"How are you feeling?" The social redemption of the suburbs begins at school. This is how the alliance between teachers, families, and students is transforming Librino

But the neighborhood is also — and perhaps above all, like many suburbs in Italy — a valuable human and social laboratory where every day a network of associations, teachers, students, and residents works together to transform Librino into something different. Their commitment takes shape in efforts to counter marginalization and stereotypes tied to the outskirts and continues with the redevelopment of urban spaces — such as the ‘Porta delle farfalle,’ an installation of terracotta works stretching over a kilometer and created by artists together with residents and students — as well as through targeted interventions in schools aimed at reducing the high dropout rate and fighting educational poverty.

This is the goal pursued jointly by two major organizations: UniCredit Foundation, the foundation that brings to life the bank’s Social Strategy to ensure equitable access to education in Europe, and Teach For Italy, a partner of the global Teach For All network that works across Italy to tackle educational inequalities and strengthen the school ecosystem in the most challenging contexts. Since 2023, their combined efforts have been supported by a three‑year, €5.5 million partnership spanning seven European countries, including Italy.

The work of the Fellows in Librino

Teach For Italy’s day‑to‑day presence on the ground comes through its Fellows — highly motivated individuals committed to fighting educational inequality who, once selected, enter a program that involves two years of teaching in Italy’s most disadvantaged school environments. ‘Librino is a suburban area facing various forms of marginalization: from its physical space to the lack of opportunities, up to the way these neighborhoods are portrayed,’ explains Daniela Lazzara, a Teach For Italy Fellow. ‘This often leads the community to close in on itself,’ she notes, ‘creating growing distance between the neighborhood and other parts of the city. Yet these places do not need charity, but rather someone who listens, facilitates the work, and connects what is already alive within the community.’ ‘It is important to invest in the South; it is important to invest in the suburbs with a global and systemic vision,’ adds Fellow Simona Galletta.

‘We teachers have to face an educational emergency caused by a high rate of school dropout, early leaving, low socio‑cultural background of families, and a weak culture of legality. For this reason,’ the teacher continues, ‘it is necessary to build empathetic relationships and long‑lasting bonds with students, so that we can accompany them over time and support their educational success.’ And it is precisely in this complex context that the school reacts: it opens its doors, welcomes, and tries to become a stable point of reference for students and their families. ‘For our kids, the school is a protected space where they find the support of teachers who, in some way, become a second family,’ Bartolotta explains. ‘The teacher ends up taking on the role of a true agent of social redemption, an essential figure for students and families.’

The relationship with families

In the Librino neighborhood, the role of the family in the educational path of young people is often delicate and challenging, but also a resource. ‘The relationship with parents has always been a strength,’ says Elena Piazza, vice principal and Italian teacher at Pestalozzi. ‘Many of them rely on us teachers because they trust us; others have little time to dedicate to their children because of work. But when the right understanding with the teacher is created,’ Piazza continues, ‘parents rely completely on us and sometimes, with great humility, ask us to intervene even in their place.’ The school must be able to welcome students, but in some way also their parents. ‘Many of them need to be heard,’ she says. ‘Some mothers sometimes tell us unpleasant things and, not being able to share them at home, prefer to talk with us. Knowing these aspects has an impact on their children and helps us manage them better in class.’ Families also recognize the importance of the school as a place of support. ‘For them, it’s like a home,’ says Luciana, mother of two students.

Building networks, reducing distances

But how do Teach For Italy Fellows concretely interact with the school in Librino and its students? ‘They helped us offer the students activities that were different from the usual ones, both in the choice of topics and in the way of addressing them,’ Piazza explains. ‘For example, we worked extensively on metacognition and on the emotional relationships among students.’ Their role is not to replace anyone, but to help the network function. To smooth its gears: connecting and facilitating. ‘It is essential to invest in figures like ours because our approach is not limited to transmitting knowledge from above,’ Daniela Lazzara explains, ‘but aims to grow together with the territory. The goal is to reduce distances by directly understanding the local context and collaborating with the school, families, and associations that live and work daily in this area.’ Also because, ‘change,’ she continues, ‘comes only through dialogue among all levels of the educational community.’

The guiding idea is that of acting as a bridge: ‘Teachers are often overloaded, students struggle to connect with themselves and with the world around them, and families do not always know how to face these difficulties,’ Galletta notes. ‘Figures like ours are therefore particularly useful because we operate in the “grey areas” of the educational system, acting as a bridge among all the actors involved. We work to understand the issues of classes and individuals, creating synergies among students, teachers, and the territory. Initiatives such as the Southern Regions and Islands Model,’ she continues, ‘are important in all schools, but become essential in contexts already marked by marginalization and hardship, where problems tend to accumulate and where targeted intervention is needed to offer concrete solutions and alternatives.’

