Practising “Istruzione Parentale”: Becoming a Homeschooling Parent in Italy

The field of education is replete with tensions that challenge established visions of knowledge, teaching, and learning. Beyond the neoliberal drives that have had decades-long influence, bottom-up micro-practices emerge that outline an interesting empirical field. In this chapter, the phenomenon of homeschooling in Italy (istruzione parentale, IP) is observed as an everyday practice for untangling its pluralities and tensions. A focus is posed on the situated learning paths that lead homeschooling parents from the margins to the heart of the practice. Sixteen homeschooling parents have thus interviewed and the policy on IP has been analysed. On the one hand, IP moves around constantly: it is an open-ended practice taking multiple arrangements. On the other hand, it holds its shape– as a network where diverse actors converge, and as a social space laying out situated learning paths and cultural orientations. IP is held together by an antagonistic tension toward the forme scolaire, responsible for the standardisation of education. Hyper-personalisation and care are activated as solutions.