School as Seen by the Radio (1945-1975)

In Italy, the first distance learning experiments involved Italian radio, when Benito Mussolini expressed the need for each school to have its own “listening point”. From 1934, the Rural Radio Authority started its transmissions for schools. Radio played a role not only in fascist propaganda, but also in the wider social history of our country’s education. In the post-war period, an innovative experiment took place in the form of La radio per le scuola (Radio for schools), a broadcast that integrated classroom activity and was structured as a cultural experience to be constructed both remotely and in person, in relation to art, music and theatre. The advent of television then changed the role of radio in the cultural and educational context in our country.