"Competenze e ruoli del formatore: studio di una professionalitàa servizio delle imprese"

In the last few years a growing interest towards the professional figure of the educator has emerged in Italy as well as in the whole of Europe. This is part of a wider debate on the transformation of the patterns of education and training for the achievement of the key principles that are the basic concepts of the lifelong learning process, the pivot of the socio-economic development and qualification of European citizens in a Community framework. To formulate educational and formative policies in the perspective of lifelong learning means, in fact, to support individuals in realizing a significant development during their whole formative and professional life. In this scenario, the role of the educator takes on an obvious strategic centrality, as the educational services are rich in human capital. In recent years, a number of formative devices and technical supports have been formulated, setting in motion a significant development in the social register and professional profile of the educator. It is in reality a very complex profession that finds its articulation in operational practices in the organizational and functional framework to which it refers and related to the recipients of professional activity. For this reason it is necessary to resort to a “plural” concept of the profession of the educator and, consequently, a not univocal process of professionalization. The objective of empirical research is to observe and describe the figures involved in education and their working scope, to identify their abilities and education and to pinpoint ways to recognize the professionalism of the educator. Having adopted an explorative-descriptive approach, the task is articulated in a qualitative phase regarding the complexity of the data, and in a quantitative phase dedicated to the understanding of the phenomenon in its phenomenological manifestation. In detail, in the first stage I have tried to understand the phenomenon through the accounts of the educators involved (by means of semi-structured interviews) and the opinions expressed by the individuals that manage and evaluate such professionalism (through focus groups). In the second stage I carried out a gauging survey of the attitudes and the views of a group of professional educators members of the Associazione Italiana Formatori (partner in the project) and other associative and educational structures located in the area. This research has asserted the relevance of this profession and has confirmed that we are dealing with a complex job undergoing a significant change in the levels of professionalism and in its subjective, organizational and social identity.