Poetry, Utopia and ecopedagogy, Hannah Arendt and Danilo Dolci’s approaches applied to a primary school project

The article focuses on the role of poetry within an ecopedagogical perspective based on Danilo Dolci’s utopian approach integrated with Hannah Arendt’s theories on critical thinking and judgement as part of a project conducted by the University of Turin in collaboration with Middlesex University, London, at a primary school near Turin in the academic years 2021–2022 and 2022–2023. Arendt and Dolci’s pedagogies aim to stimulate the growth of consciousness by guiding the participants to listen to different points of view. Thus, the role of educators is to lead their interlocutors towards the dissolution of their prejudices and pre-judgments and lead them towards the revelation of their own thoughts. The method is built on the need to guide children as they develop into responsible adults, working towards the formation of a planetary citizenship based on dialogue between all the creatures that inhabit the Earth. Within this framework, ways that educators can bring poetry and utopia into play in the classroom are explored.

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