Navigating Education in Island Spaces: Insights From Italian Minor Islands

Island Studies in Education is an interdisciplinary field that examines how geographic isolation, cultural heritage, and educational practices intersect to create unique learning environments. This conceptual paper explores the educational landscapes of Italy’s minor islands, such as the Aeolian Islands and Pantelleria, focusing on how the concept of islandness shapes both formal and informal educational practices. Islandness, as outlined by Baldacchino (2006), refers to the distinctive characteristics of island life—including isolation, community cohesion, and ecological sensitivity— that inform the social and educational dynamics on islands. Stratford (2011) expands on this by exploring the spatial and relational dimensions of archipelagic settings, offering critical insights into the unique educational challenges faced by island communities. Drawing from the theoretical framework of place-based education (Gruenewald, 2003), this paper argues that educational practices on islands are deeply tied to local environments, history, and cultural identity. Place-based education leverages the physical and cultural context of a location, making learning more relevant to the student’s lives and communities. On islands, this involves integrating local ecological knowledge, maritime traditions, and cultural practices into the curriculum, creating a learning environment that fosters not only academic knowledge but also environmental stewardship and cultural continuity. Italian minor islands present an intriguing case for understanding how schools function as hubs for community cohesion. Schools on these islands face challenges such as limited resources, geographic isolation, and pressures related to out-migration. However, they also provide opportunities to foster innovative, context-specific educational models. These models, deeply rooted in the local culture and environment, offer adaptive strategies that respond to the unique needs of island communities. For instance, multigrade classrooms and community-engaged learning approaches, common in island schools, demonstrate how resource constraints can lead to creative educational solutions (Azzopardi & Grech, 2012). A key focus of this paper is the potential transferability of these insular educational models to other marginalized or peripheral regions globally. The challenges faced by island communities—such as geographic isolation and resource scarcity—mirror those of rural or underdeveloped areas worldwide. Educational strategies developed in island contexts, such as the integration of local knowledge into the curriculum and the use of adaptive teaching methods, can provide valuable lessons for other regions facing similar challenges. Moreover, the focus on sustainability and community engagement in island education can serve as a blueprint for addressing the global challenges of environmental degradation and cultural erosion (Savo et al., 2014). Through a critical examination of Italian island education, this paper demonstrates how island-based educational practices can inform global debates on sustainability, resilience, and cultural continuity. The unique characteristics of island communities offer rich insights into how education can serve as a tool for fostering not only academic success but also social and environmental well-being. Keywords: island studies, islandness, place-based educa