The Making of My Own Future : Student-centred education for African adult students in a CPIA in Verona, Italy

Abstract: With the institution of Provincial Centres for Adults’ Education in 2015, Italy has created a new system for adults’ and especially adult migrants’ education, responding to the needs for language alphabetization, higher education for immigrants, and a response to scholastic dispersion. These Centres offer courses for the obtainment of middle school and high school diplomas, and certifications for language proficiency following the regulations of CEFR. Dealing with a strong and majoritarian immigrant population, and the delicate themes of cultural diversity, adult age in education, and the needs for professional training, CPIAs have to respond to necessities that are peculiar to schools for adult education and immigrant students. This research aims at discovering and defining which student-centred approaches are implemented and regulated in CPIAs, in order to sustain an education that promotes cultural diversity as are source and agency for adult students; the study will explore which class practices are utilized to enhance students’ autonomy and respond to their motivation, by listening and rendering public the voices of African students directly receiving education and second language acquisition courses from the CPIA in Verona. The thesis will advocate for a regulation of school practices that have proved to result as effective, and an implementation of measures taken by teachers and encouraged by the school system in order to enhance students’ motivation, autonomy, and agency.