Open Schools. What are they, why do we need them and how to make them

Meeting and presentation of the vademecum

What are Open Schools, why they are necessary and how to create them: the initiative promoted by the Councils and the School and Education Departments of the Municipalities of Rome, Bergamo, Bologna and Milan will focus on these themes, scheduled for Thursday, February 26, 2026, at 10 am, at the Roman Aquarium (Piazza Manfredo Fanti 47), under the patronage of ANCI.

The meeting was created with the aim of presenting a vademecum on open schools, the result of the work shared between the four municipal administrations, which collects strategies, operational practices and concrete experiences developed in the territories to encourage the opening of schools beyond curricular hours.

Open Schools: civic and cultural garrisons in neighborhoods

In the proposed model, open schools are not only educational spaces, but are configured as civic and cultural centers for community building: places of encounter, participation and collective growth, capable of becoming points of reference in neighborhoods.

Opening schools to the territory means strengthening educational networks, valuing alliances between institutions, associations and active citizenship, and helping to combat educational inequalities and relational poverty.

A handbook for public debate and for other municipalities

The handbook that will be presented aims to feed the public debate on the role of the school and to make available to other municipalities, schools and associations a wealth of replicable practices, useful for starting or consolidating similar paths in different territorial contexts.

Program

10 o'clock

Institutional greetings

11:20 — 12:20

The vademecum on Open Schools: round table with the four promoting municipalities. A discussion on the choices, challenges and solutions that have made it possible to open schools beyond cultural hours as places of education, culture and meetings open to the territory.

12:20 p.m.

Viola Ardone, teacher and writer.

Voices from Open Schools

Intervention of the Open and Participated Schools Network

Experiences, testimonies and points of view of those who experience schools daily as open and shared spaces.

13:20

Light lunch

14:20 — 15:50

Technical in-depth table (upon registration)

A moment of work and operational discussion with the technical representatives of the four promoting municipalities, school leaders, teachers, representatives of the Participatory Open Schools Network, municipal and educational officials. The table is aimed at municipalities, school staff, associations and individuals interested in starting or developing open school policies, with space for questions, exchange of practices and insights on the vademecum.

16

Closing of works

Admission is free subject to availability, but reservations are required. It is also possible to follow the morning in live streaming.

For information: assessoratoallascuola@comune.roma.it, dina.giuseppetti@comune.roma.it

Tel. 06 671070899/70013.