Early guidance, empowerment, and intergenerational education in disadvantaged community contexts

Abstract

This paper investigates lifelong and lifewide guidance as a socio-constructivist pedagogical device designed to foster agency and democratic redemption, thereby countering environmental determinism and the critical NEET rates affecting contemporary Sardinia. Moving beyond functionalist, market-driven job-matching paradigms, the theoretical architecture of this study positions reflexive rationality (Giddens, 1994) and the meta-competency of "learning to learn" as essential heuristic and emancipatory strategies for navigating the contingencies of late-modern complexity. From an empirical standpoint, the paper evaluates the three-year longitudinal intervention of the Three Project in Southern Sardinia. Driven by a synergistic partnership involving the Elda Mazzocchi Scarzella Association, Le Api Cooperative, and the University of Cagliari, the project deployed narrative-biographical workshops and outdoor experiential pathways for a cohort of minors aged 6–13, culminating in the participatory co-design of the first university guide for children. Furthermore, a strategic longitudinal expansion in collaboration with Roma Tre University extends the pedagogical scope to vulnerable parents. This systemic action acts as a Freirean device for conscientization and critical empowerment, actively dismantling socio-cultural conditioning while establishing lifelong learning as a foundational pillar of active citizenship and social cohesion (Alberici, 2002; Lengrand, 1976).