In Alto Salento area (Puglia, South Italy), one of the 16 territorial case studies of ATTER project, participants could observe, discuss, and reflect on the multiple dimensions of agroecological (AE) transition, by visiting farms, exchanging with local producers of different sex and age, and meeting various local institutions. A participatory learning dynamics organized with the support of LAG Alto Salento 2020, facilitated by Schola Campesina and structured around the application of TAPE-Tool for Agroecological PErformance, the global analytical framework for the multidimensional assessment of the performance of agroecology developed by FAO.

The practical, critical application of TAPE analytical steps provided trainees, local actors, and facilitators with an open space for dialogue, for an engaging interplay of knowledge co-generation and active community building, where participants’ different backgrounds, competencies, experience, and views about AE evaluation, crossed paths with local actors’ personal and business stories, vivid concerns for current major threats - like Xylella devastation, invasive touristification, institutional desertification - and strategies to cope with an uncertain future.

In the horizontal, informal learning approach adopted in the school, a central role was assigned to personal reflexivity through a running thread of moments designed and facilitated by a professional learning enhancer from Coventry University.

The full-immersion week, preceded by an online introductory seminar by an INRAE expert, was enriched by expert inputs from University of Pisa and FAO aimed, respectively, at broadening and deepening the training focus. A conclusive post-school reflexive session is scheduled online next November.