(ANS – Brescia) – At the Aula Magna of the Università Cattolica a Brescia,  the Conference "Intelligence in the hands. Pedagogical foundations of Professional Formation", was held on November 14th , sponsored by the National Centre for Salesian Works – Professional Formation and Retraining (CNOS-FAP).

Attended by various directors of centres of Professional Formation (FP), Salesians and many students, the Conference dealt with the youth education and employment in two distinct sections: "The work of young people, the construction of identity and the education to social responsibility "; and "Methodology of Professional Formation and education to work". The speakers were 4 Professors of the Faculty of Pedagogy of the Università Cattolica, Profs. Luigi Pati, Domenico Simeone, Pierluigi Malavasi, Dario Nicoli.

Among the themes that emerged during the day there was in the first place, the careful examination of pedagogical contributions specific to this particular training and renewal experienced over the last decade. There is no lack of space, then, to underline the need to update the perception of FP in the common imagination and specifically in the academic world; and the importance of FP for the introduction of young people into working life and continuous updating of the skills of adults.

According to Prof. Pati: "The Centre of FP is a context in which you reveal the tensions and fragility that run through modern society regarding youth and family, but at the same time represents a valuable educational resource for preventing and managing such problems. (…). We therefore extend the educational responsibilities of formation institutions, widening the scope of students and those of  their families towards the social community in which they exist.

"The teaching methodology of the Centre of FP is the interweaving of two tasks: to learn to work (...) and to learn by working, which allows students to make personal their experience of learning, in moments when they perform real and meaningful tasks and resolve the problems which they come across, "stated Prof. Nicoli.

Fr Mario Tonini, President of CNOS-FAP, concluded finally: "It seems to me that this study day – made possible by the attention to the issue by the Catholic University, which I sincerely thank – demonstrates that today in Italy this training is the way that many young people are searching for, a way that can often be worth more."

Published 16/11/2012