Telling the changing reality: the second edition of the School of Civic Education begins. In the Park of San Rossore (Pisa) 40 students from all over Italy to reflect on the Constitution, Europe, climate, economy, artificial intelligence

Telling the changing reality is the underlying theme of the School of Civic Education which returns, for the second consecutive year, to the Villa del Gombo, former residence of the President of the Republic within the San Rossore Park (Pisa), thanks to the idea presented in 2023 by a group of honors students of the Sant'Anna School. The School of Civic Education sees the scientific coordination of Luca Gori, assistant professor in Constitutional Law at the Sant'Anna School, and is scheduled from Thursday 26 to Saturday 28 September with the participation of 40 students from all over Italy, who have just started their fifth year of high school and have passed a selection, based on school merit and origin from families with parents who have not graduated.

The introductory lecture is given by Marta Cartabia, president emerita of the Constitutional Court and former Minister of Justice, and is broadcast live from 3 p.m. on Thursday 26 September on the website of the ANSA agency, www.ansa.it, media partner of the School of Civic Education. Marta Cartabia will be speaking on ‘Changing the Constitution?’ together with Emanuele Rossi, Professor of Constitutional Law at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. The welcoming speech by the rector, Sabina Nuti, is scheduled for 6.15 p.m. on Thursday, 26 September.

The programme addresses civic education from different perspectives: in addition to the Italian Constitution, the agenda includes topics related to theEuropean Union, sustainability and climate change, economic principles and digital rights. Besides the educational aspect, the Civic Education School is also an opportunity for a residential stay, allowing students from different places, contexts and backgrounds to get to know each other and forge relationships. The students are hosted free of charge in the San Rossore Park, thanks also to the support of the Fondazione Il Talento all'Opera Onlus and the Fondazione Luca Cavallini Onlus, realities committed, together with the Sant'Anna School, to the enhancement of merit and social mobility.

During the three days of the School of Civic Education, academic or institutional and popular speeches will be held by those who - by profession or by volunteering - recount reality and its transformations every day. On Thursday 26, Marta Cartabia's lecture will be followed by Giovanni Forti's speech, a political analyst and pollster for Youtrend, on the interpretation of data and political polls. At the beginning of the day, on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 September, there will be two press reviews, supervised by Giada Zampano (journalist collaborator for Associated Press) and Luca Misculin (journalist for the Post). On Friday 27 and Saturday 28, lectures and panel discussions will be alternated with group activities, such as a simulation of a European Parliament plenary, on Friday 27 at 5 p.m., and an experiment on ChatGPT biases, on Friday 27 at 11.45 a.m.

On Friday 27 September, after the press review, space will be given to how the scientific community and companies communicate differently on the issue of environmental sustainability, with Mauro Buonocore, head of communication at the Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change, and Francesco Testa, full professor of Management at the Sant'Anna School. This will be followed by Pietro Valetto, author of Will Media, in an interactive lecture entitled ‘The Economy, for Everyone’. The afternoon of Friday 27 September is dedicated to the results of the 2024 European elections and the scenarios opened up in European politics, with the intervention of volunteers from the Antonio Megalizzi Foundation, in dialogue with Edoardo Bressanelli, associate professor of Political Science at the Sant'Anna School. On Saturday 28 September, after the second review, there will be a conversation on rights in the age of artificial intelligence between Daniela Tafani, assistant professor at the University of Pisa and Marta Marchiori Manerbi, advocacy officer for Privacy Network.

"The experience of the School of Civic Education, now in its second edition, aims - underlines Luca Gori, the scientific coordinator - to bring high school students inside the complexity of institutional, geopolitical, social and economic reality, raising awareness not only of a specific ‘course of study’, but of the intertwining of objects, interests, methods and languages of the social sciences. It is an approach that the School of Civic Education offers as its distinguishing feature. It should also be emphasised that the choice of topics, speakers and lecturers is the result of a dialogue with the students of the Sant'Anna School: in this, therefore, there is an important ‘caring’ for the future students of the university and this is a positive message delivered to the entire community". 

The ANSA agency is media partner of the School of Civic Education. The spaces for the School of Civic Education, such as those in the Villa del Gombo, are made available by the San Rossore Park Authority, thanks to a collaboration with the Sant'Anna School.

Cover photo: the Villa del Gombo (source: www.parcosanrossore.org)