Media education and educational commons for youth civic engagement. A case study from the Horizon 2020 project SMOOTH

Abstract

This study presents the preliminary findings of the first round of implementation of a case study included in the Horizon 2020 project SMOOTH. The project's main objective is to introduce and study the emergent paradigm of the educational commons as an alternative system of values and actions for promoting intercultural and intergenerational dialogue and establishing spaces of democratic citizenship that support the development of local communities. Our case study adopts this paradigm with insights derived from the field of media education. Hence, our research questions were as follows: (a) How do young people collectively experience and build the educational commons? (b) How do participants (youth and adults) in educational commons experience peer governance and how do they handle and resolve conflicts? (c) How does the co-creation of a photo-blog as a shared space of work help young people discover and develop a "civic intentionality" in the (digital) public sphere? (d) What are the effects of applying a commons' logic to address inequalities and achieve social inclusion of young people from vulnerable social groups? Fieldwork, framed in an ethnographic and action-research approach, was developed by examining the three dimensions of the notion of educational commons (commoners, commoning practices, and community). Although data collection and analysis are still in progress, our preliminary results allow us to draw some initial reflections on what worked well in the first round and what could hinder the achievement of the project's objectives. We also propose hypotheses for re-designing the second round to overcome the weaknesses that emerged during the first experimental phase and foster its strengths.

Co-creation of educational commons spaces to reverse inequalities: project SMOOTH and the Children's Club

“…The idea that participation and active citizenship are fundamental in educational processes that promote the common good was present throughout the project, aiming to overcome the obstacles experienced by children in a community where they are often seen as incapable of participating in public life (Cappello and Siino, 2023 ). Thus, in order to achieve full active citizenship, educational institutions must create spaces for children's autonomous expression, providing them with opportunities to be reflective, autonomous, and socially active, as was the case with the Children's Club.…”

Agüita: Educational Commons, Arts and Well-Being

“…The practice of "common" [7], is the practice of doing and managing a community good, from a perspective of openness, equality, co-participation, plurality and sustainability. It is precisely within this conception of the commons that we can situate the educational commons, where there is a community without prior barriers, but rather those resulting from the very process of community production and management of the commons, in this case, education [8]. "Education is perceived not only as a vital resource for people's well-being and self-development but also as a key instrument of political empowerment for both children and adults" [4], p. 4.…”

“…For this idea of the educational commons to develop, a governance process is necessary in which community members can decide and establish boundaries and norms through collaborative processes based on communication [5,8]. Children and young adults are understood as full members of the community, becoming visible actors in the processes of knowledge production, distribution and ownership, as well as in participation in decision-making processes.…”

Sowing the Seeds of Commons in Education: Three Case Studies from the Horizon Project 2020 SMOOTH

“…Despite the undeniable fact that education is a key institution of society with a central role in shaping our reality, it has not been the subject of systematic empirical study until recently by theorists of the commons. Apart from a few empirical studies (Cappello and Siino 2023;Kioupkiolis 2023;Pechtelidis 2018;Pechtelidis and Kioupkiolis 2020;Pechtelidis et al 2023), most of the theoretical approaches concerning the commons in education lack empirical evidence. It is precisely this deficit in empirical data on common practices in education that was a key motivation for conducting this research in formal and non-formal education settings.…”