in short, extensive types of subjects can be placed: those who, shall we say, work to develop general views of education that are likely to have

Nevertheless, it is equally important to grasp the existence of a praxical level with some efforts. The term 'educator' means, even in everyday language, anyone who educates or teaches, that is, any person acting on this level. In this regard, despite the general and specific cultural background, the projects, and even the will of the act, we could say that we are all "*educators*" for the fact that we are human beings, that is, a place of values, social subjects, knots of a network of interpersonal relationships. At this level, we can place those who, among the action-oriented ones, practice professionally their function with awareness, according to a plan (not necessarily drawn by themselves) and with some cultural foundation inside a work or planned performance or somehow structured. In this case, it is feasible to apply some adjective or periphrastic qualification to the noun, till to talk of educational operators: in Italy, we saw, the term '*professional educator*' pointed out a professional who deals with health, and now many things can change, with the reform processes recently started. It is a sort of a diverse and consistent world: the world of different types of performers: from the private teachers to tutors, governors, community or boarding school assistants and keepers, Betreuer, *(jugend)lehrer*, prefects, and so forth. As a general rule, they are people who exercise their educational activity

with a large predominance (if not exclusive) of the practice level.

started having his first legal recognition and status in Italy 2 years ago.

But the profession of the pedagogist in action, unlike the ones in the quoted examples, lacks a general framework as for the induction training, although he

It is useful to draw a fundamental distinction between the general and generic acting in the field of education or 'Erziehung,' and a practical action based on a well-defined theoretical and general reference, after having set a plan based on the awareness of the whole. This second articulation of educational professionalism requires a qualification that is not guaranteed either by the current high schools and institutes or by the Socio-Psycho-Pedagogical secondary school curriculum reformed in 2010, which in fact does not have any of the vocational values that are now non-existent also in other types of pre-university schools. For this reason, it seems good a qualification as a university degree, exactly as it is for other technical professions, which in the past decades relied on an education course ending with a high school diploma, and as happened for primary school teachers having a specific

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degree since 1999**.**
