INVESTING IN EDUCATION TO SAVE THE WELFARE STATE: EDUCATIONAL ALLIANCES TO TRANSFORM PEOPLE AND CITIES

With the gradual reduction of social spending, investment in education is also increasingly exposed to the risk of cuts, aggravating inequalities that affect people from their earliest years and undermine their future opportunities. At the same time, the educational paths of children, teenagers and young people are changing, making room for new paradigms of learning, teaching, career guidance, growth and the development of citizenship skills. In this context, alliances between different actors become decisive: schools, public institutions, cultural and healthcare organisations, third-sector bodies, businesses, families and children and young people themselves. Experiences such as Città dell’Educazione show that when an entire local ecosystem chooses to work together to guarantee quality educational opportunities for all, it can have a transformative and lasting impact on people, communities and cities.