Italian Education System Research Articles

Community educational pacts in Italy: an interpretation of UNESCO’s new social contract for education?

ABSTRACT The idea of a new social contract for education, as outlined in the UNESCO (2021) report on the Futures of Education, refers to the many instances of cooperation among communities and education systems around the world. In Italy, these experiences, commonly referred to as Community Educational Pacts, have gained increasing attention in recent years and have been seen as a potential response to the challenges affecting the Italian education system. This paper examines the theoretical underpinnings of the principle of education as a common good as the political framing for the new social contract for education. It then reviews the experience of school/community alliances in Italy, based on preliminary studies carried out by the National Institute for Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research and the Forum on Inequality and Diversity. The paper ultimately discusses the extent to which these experiences can represent concrete opportunities for reimagining education and the school system grounded on the concept of education as a common good, thus providing a possible interpretation of the ‘new social contract for education’.

Enhancement or impoverishment? Algorithmic management and ‘distance’ education during the pandemic

This article aims to develop some interpretative hypotheses on the transformation of education that digitalisation and neoliberalism have brought about in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We draw on changes in the Italian education system to outline the general, structural trend. In order to illustrate how transformations in the education system can be viewed as a process of capitalist valorisation, we present the insights offered by a set of contemporary workerist enquiries and use the theoretical concepts of ‘hyperindustrialisation’ and ‘hybridisation’, drawn also from the research work of Romano Alquati. Our conclusions show how work in education can be reconceptualised in relation to the general process of digital socialisation and its contradictions: we unveil hidden sides of the platformisation of education and provide a disenchanted view of digital solutionism.

OpenMind Handbook. A System of Design Tools and Processes to Empower Democracy Culture in Primary Schools

In this historical moment, the controversial reorganisation of the Italian education system is raising the necessity to reflect on the responsibility of education in defining more resilient societies. Primary schools are the first place where children can actively experience the dynamics of democratic coexistence, developing their relationship with society through a process of long-term encounters. Nowadays, students not only need to acquire basic skills but, above all, to address emerging social issues through education in terms of democratic culture, equality, sharing and collaboration. The research investigated how Service Design can activate participatory processes that can foster the co-creation of educational experiences aimed at raising awareness of social coexistence and democratic participation. OpenMind Handbook is a project that facilitates the implementation of new educational experiences and increases social relationships, enabling the involvement of the educational community within a long-term action process.

Through teachers’ eyes: adaptability and transformations in their practices and relationship with students during COVID-19 pandemic

IntroductionThis research critically and empirically analyzes the intricate interaction between the transformative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Italian educational system and the quality of the teacher-student relationship. The main focus is on the experiences of Italian educators who had to deal with the upheavals caused by the pandemic within an educational system.AimThe primary purpose of this study is to explore (a) how did teachers’ educational practices change during the first lockdown and (b) how did the teacher-student relationship evolve during the first lockdown from the teachers’ point of view.MethodsThe study uses a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews and diary collection (conducted via platforms). Participants are Italian primary and secondary school teachers aged between 25 and 60.ResultsIn this study, the thematic analysis of the content of the interviews and diaries reveals: the initial responses of educators, the transition to distance learning, the challenges and potential of virtual education, the students’ evaluation, future perspectives, and the topic of the relationship with students (particularly addressed in the diaries).DiscussionBy delving into the transformation of the teacher-student relationship under extraordinary circumstances, this research enriches the discourse on its quality, capturing the psychological nuances of learning-teaching experiences, and uncovers the multifaceted transformations in teaching methodologies, tools, and assessments.

“Educare all'Antico”. Teaching Classical Civilisation in Italian primary and lower secondary schools

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to offer an overview of an educational project that brought Classical Civilisation to pupils in the Pisa area between 2004 and 2009, through a cooperation between the Department of Classical Philology at our University and the Provincial Administration of Pisa.1 The project was aimed at pupils of primary and lower secondary schools, in response to a thorough reform of the Italian school system that excluded some pupils from studying Greek and Roman civilisations in as much depth as other parts of history. This article will first provide an overview of the Italian education system and its recent reforms, after which the project Educare all'Antico will be discussed.

Analysing Italian Inclusive Education Practices in Relation to Universal Design for Learning Principles.

