UGUALI/DIVERSI Project 2027

FIFTH EDITION
Active citizenship project for upper secondary school

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SAME= ≠DIFFERENT– fifth edition

Active citizenship project for secondary schools by Emanuela Furlan. School year 2026-27. 

Introduction

Same/Differentis built around two regulatory and civil cornerstones,the art. 3 of the Italian Constitution and the UN Agenda 2030, or around the right to equality, not to be discriminated against, to equal opportunities and above all to be active citizens to protect rights and social well-being.

It is a project divided into different paths, each of which addresses specific aspects with respect to the general theme, starting from the direct experience of the children. The topics are covered through theater activities, performances, workshops, etc., to make students more involved and involved with the aim of providing prevention and tools for the growth and well-being of the class. The project intersects various curricular subjects (civic education, history, philosophy, literature, sociology, and from this year also mathematics) and places particular attention on the use of language (necessary to understand, communicate and express oneself, resolve conflicts, identify manipulations).

This fifth edition further develops the proposal by differentiating theRoutescome onLaboratories, to respond to schools’ need for flexibility.

Project objectives

• improve theknowledge of oneself and the founding values ​​of active citizenshipto learn to live together on the basis of the unanimous recognition of a core of shared ethical-political values ​​and principles, in particular against discrimination;
• enhancethe methodological attitudeof doubt in reading realityto observe more carefully and delve deeper into what surrounds us and appreciate the value of difference;
• provide tools forimprove relationship skillsinterpersonally and in the community of reference;
• work synergistically with teachersthrough topics that are concrete in the daily lives of children, that support work at school and provide useful tools.

Method

• use of diversified, engaging, direct and effective languages ​​and forms of communication (theatre and music, performance, and other stage languages) with the direct involvement of the children;
• workshops to materialize the contents through participatory action for the school class only;
• modulation of the project to meet the needs of the school programs and the transversality of the proposals between school subjects and themes, as well as the specific needs of the school/class.

The Routes

WORDS AND MANIPULATIONRhetoric is a “made in Italy” discipline whose origins date back to the 5th century BC. Unlikepublic speakingwhich is the art of speaking in public, rhetoric is the art of persuading with words.What secret does the rhetoric of dictators hide? What are the ingredients with which they managed to inflame the crowds? How can we recognize them?Rhetorical techniques can help make everyone, especially young people, aware of possible manipulations in public debate. The speeches and techniques used by twentieth-century dictators are a concrete demonstrative basis of manipulation from which to build an “anti-manipulation vaccine”.
EQUILIBRIUMIn Italy, suicides are the second cause of death among young people aged 10 to 25, a phenomenon which is accompanied by an alarming growth in self-harm, depression and anxiety problems in adolescents.
The UN Secretary General declared that “mental health is a universal human right. (…) We must address the root causes – poverty, inequality, violence, discrimination – and create more compassionate and resilient societies”.
Enjoying good mental health does not end with the mere absence of pathology or discomfort but means reaching a state of inner balance that allows you to use, if necessary, all the physical, cognitive, emotional and social resources available to you to effectively face the various daily challenges. Talking about this delicate topic can help to break the taboo surrounding the phenomenon, make those who suffer feel less alone and develop greater awareness in dealing with their own problem or that of those close to you. It means talking about a social situation that directly affects boys and girls, it means becoming aware citizens in order to activate a change.
NUMBERS UNDER EXAMINATION: MATHEMATICS, INFORMATION AND CRITICAL THINKING   >>NEWEvery day, from news on political polls, from comments on ISTAT data to public health numbers released by the World Health Organization, many of the decisions that influence our lives are based on numbers and statistical data. However, behind every number there arereal people, experiences, choices and concrete needs.
And numbers, when presented out of context or used in an instrumental way, can become a powerful tool of persuasion. Behind a survey, online information or content on social media that presents data as “scientifically proven”, a manipulation of communication can be hidden, capable of transforming even what should be data into something interpretable, distorted or used to support a certain opinion.
Knowing these mechanisms means developing an additional skill: learning to read data, recognize manipulations and better understand reality and the communication that is offered to us every day.
VIRAL EMOTIONS: HOW THE WEB INFECTS US   >>NEWEvery day we keep a portable brain in our pocket that we call a smartphone: we receive around 192 notifications a day, 11 interruptions for every hour we are awake, one every 5 minutes; we unlock our phone 120 times a day, check it 150 times a day, and touch our phone device 2617 times a day. The average student spends more than 40 hours a week on social media: the equivalent of a full-time job. The prolonged attention spans of our grandparents reached 20/30 seconds, that of a goldfish up to 9 seconds: our current sustained attention spans are calculated at an average of 7 seconds.We work for an emotional intelligence that controls the artificial one because “there is nothing more powerful than emotions to ensure that we remember and therefore learn something; a machine does not have this mechanism”(cit. Barbara Gallavotti, science communicator).
It is necessary to initiate serious and direct reflection to build effective paths for onedigital citizenshipaware.
TEEN DATING VIOLENCEThis path has been present for three editions, it is the longest running of the project and this is because the effectiveness and emotional involvement of the children leads teachers to request it from year to year for different classes. The show tells of adults who were once children, of expectations and disappointments. They talk about how relationships can become something other than what we desire and how everyone can decide how to react, with violence or not.
Benthree out of ten young people they stated that they had witnessed an episode of gender violence. 46% to psychological violence, 24% to physical violence, 20% to violence online, 10% to episodes of sexual violence (2022 survey – Terre des Hommes and Scuolazoo of more than 10,000 children between the ages of 15 and 19). The same survey finds that the context in which the violence was witnessed, with 44% of the responses (first place) there is school, a place that should be dedicated to personal growth and safety. In the second place follow the social (28%), in third place are the family or the couple (22%) and, finally, sport (6%).
However, talking about this phenomenon does not yet mean understanding and fighting it. To do this it is necessary to explore the cultural matrix in which we are all immersed, which we carry within and act, more or less consciously. 

The Laboratories

The laboratories were designed in modulestwo hourscompatible with school planning needs and with the aim of making the information and training activity proposed with the different paths even more effective.
By intervening directlyin class with expert tutors, the relationship with the students is direct and it is possible to understand the specific requests of the group with respect to the topic covered.
The experience of the tutors allows the workshop to be managed with flexibility so that it is as close as possible to the specificity of the class group. Naturally, attention will be paid to any critical relational or personal experience situations that will be reported by the teachers.

 From this edition, the workshops are no longer mandatory but can be requested to strengthen the chosen path.The number of workshops is limited and registrations are accepted until availability is exhausted.