In Italy, the exploration of, and debate on, problems of educational rights and justice are carried out by sociologists and educational interculturalists. Their aims are to understand and respond to pressing social, political and educational concerns relative to migration, educational inclusion of immigrants’ and minorities’ children (such as the Roma and the travelling attractionists), to inquire into the complexities of their cultural diversities and to valorize them as teaching and learning resources. The goal of this presentation is twofold. Thanks to qualitative research carried out in three different Italian regions (Piedmont, Trentino Alto Adige and Veneto), the paper will discuss, on the one hand, what kind of and to what extent educational practices, methodological tools and specific initiatives have been developed and nationally widespread for taking concretely into account the various migratory background and previous school experiences held in other countries. On the other, in our presentation we will critically consider the educational paths trod by pupils and students from immigrant families, as well as by travelling attractionists and Roma, point out the obstacles they meet and indicate how some of the inclusive educational policies and classroom approaches might in fact result in forms of isolation, if not exclusion, from classroom life, or the essentialization of their identites. For instance, Gobbo’s ethnographic findings point out how the intensely mobile way of life of travelling attractionists impacts on their children’s school attendance and learning, and on the schools’ capacity to elaborate effective educational approaches. As for the Roma, the presentation will concern the Sinti of Trento studied by Setti, and the organizational and educational consequences resulting from the categorization of Sinti pupils and students as “Nomads” and/or “Gypsy” and from the assignment of most Sinti students to the category of Special Educational Needs (Bisogni educativi speciali), namely to programs taught by appointed educators outside of the regular classrooms. Concerning migrant children, several studies point out how the most important lesson emerging from the Italian case is the importance of supporting youth integration programmes concentrating on the following core areas: language acquisition, education, integration into the labour market, social counselling and social integration. These issues, however, are not well addressed along all the country neither in a structural and systematic way, outlining heterogeneous models and ways of acting city by city and school by school.

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