Pedagogia e Comunicazione interculturale nelle Pubbliche Amministrazioni

The main goal of the research “Pedagogy and Intercultural Communication in Public Administration” is to investigate the way in which Public Administration communicates with foreign citizens in order to elaborate some proposals – in the light Pedagogy and Intercultural Communication – which make more efficient and effective the exchange of information between institution and the foreign users. This research, that has clearly an explorative nature and that was conducted on a non representative sample, develops in a complex sector, which is difficult to access, therefore to obtain general results is not the purpose. On the contrary, it tries to thorw light upon a sector still not much explored, in the hope that a greater awareness of risks and opportunities that characterize the intercultural relationships can be the point of departure for a bigger involvement by Public Administration in order to promote changes that lead to a greater attention to staff education. This study was made on a statistic population of Municipalities of capitals of Province. This choice was made because the Municipality is the main authority to which foreign citizens turn for the daily bureaucratic activities. In order to define the representative sample were considered the Municipalities of capitals of Province with a foreign presence bigger than 3.000 units, on the basis of Istat quantitative data about the foreign presences in Italy at December 2007. There were found 70 institutions. The methodology used in this study is qualitative and it is based on the semistructured interview as research method. In order to find the right subjects for the interview, at the preliminary stage of the research an informative form was given to the reference sample. This research shows that today’s Public Administrations are not prepared to face the new challenges arising from multicultural situations. Also in the public sector it is necessary to learn to face and to read reality from various and different, interpretative hypothesis , to compare these forms of reading and to realize that different interpretations give us a much more articulate and complex picture of reality. The research clearly shows that in the process of integration of a foreign person on the territory, the way in which the relation with the Public Administration is managed has a primary role. The actual situation doesn’t make easier the process of integration, but makes stronger the idea of a pluri-cultural society, where every group must be closed in itself. In the cases where it was thought a specific communication channel for foreign citizens, the process stopped at a level of “ghettoization” that determines social exclusion and doesn’t help the integration of foreign citizens. In many cases, this communication is too selected and addressed to those who already know; about contents, it is necessary to pay more attention to the real town dynamics. As a result of this work, we can highlight the central role of Pedagogy: it should prepare for the construction of dialogic identities for a mutual understanding , which should be ready to the interpenetration between different cultures always keeping the richness of their own cultural heritages. From the analysis of collected data it is possible to note that the best and effective projects on the territory are those that invest in staff training in terms of a communication skills. An effective communication makes possible to fight the negative vision of the migratory phenomenon. This will be an intercultural communication through which it will be possible to go deeper into the awareness of one’s assumptions considering the difference as opportunity for reflection. We can point out the need for Public Administrations of a deeper knowledge of the reality of reference, of the context in which they are working and acting, of their messages and actions. It’s also necessary to move from a communication based on rules to a communication based on values, that will help to build a new awareness inside public services: that of having to start talking and communicating with new citizens each with its own characteristics, needs and problems.