The classroom work with the students of the Pestalozzi Institute in Librino places great attention on socio‑emotional skills, such as relationships with others, self‑awareness, and the management of emotions. ‘For example, last year we began working on so‑called “emotional check‑ins,” an activity in which the class explores their emotions — both those they feel in the moment and those linked to broader topics. I often ask students to tell me how they feel, even using tools such as cards,’ Galletta says. Each card depicts an image, and in response to questions like ‘How are you today?’ or ‘How do you feel?’, students choose the one that best represents their emotional state and explain why.

‘They interpret and narrate their emotions, often sharing them with a surprising capacity for introspection: starting from an image, they manage to express how they feel and what they are experiencing,’ Galletta continues. ‘I remember, for example, a student who interpreted a card with very intense colors by saying: “This card makes me feel overwhelmed, with too many commitments I can’t manage.” That sparked a collective reflection on what it means to feel overwhelmed and on how to handle responsibilities. With the students, we work on their ability to perceive their own feelings, articulate them, and understand the importance of verbalizing them.’
Students themselves notice and acknowledge the impact of these activities: ‘They help us stay together and get to know our classmates better,’ says Emanuele, a second‑year lower‑secondary student.

Growing and finding solutions, together

Teachers, school leaders, families, and local associations play a fundamental role in promoting growth and finding solutions to the problems and shortcomings affecting the school and, more generally, the entire local context. ‘When the area offers meaningful activities needed by our students or by the school, we step in to identify them and connect the school with the local organization, so as to develop a shared project together,’ Galletta explains. ‘Every person involved in the project contributes by bringing their own knowledge and experience,’ adds Lazzara, ‘with the aim of building a lasting impact. This result stems from the connection among the different actors and from shared responsibility.’ Building a network is, therefore, essential. ‘Whenever there is a problematic situation, working as isolated monads is useless,’ Galletta continues. ‘We must learn to talk to one another, we must learn to solve problems together — but also to work on beauty together, because the school environment and the neighborhood offer many opportunities, and young people have great potential. Yet precious energy is often wasted.’

As in every complex reality, challenges are inevitable, and nothing is achieved without facing them. ‘One of the main obstacles is helping boys and girls understand the impact that school can have on their lives and their future, especially at an age when education is not perceived as a priority. It is essential to work on trust, motivation, and a sense of possibility,’ Lazzara says. ‘There are also personal challenges, such as learning not to carry all the workload home with us — an issue that would deserve more attention in the school world. The Teach For Italy Fellowship program addresses these aspects too, offering opportunities to compare experiences with the network of teacher‑Fellows working in marginalized contexts across Italy, receive support, and identify shared solutions with instructional coaches and national and international experts, following the organization’s guiding framework,’ Galletta concludes.

Well‑being as the key to educational success

Collaborating with the school means seeing it not only as a place of instruction, but as a true cultural and social hub — and committing to ensure that this role translates into concrete and lasting actions. ‘The Fellows integrated into a complex context in an excellent way, working with curricular teachers to promote inclusion. Before transmitting knowledge, it is essential to build an emotional bond with students,’ explains Elena Di Blasi, principal of the I.O. Pestalozzi. ‘The simple mechanical transfer of knowledge from the teacher’s mind to the student’s is now obsolete: the work is about empathy,’ she continues. ‘If I manage to build a relationship of trust and affection with the student, then I can truly carry out any educational intervention.’

For the school principal, it is in fact essential ‘to work on the person, with the person — nurturing within them the desire to learn, to live within the framework of legality, and to rise above the condition of the territory and the labels associated with peripheral neighborhoods. What truly matters is not completing a syllabus or covering one more topic, but ensuring that boys and girls feel well at school, feel welcomed, respected, and cared for. From there comes real educational success,’ she concludes.

A vision shared by families and students. ‘To me, a school that works is not focused only on studying or on the highest grades; it must be a place you can go to every day with a smile, where young people are listened to and can feel free to express what they think and feel. Fortunately, my daughter goes to and leaves school with a smile,’ says Jessica, mother of a student. ‘School must be a place where we respect each other and feel safe,’ says Clara, a seventh‑grade student. ‘I like school the way it is,’ adds Salvo, her classmate. ‘Sure, I wish we had PE every hour — I enjoy it — but I know it’s not possible, because studying is important for our future,’ he concludes.

This space, created by the students together with the Teach For Italy Fellows, teachers, and parents, had become a precious place for learning and growth. ‘A fundamental place in a suburban context, because reading also helped our children immerse themselves in fantasy,’ says the mother of a student.
The flames destroyed shelves, books, teaching materials, furniture, and equipment, leaving the library completely unusable. The damage did not stop at this space: the entire school complex suffered structural harm severe enough to make it inaccessible. An investigation is now underway to determine who set the fire and why.
Librino, however, has chosen not to give up: side by side, the community — together with institutions, schools, citizens, associations, and private individuals — has joined forces to help it rise again.

The article and video documentary are an Open production. Here you can view the original content (Italian only).