Situated restitutions as a communicative constant of research in educational contexts

Abstract

This essay traces some noteworthy moments of the restitution process of an applied research project commissioned by the Municipality of Scandicci (FI) in support of the governance tool of the educational activities it promotes, in collaboration with the territory’s First and Second Cycle School Institutions.
It reflects on the ways in which restitution has involved the schools and the wider citizenry, highlighting not only opportunities and criticalities of the process itself, but also its application, timing and methods. This is by no means an obvious process, but one in which restitution is not merely a return of the participants’ experience or the reception of a prescribed text by the wider public. Rather, it becomes a continuous, shared “account” in a dialogic, situated process, itself deserving inquiry, a place for reflection and learning in relation to the scope and application of the research itself.