This study aims to investigate how teaching practices in the Italian inclusive education system align with the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which is aimed at providing access to education for all students, including those with disabilities. In line with Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which requires states to promote Universal Design (UD) in all aspects of life, including education, this research examines the extent to which the Italian education system meets this requirement. The study involved teachers who participated in a course on inclusive education. The research was conducted in three phases, including the introduction of UDL, identification of teachers' perceptions and initial reactions to UDL, compilation of a questionnaire related to UDL checkpoints, and a focus group discussion on teachers' attitudes towards UDL and the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the classroom. The analysis focused on the first UDL principle, "Provide Multiple Means of Representation," which emphasizes the need to present information in an accessible way to learners with disabilities. The findings revealed that despite not having previous training on UDL, teachers in the Italian inclusive education system use ICTs in their daily teaching practices to make knowledge accessible, which is in line with the UDL principles. However, the study also highlighted a lack of awareness and reflection on the use of ICTs in teaching, suggesting the need for specific training to enhance inclusive practices. This study contributes to the ongoing dialogue on inclusive education in Italy and highlights the importance of promoting UD principles in education to ensure that all learners, regardless of their abilities, have equal access to education. Furthermore, it underscores the significance of providing adequate training and support to teachers to facilitate inclusive practices and improve learning outcomes for all students.

Rethinking interculturalism, deconstructing discrimination in Italian schools

AbstractDespite the public favour gained in Europe, interculturalism is often reduced to its theoretical abstractions or local implementations. There is scarce evidence to suggest that interculturalism mitigates the systemic discrimination of immigrant‐origin people. Looking at the Italian case, the paper analyses the coexistence of interculturalism and discrimination into multicultural schools, examining school track choices for immigrant‐origin students under the lens of interculturalism. We combine three theoretical perspectives—discrimination at micro level, critical interculturalism and school choice as a process—with an empirical analysis of qualitative data, focussing on the ambivalent relational mechanisms underneath the most discriminatory turning point in the Italian education system, the transition to upper secondary school. Different forms of student–teacher interaction, approaches to school track choice and discriminatory effects are highlighted in the research findings. Three different scenarios of interculturalism are identified and implemented through the negotiation of the school actors. Rethinking interculturalism by deconstructing discrimination appears as a collective task, to be undertaken together with teachers and students with immigrant background: intercultural policy guidelines must be combined with bottom‐up actions.

Adopted students’ educational paths and inclusiveness of Italian school system: an explorative study using parents’ evaluation

ABSTRACT Using a mixed-method approach, the study explored the capacity of the Italian educational system to be oriented at inclusion examining, according to adoptive parents' perspectives, the enforcing of the national guidelines on adopted students' right to education (NG). It explored the main obstacles and opportunities faced by families in their children's school path, as well as their suggestions to meet adoptive children's educational needs. Eighty parents of school-aged (6–14 years) adopted students participated in the study. Sixty-five were involved in the quantitative step of research and filled out an ad hoc survey; 15 took part in the qualitative step, by participating in the focus group discussions. Results show that adopted students face a variety of educational barriers in school environments and their educational paths are not always characterized by the principles of NG, suggesting that Italian schools are generally little equipped to promote the school achievement and inclusion of adopted students. The findings are discussed highlighting some practical implications to improve adopted students' adjustment at school and underlining the need to promote specific training programs for teachers, better communication among partners involved in the adoption process, and measures aimed at supporting adoptive families.

Country Report

After a brief presentation of the Italian education system, the article (a) describes the current situation of the teaching of philosophy in Italy, then (b) it presents the method and the laws that regulate this teaching. Moreover it illustrates the current compulsory philosophical curriculum in grammar schools and the situation of teacher training in philosophy.

