As the School of Education’s Italy Program Returns, Sara Jo Soldovieri ’18, G’19 Reflects on Its Influence & More News Here

Now a doctoral scholar researching inclusive training, Sara Jo Soldovieri ’18, G’19 was a sophomore when she took “Literacy, Inclusion and Diversity in Italy,” a examine overseas quick course supplied by the School of Education and Syracuse Abroad.

Soldovieri matriculated at Syracuse University as a result of of her curiosity in inclusive training and the University’s deep experience in the topic. Studying overseas in Italy confirmed her the potentialities of totally integrating college students with disabilities into the classroom. It helped set Soldovieri on her educational path.

A Program Reimagined

“A beneficial piece of the trip was seeing inclusion in action in a way we don’t see in the United States,” says Soldovieri. “While Italy is not perfect, for students with disabilities to be fully included in classrooms and to see that work was really important for me. It was not just a utopia—inclusion really exists.”

“Literacy, Inclusion, and Diversity in Italy” was initially developed greater than 20 years in the past by Professor Carol Berrigan, one of many inclusive training pioneers who’ve related to Syracuse over the years. In 2014, the program was re-imagined by professors Christine Ashby, Beth Ferri, and Kathleen Hinchman. Now Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives, Marcelle Haddix additionally joined the group in 2016.

“We turned it into a co-taught program, led by faculty in both literacy and disability studies, with faculty swapping out duties year by year,” explains Ashby. The final journey earlier than the coronavirus pandemic was in 2018, when 16 college students traveled overseas. The program returns between May 16 and June 1, 2022, with 12 college students signed up.

As in years previous, college students will keep half of the time in Florence—house to Villa Rossa, the Syracuse Center—visiting colleges and cultural websites and spending a day in Venice. They will even go to Rome for every week to proceed their examine of Italian incapacity and inclusion historical past and insurance policies.

Air of Joyfulness

Before Florence and Rome, the college students start the quick course in Italy’s Marche Region and the picturesque village of Coldigioco. This hilltop group already has a Central New York connection. It is understood worldwide for its Geological Observatory, an interdisciplinary analysis middle bringing collectively geology, artwork, and delicacies, co-founded by Syracuse-born artist Paula Metallo.

While School of Education college students keep in the village, they carry out literacy tasks and observe totally inclusive education in the close by city of Apiro. That’s the half of the journey that made a profound impression on Soldovieri.

“I remember seeing a student with noticeable physical disability and complex support structures—augmented communication and a wheelchair—being fully included in a science lesson,” recollects Soldovieri. “I could tell from the way the other students were interacting that this wasn’t just a show for the Americans. There was an air of joyfulness about these students. I thought, this is the energy I want in my classroom.”

“Italy has some of the world’s most progressive policies supporting inclusive practice,” explains Ashby. This truth—in addition to the nation’s present engagement with profound societal adjustments, resembling immigration, which instantly have an effect on instructional coverage—make Italy a superb web site of examine for US-based training college students.

Wild Inclusion

Italy selected a strong inclusive training coverage as half of its rebuilding and renewal after the fascist authorities of the Thirties and Nineteen Forties and the devastation of World War II. “Italy’s ‘Period of Wild Inclusion’ started in 1971,” Ashby says. “The country’s rebuilding was partly done through inclusion, with all disabled kids going to regular schools. The idea was that school is a family, and we should all be in a community and look after each other.”

When launched in the Seventies, Italy’s coverage of mainstreaming college students with disabilities went a lot additional than US particular training coverage. Although coverage adjustments have introduced Italy nearer to the US mannequin, the Italian training system nonetheless impressed Soldovieri, who requires wholesale adjustments to particular training in her house nation.

“Thinking about my time at Syracuse—and then back to Italy—everything I do centers on the idea that there is going to be no progress to fix our unjust educational system unless we get rid of our current special education system and introduce disability supports in general education,” Soldovieri says, explaining her present analysis.

“We don’t need a separate system for students with disabilities,” Soldovieri continues. “In Italy, those students were getting exactly what they need without any ‘special’ education. I’ve framed my scholarship around this idea, and I might not have had that idea without my experience abroad.”

A Mixed Cohort

Graduating with a bachelor’s diploma in 2018, Soldovieri then took a grasp’s diploma in Inclusive Special Education (Grades 7-12) earlier than shifting into the Ph.D. program. She says she would take into account returning to Italy as a doctoral scholar, taking benefit of a novel facet of the quick course.

“We bring students ranging from first year undergrads—often from the Inclusive Elementary and Special Education program—to Ph.D. students ready to defend their dissertations,” Ashby observes.

Having a blended cohort advantages the youthful college students who’re simply being launched to the big selection of matters coated by the course—literacy, variety, inclusion, and incapacity research. “The grad students are encouraged to mentor the undergraduates, but often the mentoring happens naturally,” provides Ashby.

“There was a lot of willingness by the grad students to support and push the undergrads and to help with difficult readings,” recollects Soldovieri. “I thought, the grad students don’t have to do this, but that’s just part of the culture at the School of Education.”

Learn extra about School of Education’s Study Abroad applications, in addition to Himan Brown Fellowships to assist examine overseas experiences.

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