The first Italian edition of Didacta international, the most important trade fair on education, which has been held in Germany from more than 50 years, is going to take place in the da Basso Fortress in Florence from the 27 to 29 September 2017. There are 4.000 teachers enrolled for the 90 scheduled workshops, and 150 national and international exhibitors located on a 3,500 sq. m area.

The event was presented today in Rome by the Minister of Education University and Research, Valeria Fedeli; the Regional Councillor for education of the Tuscany region, Cristina Grieco; The Mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella; the President of Indire, Giovanni Biondi; the president of Firenze Fiera, Leonardo Bassilichi; and the President of Didacta International, Wassilios E. Fthenaki.

«Florence is honoured to host Didacta, which for the first time leaves the borders of Germany to be held in our city. For three days, the da Basso Fortress will be a place for dialogue, confrontation and exchange of good practices of school innovation. We wanted to dedicate Didacta to the priest Lorenzo Milani, to emphasise the educational and modelling role of a priest whose mission was teaching», as stated by the Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella.

The Fair aims to innovate didactics, stimulate the debate on education and create a meeting place for schools and companies operating in the sector. The event is addressed to teachers, headmasters, educators, trainers, professionals and entrepreneurs operating in the school and technology sector.

The Minister of Education Valeria Fedeli emphasised, «We must be proud of this first edition of Fair Didacta Italy. It is an important challenge. A sign of the opening to national and international confrontation of the educational and training Italian system. The aim is to innovate the education and training sectors to manage changes effecting our society. The Fair is an opportunity, off the beaten path, for the new generations and for the country’s growth. In the following days, Florence is going to host 150 Italian and foreigner exhibitors, institutions, associations and companies. There will be about 4,000 teachers participating in the more than 90 workshops on themes such as, the innovation of the educational model, robotics, new furnishings and technology for our schools. A stimulating environment for dialogue and reflection will be created also thanks to the confrontation with European successful practices opening up interesting opportunities for initiatives of this kind in Italy».

The Fair hosts companies operating in the school and education sectors: from publishing houses to information technologies, furnishing and catering. There will be workshops on the innovation of the educational model, robotics, the collaboration with European schools as an added value to didactic innovation, and the study of new furnishings and integrated technologies for schools. Ample space is dedicated to didactic innovation through the promotion of strategic competencies such as CLIL, TELL (Technology Enhanced Language Learning), Scientix and all the methods to improve educational processes, such as competency-based learning and teaching workshops. There will be also workshops dedicated to music, with the participation of prominent figures such as Paolo Fresu, promoting the teaching of music at school from an early age.  Other workshops are “when space teaches” dedicated to 3.0 classrooms, where new teaching technologies can be experimented in personalised settings.

«Didacta is the first national event dedicated to the innovation of the educational model with a wide extended exhibition area and an extremely rich scientific programme, even if this is just its first edition. The 93 workshops are structured in 6 thematic areas revolving around the central theme of the transformation of the traditional educational model. Contents, space and time of teaching will be the focal points of the debates carried out in the three days of the event», the president of Indire, Giovanni Biondi declared.

There will be different types of workshops, based on: Debates, speakers in turns present and discuss their research, led by a moderator; Immersive didactic, the participants experience teaching spaces endowed with IT equipment and enhanced connectivity; Talks, a big screen at the back of the stage and the public sitting in a semicircle.

During the three days of Didacta there will be also major national conventions open to everyone: the Erasmus+ programme, eTwinning, Educational Avant-garde, small schools, and Traineeships.

The Fair extends also outside the walls of the Da Basso fortress with the fringe events of Didacta off: workshops, theatre shows and films mainly addressed to young people.

Fair Didacta Italy is organised by Florence Fair together with the main institutions of the territory (Tuscany Region, Florence City Council, Florence Chamber of Commerce) and Didacta International, with the support of the Italian Chamber of Commerce for Germany (Itkam) and Florence Convention & Visitors Bureau. Fair Didacta Italy is sponsored by the Miur; the European Policy Department of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers; the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Italy; the Italo-German Centre Villa Vigoni; Unioncamere, the Italian Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Handicrafts, and Agriculture; and Assocamerestero, the Association of Italian Chambers of Commerce Abroad.

Indire, the National Institute for Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research is the scientific partner of Fair Didacta Italy and the organiser of the events. The online university IUL is the technical partner of the event.

Programme, info and tickets: http://fieradidacta.indire.it

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