School as a Common Good: Towards an Inclusive Governance for Digital Education

Abstract

School represents one of the fundamental pillars of the cité éducative. It is not merely the place dedicated to the transmission of disciplinary knowledge, but also the space where responsible citizens are shaped—capable of living in pluralistic communities and of facing the challenges of their time (Biesta, 2020).
Today, in a context of transformations accelerated by digitalisation and the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), the role of school appears even more crucial, particularly when considering the widespread reluctance and unevenness of families in fostering education for the critical use of technology. UNESCO (2023) stresses that AI must not replace human intelligence, but should be directed towards supporting inclusion, equity, and dignity. In the same vein, the report Reimagining Our Futures Together (UNESCO, 2021b) calls for conceiving education as a common good and for renewing the social contract that sustains it.
This contribution arises within a broader action-research process involving nearly 400 Italian teachers from different school levels. The project aims to investigate and measure the effectiveness of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning, using tools such as survey, focus group and statistical report. The research is grounded in Diana Laurillard’s Conversational Framework, which indicate the six-learning method to learning, used for analyzing how AI tools can support, reshape, and extend meaningful teaching interactions. The methodology combines six teaching sessions, each introducing one of the learning activities outlined in Diana Laurillard’s Conversational Framework. After each session, teachers design and test a classroom activity, complete a survey on emotions, engagement and confidence in conducting this activity in class, and then participate in focus groups. The cycle is repeated six times, generating both quantitative and qualitative data. At present, only the baseline survey results are available, which serve as the foundation for the initial discussion presented in this article.
This article explores the role of school as a central node of the digital society and proposes a model of inclusive educational governance that enhances the specificities of each territory and institution, involves families, and engages municipalities in building Learning Societies.