The operationalization of Adultcentrism and Black Pedagogy constructs to promote personal well-being in adult-child relationship: A first application in the context of teacher-student relationship and increase of Specific Learning Disorder diagnoses

The present dissertation advances proposals of operationalization for the concepts of Black Pedagogy (Miller, 1980; Perticari, 2016; Rutschky, 1977, 2015) and Adultcentrism (Goode, 1986; Petr, 1992; Furioso, 2000; Mackay, 1973, 2003; Biancardi, 2002; Foti, 2004). The former is meant as a set of educational and disciplinary practices assimilable into those that nowadays are included in the frame of physical and psychological maltreatment, the latter refers instead to a paradigm of thought, prevailing within our social system, which would lead to provide inadequate or distorted responses to children’s needs (Furioso, 2000). The reflection on a possible legacy deriving from such educational forma mentis is discussed in the light of what is commonly deemed in society as included in the ius corrigendi justification in relation to the “Abuse of means of correction or discipline” (Art. 571, I.P.C.). A third measurement instrument has been developed (“Representations and Attitudes towards SLD diagnoses questionnaire” - RADSA) in order to implement a research representing the first application of Adultcentrism and Black Pedagogy scales in the context of teacher-student relationship and of the phenomenon of SLD diagnoses increase. Four studies are therefore included in the present work: three validation studies of the new instruments and one main study involving the participation of 294 Italian primary school teachers belonging to the Territorial Area of Bergamo. Results are in line with the importance, highlighted in the literature, of making an effort in recognizing the partiality of the adultcentric perspective since our biased understanding of adult-child relationship appears to prevent the acknowledgement of the deeply reciprocal and bilateral qualities of the encounter between those that can be seen as two cultures: the one of adults and the one of children. Moreover, it has been found that Adultcentrism significantly explains 30.4% of the variance in Black Pedagogy scores, thus providing the well-founded impression that an adultcentric perspective risks to deviate towards detrimental educational and disciplinary practices. Implications for teachers’ role in the context of the always increasing number of SLD diagnoses in our territory are also discussed. One of the most important suggestions deriving from the presented results is that it seems more functional to work on the level of values, beliefs, and objectives connected to child-rearing, disciplinary and educational practices rather than intervening directly on practical methods in order to modify them. The possible applications of Adultcentrism and Black Pedagogy scales could range from research fields of pedagogy, education, parenting, child advocacy to social-juridical psychology.