Reconceptualising professional development in early childhood education. A study on teachers' professionalism carried out in Bologna province.

The research undertaken for this doctoral thesis explores the issue of teachers professionalism within pre-school institutions. The issue of early childhood professionalism has become increasingly important in the academic debate over the last decade as it is documented by a growing body of research published on the topic both nationally (Contini & Manini, 2007; Bondioli & Ferrari, 2004) and internationally (Peeters, 2008; Urban & Dalli, 2008; Urban, 2010). The study presented in this thesis aims at investigating teachers’ conceptualisations of professionalism by focusing on their understandings of educational work. The idea standing at the core of this research is that exploring the concept of professionalism from a ground-up perspective could lead to important reflections for a re-conceptualisation of professional development as a space for change directed from within institutions. The study is framed within a broadly sociological concern that inform the data analysis by contextualising the issue of early childhood professionalism in the contemporary socio-political arena. The research involves sixty teachers operating in state, municipal and private pre-school institutions located in Bologna province that took part to focus groups and interviews. The empirical materials, consisting of oral and written statements, are interpreted through phenomenographical analysis that gives account of how features of professionalism vary across the different institutional settings in which they are played out. This thesis, written in English and informed by an European research background, offers a contribution to the furthering of systemic approaches to the investigation of early childhood education professionalism in the context of the national and international academic debate.

Urban food planning, city logistics and sustainability: the role of the wholesale produce market. The cases of Parma and Bologna food hubs.

At global level, the population is increasingly concentrating in the cities. In Europe, around 75% of the population lives in urban areas and, according to the European Environmental Agency (2010), urban population is foreseen to increase up to 80 % by 2020. At the same time, the quality of life in the cities is declining and urban pollution keeps increasing in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, waste, noise, and lack of greenery. Many of European cities struggle to cope with social, economic and environmental problems resulting from pressures such as overcrowding or decline, social inequity, health problems related to food security and pollution. Nowadays local authorities try to solve these problems related to the environmental sustainability through various urban logistics measures, which directly and indirectly affect the urban food supply system, thus an integrated approach including freight transport and food provisioning policies issues is needed. This research centres on the urban food transport system and its impact on the city environmental sustainability. The main question that drives the research analysis is "How the urban food distribution system affects the ecological sustainability in modern cities?" The research analyses the city logistics project for food transport implemented in Parma, Italy, by the wholesale produce market. The case study investigates the renewed role of the wholesale market in the urban food supply chain as commercial and logistic operator, referring to the concept of food hub. Then, a preliminary analysis on the urban food transport for the city of Bologna is presented. The research aims at suggesting a methodological framework to estimate the urban food demand, the urban food supply and to assess the urban food transport performance, in order to identify external costs indicators that help policymakers in evaluating the environmental sustainability of different logistics measures

Servizi relazionali e inclusione sociale: due studi di caso sul coinvolgimento delle famiglie nel Comune di Parma

La presente ricerca muove i suoi primi passi dall’ipotesi generale che il paradigma relazionale possa offrire al mondo dei servizi sociali una configurazione diversa, talora meno utopistica, del community work. Sebbene, infatti, in questi anni il sistema di offerta dei servizi si sia arricchito di principi come la co-progettazione e la co-responsabilità delle azioni, il lavoro di comunità resta ancora molto distante dal lavoro generalmente svolto nei servizi sociali territoriali, incapaci per ragioni strutturali e culturali di accogliere dentro di sé tale funzione. L’idea dalla quale trae origine la presente tesi di dottorato, è pertanto quella di arricchire la definizione di servizi sociali relazionali. Partendo dalle dimensioni che in letteratura sociologica e nei principali modelli teorici di social work definiscono un servizio alla persona quale servizio relazionale, nella prima parte teorica viene ipotizzata una trasformazione parziale del welfare regionale emiliano, poiché ai mutamenti culturali di questi anni non ha fatto seguito un cambiamento reale dei modelli operativi maggiormente basati sullo sviluppo delle competenze. Nella seconda parte della tesi, la ricerca empirica si focalizza sui progetti “family friendly” realizzati nel Comune di Parma, collocati in una logica di welfare societario e basati sull’apporto di soggetti di Terzo Settore, responsabili di ogni fase di realizzazione delle attività. La ricerca si avvale prevalentemente di tecniche qualitative e in alcuni tratti assume le caratteristiche della ricerca-azione. Nelle conclusioni, il contesto territoriale studiato rivela grande ricchezza dei legami strutturali, ma anche necessità di un rafforzamento dei legami interni. La forza dei servizi prodotti si situa, inoltre, nella sovrafunzionalità del legame tra volontari e famiglie, e di questo elemento dovrebbe arricchirsi anche il social work che scelga di adottare una prospettiva metodologica di lavoro relazionale.