From the classroom to the pediatric ward: The school in hospital (SiHo) as a space for agency and educational continuity

The School in Hospital (SiHo) is an essential service for the joint protection of children’s rights to education and health, as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in the Italian Constitution. The article starts by looking at how the legal framework has changed over time, from the first ministerial circulars in 1986 to the national guidelines of 2019, which gradually defined the SiHo as an independent, flexible school structure that is fully integrated into the young patient’s therapeutic plan. Adopting the perspective of New Childhood Sociology, this article analyses the tension between the principles of protection/provision and participation that permeates paediatric care contexts. In this context, the SiHo emerges as a privileged space where the agency of children and adolescents is recognised and strengthened: the predominantly one-to-one relationship with the teacher allows student-patients to negotiate learning times, content and methods, mitigating the power asymmetry typical of ordinary schools and counteracting the isolation produced by illness. At the same time, teaching in hospitals requires teachers to be highly adaptable to clinical rhythms, have advanced interpersonal skills and be able to manage multiple relationships with healthcare teams, families and schools of provenance. This complexity transforms teachers into key figures in a multidisciplinary care community, capable of piecing together fragments of normality in everyday hospital life and acting as a symbolic bridge to life outside. Finally, the study highlights structural issues ‒ limited number of sections, lack of a uniform national protocol for presenting the SiHo service to young patients and their families, lack of research directly involving student-patients ‒ and calls for increased investment, training and participatory studies to consolidate the therapeutic and educational role of the SiHo. The resulting picture presents the hospital school as an ‘extraordinary’ and essential institution in reducing educational and health inequalities in childhood.

Keywords: school in hospital (SiHo), agency, children, students-patients, teachers in hospital

Cristina Calvi, Dall’aula al reparto pediatrico: la scuola in ospedale (SiO) come spazio di agency e continuità educativa in "PRISMA Economia - Società - Lavoro" 1/2025, pp 13-27, DOI: 10.3280/PRI2025-001002