Navigating Education in Island Spaces: Insights From Italian Minor Islands

Education in Italy’s minor islands exists at the confluence of geography, culture, and policy, where the experience of insularity shapes not only the material conditions of schooling but also the foundations of learning itself. These islands, defined by their liminality and interdependence, face pedagogical constraints imposed by centralized curricula, which often fail to reflect the embedded knowledge systems, ecological particularities, and socio-cultural rhythms of insular life. This study critically examines how minor island schools mediate the tension between standardization and locality, leveraging place-based education (PBE) as a means of pedagogical resistance and cultural preservation. Through a documentary analysis of Piani Triennali dell’Offerta Formativa (PTOFs) from selected islands, this research explores the extent to which national education policies accommodate insular needs. Findings reveal a structural emphasis on digitalization and infrastructure renewal, driven by EU and national funding, yet a marginalization of local knowledge systems in formal curricula. While initiatives such as marine conservation programs, dialect education, and sustainable tourism studies reflect a latent desire for educational autochthony, these remain peripheral to the core curricular framework. This study advocates for a reconceptualization of insular education as a dynamic site of ecological literacy, cultural agency, and place-conscious pedagogy. By re-centering local knowledge and fostering curricular fluidity, minor island schools may emerge as laboratories of epistemic diversity, charting a path toward contextualized and transformative education in insular spaces.