Milan: testing ActionAid in the suburbs
Performance anxiety, fear of grades, terror of not being up to par, together with teaching that is not very participatory, not suited to the languages and speed of the digital tools used by Generation Z. These are some of the factors that affect dropping out rates of students aged 11 to 17 years old. What counts is not only the socio-economic condition of the family or migratory background, but also everything that the neighbourhood provides in terms of cultural and recreational opportunities.
To combat educational inequalities among youth living in the areas of Milan’s “Municipio 4” (between the Ponte Lambro and Forlanini areas), Project Mind the Gap aims to organise activities both in and outside of middle and high schools in the municipality until 2025, strengthening area’s social spaces and services.
The project promotes the birth of a territorial educational pact, a promise written by the entire educational community: associations, schools, families, young people, and services to offer free educational, social, digital and sporting opportunities in response to the needs of young people, animating a little-used space located in the Taliedo, the Cam Mondolfo. Alongside the process of building a solid and cohesive educational community, ActionAid and partners (Municipality of Milan, Fondazione Mondo Digitale and Junior Achievement) actively collaborate with ICS Madre Teresa di Calcutta, ICS Via De Andreis, IC Candia, and Galdus to support students in the delicate school-to-school or school-to-work transition phase, helping to orient them through initiatives for the development of transversal skills and actions to support and take care of those who risk falling behind and dropping out of school. An even more ambitious objective is to co-design and experiment together with the community of young people and expert figures a new orientation service for children aged 11-17, based specifically on the needs and difficulties they encounter in this critical phase.
“A school that knows how to welcome all children is based on inclusive teaching, the ability to adopt participatory teaching solutions that allow custom-tailored courses and objectives, and recognize the individualities of young people, favouring their global growth even before the acquisition of knowledge. To fight the school dropout phenomenon, students need to know how to orient themselves, because choosing a course for life at age 13 is perilous. With Mind the Gap, we provide adequate and personalized support, which lasts over time and does not end with the delivery of guidance advice," explains Simonetta Tomassi, Mind the Gap Project Manager for ActionAid.
Other activities provided by "Mind the Gap" include laboratory courses in schools for the development of technical and transversal skills such as innovative and digital laboratories with Steam activities (coding, robotics, digital manufacturing, videomaking, etc.), labs for the conception and planning of businesses or services, participatory street art workshops which involve the creation of a mural in the neighbourhood.
