School: Generali, children like technological and sustainable

A school full of innovative technologies but, at the same time, immersed in nature, eco-sustainable and full of spaces for sport and leisure.

This is how the children of the Alpha Generation imagine it, listened to by the "Ora di Futuro" Observatory, a project promoted by Generali Italia and The Human Safety Net, now in its third edition.

Through 8,500 papers, created by the pupils of over 5,000 grades of 3rd, 4th and 5th grade from all over Italy, the demand emerged for an environment open to the world and at the same time protected, where they can learn the rhythms of the earth and eat healthily, a school capable of making the surrounding world known through real but also virtual journeys.

The reports also show how the Alpha generation is optimistic for the future; attentive to the environment (70% of the papers deal with environmental issues); animal lover and eager to know the world. The children also imagine a future with futuristic technologies and robots: 58% of the papers, in fact, represent technological classrooms. Particular attention, then, to the needs expressed by families: empathy, closeness and sociability is the request that comes from fragile families with children from 0 to 6 years. In addition, situations of stress, anxiety and psychological distress emerged in the most vulnerable parents and children, due to the isolation caused by the lockdown.

It is clear, the Observatory underlines, that children are asking for more protection, more listening and more community. Schools and classrooms are often imagined as protected environments, in which to learn in peace. Furthermore, the Alpha Generation, emerging from the Covid experience, seems less oriented towards an active engagement in society. It is therefore necessary for the adult world to listen to them more. Ultimately, children need a community to feel part of and to feel supported and protected by. During the presentation of the Observatory to the Senate, the President of the Senate Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati underlined how "asking children to imagine the school and the classroom of the future was a formidable intuition. ideas, suggestions and proposals "."Children - he recalled - hit more than others in the last year by the effects of the health emergency, have been deprived of places, relationships and opportunities for their growth and the development of their personality".

Ten motions for the school of the future advanced by a delegation of pupils during the presentation. Among the various proposals there are spaces intended for "recycling laboratories" of paper and plastic, to be reused to create new objects for school use; benches with pedals to produce clean energy and power the supplied tablets and the class Lim; a photovoltaic greenhouse; a cooking workshop that uses the resources obtained for the production of vegetables for the school canteen.

"Ora di Futuro represents our commitment to the new generations, because they are our future. Everyone's future", declares Marco Sesana, country manager & CEO of Generali Italia and Global Business Lines. The Observatory, he explains, "was born three years ago, bringing sustainability issues into dialogue with the most innovative teaching methods. It grows with the active involvement of girls and boys, teachers, families, associations and institutions and creates communities. Children ask us for a school at the center of their life to learn, grow and free their emotions. In the Ora di Futuro centers we encounter stories of daily extraordinary nature, thanks to the great work done together with the non-profit organizations to develop an educational pact with families ". "Now of the Future - he concludes - is a seed that is growing,and never as today do we have to water it, with commitment and optimism. The optimism that is the main characteristic of our children ”.

Over the three years, the Ora di Futuro project involved 180,000 children, 11,000 classes and 16,500 families, growing in 2021 with new partnerships and new content.

These include an even more accessible platform to include children with DSA;

new podcasts on the topic of digital inclusion;

the development of new digital platforms and training courses for the conscious use of technology for educators and families;

coaching and psychological support for children and families during the health emergency.

In collaboration with:

Generali