RISULTATI RICERCA

This article examines the influence of Gordon Stobart, a pivotal figure in the assessment for learning movement that originated in the UK and became globally significant, with particular focus on his work in Norway. The author, a former doctoral student of Stobart’s, argues that he embodies the figure of an “assessment connoisseur”, able to communicate complex ideas through storytelling, humour, and careful attention to context and audience. Drawing on Wittgenstein, the article introduces the concept of “language games of assessment” to describe the different registers – popular, technical, disciplinary – through which Stobart adapts his message for teachers, academics, and civil servants. The paper is structured around three roles in which Stobart operates as a connoisseur: the teacher, illustrated through the author’s personal experience as his doctoral student at the Institute of Education in London; the researcher, through analysis of his book Testing Times and his engagement with Norwegian academics via the NELVU assessment network; and the policy adviser, in relation to his involvement in the Norwegian national assessment for learning policy (20102018) led by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training. The article highlights how Norway’s culture of equality (Janteloven) resonated with Stobart’s selfeffacing and nonhierarchical approach, distinguishing him from other prominent figures in the movement, such as Dylan Wiliam. Direct testimonies from Norwegian civil servants who collaborated with him are also presented, supporting the paper’s central claim: Stobart’s ability to “touch” diverse audiences through practical experience, theoretical scholarship, and cultural sensitivity, contributing lastingly to the international spread of formative assessment.

Microcredentials are increasingly recognised as flexible instruments for lifelong learning, yet their pedagogical design and educational effectiveness remain underexplored. This paper presents the development and initial evaluation of an Italian microcredential on formative feedback, created within the Erasmus+ Learning to Learn through MicroCredentials (L2L Microcred ref. 20241NO01KA220ADU000256871) project. Grounded in a learnercentred pedagogical toolbox codeveloped across four countries, the blendedlearning microcredential was designed to strengthen teachers’ assessment literacy by focusing on feedback as a communicative practice. The study involved 72 preservice and inservice primary teachers who completed reflective journals throughout the course. A thematic analysis of 288 reflections identified a progressive shift in participants’ understanding of feedback, from a corrective and summative practice towards a relational, formative, and learningoriented process. Participants demonstrated increased awareness of the emotional, motivational, and selfregulatory functions of feedback, as well as its role in informing instructional decisionmaking. The findings suggest that structured reflection on authentic classroom experiences and biographical learning can effectively foster teachers’ professional awareness of assessment. The study highlights the potential of welldesigned microcredentials to support meaningful professional development in teacher education while providing an empirically grounded model for designing learnercentred, transferable microcredentials.

This article offers a critical reflection on the prospects for Italian universities, drawing on the book Università sotto esame by Cappa and Gavosto (2025), and broadening its interpretative framework through a pedagogical and politicoinstitutional analysis. After highlighting some of the system’s structural weaknesses – persistent underfunding, the prevalence of neoliberal and efficiencydriven approaches, demographic decline and the rapid expansion of online universities – the paper argues that these phenomena cannot be addressed separately or exclusively within the confines of higher education. The argument proposes reframing the debate within a systemic perspective that takes the development of the country’s intellectual capital and the democratic function of education as its guiding principles. Through engagement with pedagogical literature, studies on reflective and decisionmaking processes, and data from national and international sources, the paper discusses the need to counter shortterm decisionmaking models and to promote planning grounded in reflection, public accountability and the quality of education. From this perspective, the strengthening of universities is seen as inseparable from a reform of the entire education system, from preschool to adult education, with particular attention to secondary education and initial teacher training. The article concludes by proposing a renewed alliance between intellectuals who teach at universities and in schools, as a necessary condition for promoting equity, cultural development and the consolidation of democracy within the Italian education system.

This article examines assessment rubrics for the oral examination in the Italian upper secondary school final exam, focusing on the relationship between evaluative discretion, explicit criteria and standardisation. Drawing on a historical reconstruction of the exam from early local practices to the introduction of national grids, the study shows how oral assessment was long grounded in implicit criteria and broad judgements on students’ maturity, personality and cultural orientation. Since 2020, ministerial grids have attempted to reduce local variability by organising the oral examination around indicators, levels, descriptors and scores. The article critically analyses this shift, discussing whether such rubrics actually improve validity, reliability and transparency. It argues that, while common rubrics can make criteria more visible, their effectiveness depends on the quality of indicators and descriptors. When descriptors remain generic or mainly translate qualitative labels into scores, rubrics risk becoming a form of disguised grading rather than a tool for interpreting learning.

Widening participation is reshaping higher education, making teaching innovation a strategic priority. Adopting a sequential exploratory mixedmethods design, this study reports the quantitative phase of a Researchbased Teacher Professional Development project at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna. Two online questionnaires were administered to 102 teachers and 318 students, addressing selfefficacy, engagement, motivation, collaboration, and employability. Teachers’ satisfaction with student engagement was predicted by selfefficacy in engaging them and by teaching engagement, whereas active methods reflected their ability to foster metacognitive skills. Among students, engagement and extrinsic motivation predicted degree commitment; selfefficacy and collaborative behaviour predicted teamwork ability; and engagement, motivation, and employability predicted learning transfer. Findings inform formative, datadriven faculty development.

