Rewriting the Grammar of Schooling. Children's Imaginaries, and the School as a Learning Hub in Peripheral Contexts

This article examines the transformation of schooling through the lens of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) scenario of viewing schools as learning hubs and focuses on small schools in peripheral contexts. Building on the theoretical framework of the grammar of schooling and the concept of forme scolaire, the study explores how this emerging model is interpreted through children's perspectives. Drawing on imagination laboratories conducted in three Italian schools, the research combines dialogic sessions and visual methods to investigate how students understand and reimagine the future of school. The findings show that children do not conceive of the learning hub as a purely organizational or policy model but as a reconfiguration of school spaces, learning experiences, relationships, and participation. The study contributes to the international debate by highlighting how student voice and imagination can inform the redefinition of schooling in times of structural transformation.