Italian School and Integration: The Strategic Role of Movement Education

Abstract

Since the Sixties in Italy, the history of education and students with disability, regardless of the type of handicap and e
degree of disability, is part of the evolution of the school system. The Italian education system compared to the European one
has made significant process, succeeding in a short space of time to generalize the process of inclusion of disabled people into
normal schools, defining it as “integration”. In the other European countries, however, this process has not only been slower, but
has been mainly a minority function, linked more to the field of educational research rather than to a political choice. In fact, while
in Italy it is worth noting this new political reality, in the other European countries and in the same community agencies the rise of
this phenomenon in relation to politics and legal acts is much later. Italian school has always given a significant educational
value for people with disabilities, due to it being in an age range – scholastic – in which the development and growth of their
residual abilities are more effective and more consistent in the following period (Bosio, 2005); therefore, the disability should be
accepted and recognized as such, without it implies a reduction for the disabled child of his value as a person helping him to find
alternative ways to those lost, patterns life of conduct that address those made impossible by the lesion (Bosio, 2005). In Italy as
early as the nursery school, the experience of children with disabilities is to be considered significant for a better integration in
the primary school before and in the secondary school after, because it is the first step necessary for the start of this process.
Obviously the presence of a person with special needs, requires new needs in the school context and beyond, but also for
immediate deployment of an increasing number of specialized teachers and educators. Motor activities in this context,
contributing to the creation of strong links between the disabled and the outside world, become suitable instruments in the
process of social integration, empowerment and growth, since the comparison with the others, the perception of its efficiency,
own self-regulatory capacity, can give life to an environment rich in significant stimulation. This socializing function is a even
more valuable in the disabled person, in order to participate and experience the life of the latter group is a strong possibility of
development and allows him to learn more appropriate patterns of behavior in order to live in society, advancing the subjective
and relational welfare, thus improving their quality of life.