School Outside School: A New Kind of Civic Education
Between February and May 2024, a network of over 40 organisations in the Erba area — led by the youth association Lo Snodo and brought together under the umbrella of the Confluenze network — ran an ambitious programme of civic and environmental education for secondary school students aged 16 to 18. Called SCAT (Scuola di Cittadinanza Attiva Territoriale), the Territorial Active Citizenship School, it involved approximately 70 young people from five schools in the area: Liceo Galilei, Liceo Porta, Istituto Romagnosi, ENFAPI, and CFP Villa Padre Monti.
The project was funded by the Lombardy Region in support of youth policies and had the institutional backing of the municipalities of Erba, Albavilla, and Anzano, as well as the Consorzio Erbese dei Servizi alla Persona. Its core ambition was to help young people develop a more conscious and active role in their community — going beyond information to genuine participation.
How It Worked: From Classroom to Station
The programme opened in each participating school with an introductory meeting presenting the initiative to all third- and fourth-year students. From there, various proposals were offered, including one with a specific environmental focus: an afternoon event held outside school hours at the former station of Erba, where students could meet an influencer and science communicator specialising in climate change and attend a theatrical performance. Both the talk and the performance used play and group activities to engage young people with climate issues in a way that was interactive and involving.
For ENFAPI students, a tailored version of the event was organised during school hours: students were accompanied by their teachers to the station, where they participated in a session led by a trainer and another led by an actor. Two “activation moments” were also proposed to all participants: one to clean up the station surroundings, and one — organised in partnership with the association “Testa di Rapa” — to clean a natural outdoor space.
Young People Leading Young People
A distinctive feature of SCAT was the decision that students, in most cases, would arrive at the events on their own — without teachers or educators. Accompaniment was instead provided by young people from Lo Snodo itself. This was a conscious pedagogical choice: by removing the traditional authority figure, the project created conditions in which young people could engage with the content and with each other on more equal terms. The contrast was stark: in the one case where teachers insisted on holding the meeting in a classroom, the students reverted to typical classroom dynamics and the session was less successful.
Outcomes and Reflections
Evaluation questionnaires administered at the end of the project returned strongly positive feedback from participants. Several young people subsequently approached Lo Snodo and other organisations involved, continuing their engagement beyond the programme. The project demonstrated that addressing rights and environmental issues outside school, through a format different from traditional teaching, can generate levels of interest and commitment that the classroom alone rarely achieves.
Relevance for Sustainable Learning
SCAT is a strong model for combining civic education, environmental awareness, and youth protagonism in a non-formal setting, linking to SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
Contact: Pamela Pina – servizi.sociali@comune.erba.co.it
Social: facebook.com/LoSnodo19