Engaging Italy: American Women’s Utopian Visions and Transnational Networks by Etta M. Madden

Reviewed by: Engaging Italy: American Women’s Utopian Visions and Transnational Networks by Etta M. Madden Ilaria Serra ENGAGING ITALY: AMERICAN WOMEN’S UTOPIAN VISIONS AND TRANSNATIONAL NETWORKS, by Etta M. Madden. New York: SUNY Press, 2022. 342 pp. $95.00 hardback; $33.95 paperback. It is a rare treat to sit in a nineteenth-century Roman salotto where upper-class American expatriates gather and exchange their impressions of Italy. This is what happens when you open Edda M. Madden’s volume Engaging Italy: American Women’s Utopian Visions and Transnational Networks. The book’s first pages bring the reader inside a Roman salon where American poet and educator Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is the guest of honor. The following pages leave the man behind to focus on three women who frequented these receptions—Emily Bliss Gould (1822–1875), Caroline Crane Marsh (1816–1901), and Anne Hampton Brewster (1819–1892)—and who asked the question, “What can we do to make this crazy, beautiful country better?” The author’s detailed archival research and her laborious deciphering of handwritten letters unearthed from long-closed drawers afford the readers this leap in time. It is no small task, and the author immediately indicates to readers of the uniqueness of her sources by asking: “How to capture the numerous abbreviations (often singular to the author), the underlining and double underlining, the superscripts, and the strikethroughs?” (p. xv). The answer is the secret of this book: by getting to know them personally and becoming privy to their habits and peeves, allowing them to take life in the pages. [End Page 165] Madden’s book allows an unprecedented, close look at a particular slice of nineteenth-century society, the American community in Rome, which may now have been forgotten but deeply influenced Italian culture and left some tangible traces. Even rarer is to learn the pursuits of the women in this society, who were already uncommon travelers—following their husbands’ careers, in two cases out of three—but also exceptional visionaries who had minds and projects of their own. Gould was not just the wife of American physician James Gould but also the founder of a home for poor children in Rome. Marsh was the wife of the United States ambassador to Italy, George Perkins Marsh (considered the first environmentalist), and a published poet and translator, an activist, and a philanthropist who financed Salvatore Ferretti’s “Free Church” orphanage. Brewster was proudly never anybody’s wife, a pioneer journalist, one of the first women correspondents from abroad, and an independent and non-conformist spirit. These three ladies were nearly the same age and spent an important part of their lives in Italy around the same time. Two died in the country: Gould in Perugia and Brewster in Siena. All three did not just attend and organize glitzy cultural and social events as part of their social duties but also pursued their own projects. Gould kept a long correspondence with George Marsh, the ambassador, asking for his help in fundraising and complaining about the ignorance of the men around her who, according to her, did not understand the culture they lived in. These letters reveal her frustration with the Italian educational and political system, the Americans in Rome, and their religious divisions. She was even arrested for meeting with Protestants in her home and defended herself well, her motivation boosted by the affront. The ambasciatrice Caroline Marsh, working side by side with her husband, was deeply affected by the extreme poverty she saw in Rome and the Italian countryside after a big flood destroyed the living quarters of the poorer people. Moved by the “incredible amount of idleness, poverty and beggary,” she fought to alleviate this misery by opening a Roman orphanage and school (p. 30). The rebellious Brewster spent her life fighting her brother for her inheritance and opposing his prohibition against her seeing her long-time friend and partner, Charlotte Cushman. She left many poems and astute articles in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, Boston Daily Advertiser, New York World, Chicago Daily News, and Cincinnati Commercial. Brewster never lost her irony, recognizable in her words when she conceded a fight to Roman leader Rodolfo Lanciani: “I...

Finite-dimensional Discrete Random Structures and Bayesian Clustering

Discrete random probability measures stand out as effective tools for Bayesian clustering. The investigation in the area has been very lively, with a strong emphasis on nonparametric procedures based on either the Dirichlet process or on more flexible generalizations, such as the normalized random measures with independent increments (NRMI). The literature on finite-dimensional discrete priors is much more limited and mostly confined to the standard Dirichlet-multinomial model. While such a specification may be attractive due to conjugacy, it suffers from considerable limitations when it comes to addressing clustering problems. In order to overcome these, we introduce a novel class of priors that arise as the hierarchical compositions of finite-dimensional random discrete structures. Despite the analytical hurdles such a construction entails, we are able to characterize the induced random partition and determine explicit expressions of the associated urn scheme and of the posterior distribution. A detailed comparison with (infinite-dimensional) NRMIs is also provided: indeed, informative bounds for the discrepancy between the partition laws are obtained. Finally, the performance of our proposal over existing methods is assessed on a real application where we study a publicly available dataset from the Italian education system comprising the scores of a mandatory nationwide test.

