Governance, School Networks and Democratic Discourse. Issues of Equity and Diversity

Since 1997 the Italian educational system has seen the creation of new policies and significant changes in the design of actors’ roles, within the framework of a weakly implemented decentralisation. This scenario is investigated through an analysis of conflicting discourses (bureaucratism, professionalism, managerialism and the democratic-critical) that are shaping the “trans-formation” of these actors. Discourses are, in fact, used as heuristic devices in order to examine real people and institutions acting out their renewed roles. The aim of the paper is to outline the struggle between the four discourses in educational policy in Italy. The paper deals with a case study regarding the implementation of policies of governance fostering the institutionalization of school networks in rich- and poor-partnership areas (and then creating diversity) in Italy. Our findings show how difficult is learning practices and contexts inspired by the democratic-critical discourse as well as to make diversity consistent with equity.