Home for the elderly, place for intergenerational encouters

Abstract

The essay outlines a home care project that is being carried out within a Research Project at the University of Padua; this project is oriented towards the enhancement of homes for the elderly as places for educational planning skills.
Such homes reveal themselves as being a re-lational space, able to both support intergene-rational learning between young people and elderly residents in the same territory and knock down stereotypes about old age that hinder dialogue between the generations and the social inclusion of persons of an advanced age, particularly those in conditions of solitude and relational poverty.
Presented, specifically, are subjects that gave rise to the project and its operational implica-tions that provide for putting into practice a pi-lot project for educational support to the “fragile” elderly in the territory of Padua. The first phase of the project has been completed and involved qualified students, that is, future educators in the degree course in Scienze dell’educazione e della formazione. The se-cond phase, with the participation of young people belonging to the local voluntary service, is currently being started up.