Insights and Next Challenges for the Italian Educational System to Teach Sustainability in a Global Context

Education is recognized as a dimension in which a more sustainable future can be promoted and supported. It is described both as a specific goal under the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and as a goal within other SDGs. Since sustainability can be taught at all levels of education, students progressively acquire a variable knowledge of these issues and find academic, professional and social contexts in which they are expected to implement this knowledge. Italian universities could gradually adapt to incorporate this knowledge through specific courses, the integration of sustainability in learning programs, and the promotion of sustainable behaviors. This offers a unique opportunity to integrate sustainability in didactic activities and in the whole academic environment, presenting the university as a model for a more sustainable life. The same path can be followed by other institutions engaged in lifelong learning and improving general education and sustainability literacy. This essay presents a general diagnosis of the current situation in the global and national integration of sustainability in education, the level of knowledge of Italian students and teaching staff about sustainability, why this knowledge should be enhanced, and how lifelong learning can harmoniously continue the process to achieve such integration.

A new measure for the attitude to mobility of Italian students and graduates: a topological data analysis approach

Students’ and graduates’ mobility is an interesting topic of discussion especially for the Italian education system and universities. The main reasons for migration and for the so called brain drain, can be found in the socio-economic context and in the famous North–South divide. Measuring mobility and understanding its dynamic over time and space are not trivial tasks. Most of the studies in the related literature focus on the determinants of such phenomenon, in this paper, instead, combining tools coming from graph theory and Topological Data Analysis we propose a new measure for the attitude to mobility. Each mobility trajectory is represented by a graph and the importance of the features constituting the graph are evaluated over time using persistence diagrams. The attitude to mobility of the students is then ranked computing the distance between the individual persistence diagram and the theoretical persistence diagram of the stayer student. The new approach is used for evaluating the mobility of the students that in 2008 enrolled in an Italian university. The relation between attitude to mobility and the main socio-demographic variables is investigated.

Filosofia ed educazione giuridica nel Conflitto delle facoltà di Immanuel Kant

In Kantian literature, the problem of legal education has remained marginal, because submerged in discussions around the ethical perspective. On the contrary, in the eyes of the Prussian philosopher, a faculty of law focused exclusively on the study of positive law would produce a model of jurist, who certainly knows how to declare quid sit iuris, what belongs to law, but who is then unable to say whether what that law prescribes is also in conformity with reason. The rediscovery of the fundamental principles of Kantian pedagogical thoughtis justified, as well as for purely speculative reasons, also with reference to a recent reform of the Italian educational system, whichhas assigned to philosophy, and specifically to legal philosophers, the task of training future teachers of law at secondary schools.

New public management reforms and industrial relations in the Italian education system. A cultural political economy approach

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the relation between new public management (NPM) reforms and changing patterns of industrial relations (IRs) and social dialogue in the Italian education system. Drawing on data from the research project ‘Social dialogue and industrial relations in education: The challenges of multi-level governance and privatisation in Europe’ (IR-EDUREFORM), it uses cultural political economy to explore the effects of autonomy, evaluation, and management as policy technologies on teacher unions’ collective bargaining, workplace representation and industrial action. Through the Italian case, the study analyses how NPM reforms operated three distinctive transformations: decentralisation of bargaining to school level, juridification and individualisation of industrial action and a shift from collective to professional unions. Beyond critically exploring the implications of NPM reforms and the processes of decollectivation and individualisation of IRs and social dialogue in education, the study also highlights some potential for the emergence of novel sites for collective representation.

Interpreting difficulties in the learning of algebraic inequalities, as an emerging macro-phenomenon in Large Scale Assessment

ABSTRACT In this paper we interpret pervasive difficulties with second degree inequalities as a macro-phenomenon emerging from Large Scale Assessment. In line with the theory of reification, we link common students’ difficulties to approaches they use that undermine the intertwining of processes and the ensuing emergent mathematical objects. To frame the movement from process to object, we network the theory of objectification with Duval’s semio-cognitive approach. We conclude that students’ difficulties can be traced back to a disruption of the dialectical movement between process and object. Thus, the students lose the link to meaning, rooted in mathematical activity, and handle semiotic transformations out of the object-sign relation. Such a phenomenon is conceived as a macro-phenomenon emerging from the Italian educational system.