The main aim of the present study was to investigate the psychometric properties of a selfreport questionnaire derived from the Professional Standards for Early Childhood and Primary Education (in Italian, Standard profili professionali primaria e infanzia – S3PI; Bandini et al., 2019), a tool aimed at guiding and assessing progress during the internship in school contexts for students of the master’s degree in primary education. A sample of 47 female students (mean age = 21.16 years, SD = 5.94 years) at the beginning of the training course, without previous internship or teaching experience, compiled the questionnaire imagining themselves in the role of future trainees. The two dimensions envisaged (“Values and Attitudes” and “Professional Community and Education”) showed good indices of reliability, and associations with measures of personal emotional selfefficacy and selfefficacy as a future emotional socializer were examined. The results were discussed emphasizing the importance of promoting selfreflective practices in future teachers even before the start of their first internship experience within the school contexts.

The textile sector faces significant sustainability challenges, prompting firms to innovate their business models and transition towards circular business models (CBMs). Digital technologies may support this transition through improved traceability, resource management, and production processes. The literature focused on larger firms and overlooked those practices in Micro-Small Entreprises (MSEs). With the aim to fill this gap, this study explores how circular practices are integrated into the BM of Sardinian textile sector firms (mainly composed of artisanal MSEs) as a key component of their sustainability transition and the role of digital technologies in supporting these processes. Using a multiple-case study approach, the research analyses four firms operating within a traditional artisanal textile context characterised by strong territorial embeddedness. The results show that circularity is implemented unevenly, with slowing and narrowing strategies more developed than closing one. Firms combine traditional production logics with selective technological innovation, generating hybrid configurations that balance cultural preservation and production efficiency to achieve sustainability. In this context, digital technologies play an enabling role without radically transforming their BM. The study contributes to the literature by showing how sustainability transitions within artisanal MSEs are shaped not only by technological capabilities but also by relational, cultural, and organizational factors embedded within local production systems.

This study investigates how the digitalization of the exam recording system in an Italian Public Higher Education Institution (PHEI) impacts the micro-level street-level bureaucrats’ discretion in terms of their alignment with hard control rather than soft control mechanisms. Based on the assumptions of Actor-Network Theory and the analytical tools offered by affordance theory, we employed interviews, ethnographic observations of situated practices, and an analysis of key strategy documents. We find a redefinition of street-level bureaucrat role because, in an effort to keep their action aligned with the beliefs system rooted in the institution’s control environment, they exercise office-based digital discretion in the form of rule-breaking. The study contributes to the literature about unforeseen implementation dynamics of management control tools in PHEIs due to the action of the organizational soft control system. Moreover, it adds a new nuance to the current debate about the curtailment, enablement, and continuation thesis concerning the impact of digitalization on street-level bureaucrats’ discretion, providing evidence of a rule-breaking action that is not aimed at retaining a pre-existing discretionary power despite the constraint imposed by the digital tool, but at generating a new one.

Over recent years, the relationship between Management Control Systems (MCSs) and Social Sustainability Supply Chains (SSCSs) has garnered increasing academic interest, thus reflecting the relevance of social issues in procurement and production networks worldwide. This study aims to systematize such research scope by carrying out a Bibliometric-Systematic Literature Review (B-SLR) of 64 peer-reviewed articles between 2008 and 2025. We investigated how MCSs addressed social risks in supply chains and shaped firms’ responsibilities toward workers and communities. In particular, four thematic clusters were identified from the bibliometric analysis that focus on managerial integration, risk management, quantitative modeling, and humanitarian operations. Afterwards, the qualitative analysis highlighted a rising convergence between control mechanisms and social performance, yet also revealed crucial research gaps that pave the way for future research, including the need for integrative frameworks and in-depth analyses of reporting practices to enhance transparency, accountability, and social impact measurement in supply chain management.

This qualitative single-case study of Oropan S.p.A. examines how management control systems enable circular economy practices in agrifood ecosystems and sustainable value chains. Findings show that circularity occurs through reducing, reusing, recovering and regenerating supply-chain resource flows, rather than fully closing material loops. Planning, performance measures, certifications, information systems and organisational culture translate circular objectives into measurable practices, extend control beyond firm boundaries and stabilise ecosystem collaboration. The study frames management control systems as relational governance infrastructures for accountable circular value creation.

This study examines the barriers hindering the transition to a Circular Economy (CE) in Sardinian textile SMEs, a slow-fashion context characterized by artisanal, dura-ble, and small-batch production. Through a multi-case study among five companies, twelve barriers were identified across a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) structure span-ning the financial, customer, internal process, and learning and growth perspectives. Leveraging the DEMATEL technique, the cause-and-effect relationships among these barriers were mapped. The results show that “Difficult to increase turnover with more circular and exclusive products” and “Lack of supportive regulations” are the most prominent barriers, acting respectively as the strongest effect and the strongest cause in the system. These findings highlight the central role of economic viability and policy support in enabling CE adoption. The study also reveals that, despite strong structural alignment with CE principles, limited market incentives and financial constraints restrict deeper circular transformations. Methodologically, this work contributes by offering a relational understanding of CE barriers rather than isolated lists, providing clearer guidance for prioritizing interventions. The approach supports managers in integrating CE goals into strategic decision-making and un-derscores the need for targeted regulatory and financial measures.

Digital innovation has traditionally been evaluated through its contribution to organizational performance, efficiency, and competitive advantage. However, the pervasive diffusion of digital technologies has expanded their impact far beyond organizational boundaries. This paper argues that a broader perspective is needed - one that also evaluates digital innovation according to its socioeconomic and environmental outcomes. Drawing on the concepts of ubiquitous digital ecosystems, sociotechnical systems, and climate adaptation, the paper examines how digital technologies reshape interactions among organizations, societies, and natural ecosystems. It further discusses the paradoxical nature of digital innovation and highlights opportunities for leveraging digital technologies to support climate adaptation and sustainable development. The paper concludes by advocating an outcome-oriented approach to digital innovation that prioritizes equitable, resilient, and sustainable futures.