The project Try it again, Sam! is an inter-institutional and integrated project that addresses children’s social and educational needs. It is composed of two main programmes: Integrated Tutelage (directed at students who dropped out of school) and Dropout Prevention (directed at students with temporary and reversible educational difficulties to prevent school dropout). Those involved– teachers, volunteers, school principals, social workers, psychologists – are all convinced that drop-out is the result of a long and insidious process triggered from common learning and relational difficulties. Therefore, timely responses to students with common difficulties in social relationships and/or learning activities is an effective way to prevent social students’ problems, which are much more difficult to address once they are established.
Try it Again, Sam! experiments with a new model of prevention-action training regarding failure in the transition from primary to secondary schools in Turin. It fosters the educational success of all students and combats school dropout. It is based on an integrative process between the acacemic and the extra-curricular, creating conditions for constant dialogue between them, and ensures learning of foundation skills in the first cycles of education. The project works within a network of non-profit associations and parishes. Schools and other actors - through joint collaboration - can thus foster learning processes that take into account the story of each child, giving them a space to listen and express themselves, develop their self-confidence, support their academic success, and combat early school leaving. Dropout Prevention is an offshoot of an earlier programme, Integrated Tutelage.