Insegnare la storia delle donne e di genere oggi nella scuola primaria italiana

In the Italian education system, the attention to the gender perspective is very limited: few elements related to it are found in the Indicazioni nazionali, in teachers’ training and updating and in textbooks. Despite this, social needs and the advancement of studies require an approach that includes and values gender differences. The aim of this article is to propose a reflection on the effects of using the category of gender in education and to suggest possible paths of women’s and gender history in primary school.

Languages for learning

Abstract More than 25 years have passed since CLIL was first introduced in schools all over Europe with objectives, methods and organizational structures that often also vary from one country to another. Time has passed, and still without a precise framework of reference, CLIL shows its great potential as well as its drawbacks. Using data from research conducted in Italy with four CLIL teachers who teach physics through a foreign language, this article aims to highlight the possibility that CLIL can serve to make every teacher, regardless of the subject, aware of the role that language can play in learning. The data collected, which refer to the Italian education system, emphasize the central role of the subject teacher in CLIL implementation. They also draw attention to the need for important changes in the CLIL agenda for the coming years.

An Agent-Based Model for Tertiary Educational Choices in Italy

Although the low level of tuition fees and the absence of other access barriers, Italy is characterized by low educational attainments at the university level. This work models the choice of young Italians to attend university or leave education and enter the labor market, by making use of an agent-based model that reproduces the Italian higher education and policy system. The aim is to analyze the determinants behind university enrollment decisions possibly causing the low level of attainment and explore three alternative scenarios that propose the expansion of financial support and the increase in the average income gap between skilled and unskilled individuals. The model implies that the individual preference to enroll at university depends upon (i) economic motivations, represented by the expectations on future income, which are formed through interaction within individuals’ social network; (ii) influence from peers; (iii) effort of obtaining a university degree. Results show that the model can reproduce observable features of the Italian system, and highlights low income levels and the following full resort to regional scholarships. Experimented scenarios show that policies expanding financial support to education are ineffective, while an increase in the gap between average income of skilled and unskilled workers leads to an increase in enrollment in university, signaling that labor market policies may be more effective than educational policies in raising the number of students in higher education.

INSTITUTIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT OF EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS OF ITALY ON THE SPECIALTY “TOURISM”

Analyzed the institutional and organizational support of educational activities of higher education institutions in Italy in the specialty “Tourism”, which is the key to the successful functioning of educational activities. The regulatory legal acts of Italian higher education institutions included in the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities (as of 2020), including the legal framework of the Italian higher education system, statutory and intra-university documents, and the like, have been investigated. The institutional and organizational support of the educational activities of Italian higher education institutions is characterized and their features are revealed. The goals of educational programs in the specialty “Tourism” of each of the rating higher education institutions are clarified and the analysis of the main professional orientations of the graduates of the corresponding universities is carried out. The purpose of the article. Highlight the institutional and organizational support of educational activities of Italian universities, which train specialists in «Tourism», by solving problems on the analysis of legal documents of such free economic zones, presentation of institutional and organizational support of educational activities and identifying their features. The study used theoretical and empirical research methods, including: analysis of the implemented statutory documents in the Italian higher education system; analysis of the peculiarities of the autonomy of Italian universities; comparison of the legal basis for the educational activities of Italian universities.
 Thus, it was found that the institutional basis of the educational activities of the Free Economic Zone of Italy in public and private ownership are the statutory documents and internal university regulations, which are based on regulations approved by the Italian government. Such documents in each of the five free economic zones are SAPIENZA Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”; University of Roma Studies «Tor Vergata»; University of Genoa Studies; University of Perugia Studies; Università degli Studi di Catania – became: university statute; regulations on administration, finance and accounting; general organizational provisions of the university; code of ethics; rules of conduct for employees; educational regulations of the university, etc. In the case of the structural units of the Italian Free Economic Zones, they are largely identical, comprising the Rector, the Academic Senate, the Board of Directors and the Administrative Departments, and are funded by tuition fees and financial assistance from public and private universities from the Italian Ministry of Education. (Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca – MIUR) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Italy (Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze). As for the peculiarities of educational training «Tourism», their goals, requirements and professional orientation are more identical in all free economic zones – is the training of highly qualified personnel in the field of tourism, on entry, the presence of a document of complete secondary education and the possibility of further employment in tourism enterprises. own business, etc.