The reception of Janusz Korczak’s writings in Italy: a pedagogical perspective

The aim of this paper is to present the reception of Janusz Korczak writings in Italy and its relevance for Italian educational studies and to open some new perspectives on the author’s writing activity. The paper is composed by three paragraphs and each of them focuses on different suggestions. After a short presentation on what has been translated and received in our Country, we will focus on some peculiar aspects of Korczak’s writing practice, and in particular on its educational value. In this paper we assume that the whole Korczak’s practice is a perfect example of circularity between experience and reflection; his thoughts and his actions embody the integration between theoretical assumptions with a practical knowledge. This allows us to suggest that great part of the Polish author’s works can be considered autobiographical as it often results from the reflection that follows his personal experiences. In the last part we focus on Korczak’s meaning of infancy, on his attempt to give children a voice, on the limits the attempt remarks and on epistemological consequences they suggest.