Il compito impossibile? La valutazione nei Centri per bambini e famiglie come strumento di crescita professionale

Abstract

The parent and toddler centers design a complex area of practice, mainly focused on prevention-oriented strategies and family empowerment. The paper presents the results of a research founded by the Italian Ministry of Education, called “Evaluation for the improvement of educational contexts. A research involving University and local communities in the participatory development of innovative assessment models”. The research has been completed in 2013 and focuses on evaluation in parent toddler centers, here considered as highly complex socio-educational settings. The survey involved 17 Centers in the Verona region, and examined the different and sometimes conflicting evaluation models involved in practices and the professionals’ perspectives on evaluation. The educators of 4centers have attended a process of shared construction through group reflection facilitated by researchers, aiming to build context-sensitive evaluation guidelines for the centers. This reflective process has enabled us to explore the relationship between assessment practices and the identity of the service, and to re-conceptualize the evaluation as a tool for improving practice and empowering professionals.