5.11.1. Lower secondary education
The scuola secondaria di primo grado is part of the primo ciclo di istruzione together with pri- mary school; however, it has its own specificity according to the aims and objectives indicat- ed by Delegated Law no 53/2003, by Legislative Decree no. 59/2004 and, in particular, by the Indicazioni nazionali for the piani di studio personalizzati of the scuola secondaria di primo
grado (Annex C of the mentioned decree).
The scuola secondaria di primo grado foresees compulsory educational and teaching activities (including those under responsibility of the Regions and of the schools); furthermore, according to the piano di studi personalizzati and in the framework of the piano dell’offerta formativa, it foresees teaching activities consistent with the Pecup and with the study prose- cution in the secondo ciclo; these activities are facultative for the students and free of charge. Facultative activities realise the principle according to which the families define the educa- tional path of the pupils. The teaching staff should offer its assistance during and after the meals. Eventually, the mentioned decree permits to draw up work contracts with experts if the facultative teachings or activities require a specific professionalism.
5.11.2. General upper secondary education
Licei classici and licei scientifici have one only cycle subdivided into a two-year and a three-
year periods.
Licei artistici, instead, after a common two-year period, offer two specialisations: figurative
arts and architecture, lasting two years.
Many institutes, while waiting for reform, have started additional experimental five-year branches of study not foreseen by the school system, in order to meet the new requirements of the students (for example, linguistic, psycho-pedagogical licei, etc.).
5.11.3. Vocational upper secondary education
Istituti tecnici
The most widespread sectors, all having a five-year duration, are listed below: • Commerce - specialisation: trade, foreign trade, business administration, etc..
• Industry sector - specialisation: mechanics, electrical engineering, electronics, industrial physics, chemicals, textiles, etc.
• Surveying
• Agriculture - specialisations: forestry, ecology. etc.
• Nautical sector - specialisation: captain, machinery operator, shipbuilder. • Tourism
• Social studies (the former Istituti tecnici for girls).
Experimentation braches of study have been started also by the technical institutes (for example, biological-sanitary, informatics branches of study, etc.); however, most institutes have adopted for some time the experimentation programmes elaborated by the Ministry of Education in order to obtain additional programmes, subjects and timetables [5.13.3.].
Istituti professionali:
The following three-year sectors and branches of study are offered: Agriculture-specialisation:
• agricultural • agroindustrial
Industry and crafts - specialisation: • economy and business
• clothing and fashion • building
• chemico-biological • mechanical and thermal • electrical and electronic Service sector - specialisation:
• economy-business-tourism • advertising
• hotel and catering services • social services.
After the three-year period of specialisation, two-year courses can be instituted to offer cul- tural and practice education at upper secondary school level.
Istituti d’arte
The main three-year specialisations offered by the istituti d’arte are the following: • painting
• sculpture • graphics • ceramics
After the three-year period of specialisation, two-year courses can be instituted to offer cul- tural and artistic education at upper secondary school level.
5.11.4. Post-secondary non-tertiary education
a) Vocational training courses
The range of formative offers is quite wide, above all it includes the new economy sector. The courses for environment technician, insurance advisor, enterprise marketing and com- munication, etc., are highly requested.
b) Istruzione e Formazione Tecnica Superiore (IFTS)
IFTS courses refer to professional specialisations which require a training at post-secondary level as specified at paragraph [5.5.4.].
The reference professional figures indicated by the sector committees and by agreement of 25 November 2004 refer to the following areas:
a) Agricolture
b) Industry and handicraft: • Manifacturing
• TIC • Building
c) Trade and tourism, transports d) Public and private social services
• Environment
• Insurance and financial services
According to the of agreement of 25 November 2004, the Regions and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano can promote pilot projects referred to professional figures not defined at regional level but that corresponding to documented requirements of their ter- ritorial labour markets.
5.12. Organisation of school time
5.12.1. Organisation of the school year
Educational activities (courses, scrutini, exams) take place between the 1st of September and
the 15th of June with the possibility of completing the esame di stato conclusivo del primo ciclo in June and the upper secondary school leaving examinations in the first half of July. General indications are not provided for training courses.
The total number of hours in scuola secondaria di primo grado is established on an annual basis to allow their subdivision during the school year, according to school autonomy. The compulsory annual number of hours is 891, subdivided into 33 teaching weeks. This num- ber of hours include the Regions share (still to be defined), the schools share, at present equal to the 15%, and the weekly religion hour destined to students who chose catholic religion as a facultative subject. The facultative number of annual hours is 198 (an average of 6 weekly hours), at the families’ choice. The facultative activities and teachings selected at the moment of enrolment become compulsory and have equal dignity within the piani di studio personal-
izzati. The above mentioned number of hours doesn’t include the time destined to meals and
after meals, which can reach maximum 231 annual hours.
5.12.2. Weekly and daily timetable
The compulsory annual hours of scuola secondaria di primo grado are 891, subdivided in 33 teaching weeks (see [5.12.1.]); they correspond, on average, to 27 weekly hours for all classes. Further 231 hours correspond to 6 weekly facultative hours (198 per year) and 7 weekly hours for meals and after meals, for a total amount of 231 annual hours. Therefore, the total school time can reach, also according to Legislative Decree 59/2004, 40 weekly hours. Timetables of upper secondary schools vary a lot depending on the number of subjects included in the study courses of the various institutes and the teaching hours devoted to each of these subjects. School hours range between 27 or 28 hours per week in institutes of the ordine classico e scien-
tifico and 40 hours in istituti tecnici and istituti professionali and 44 hours in istituti d’arte.
Classes begin between 8 and 8.30 a.m. and finish between 1 and 2.30 p.m. However, in some
istituti tecnici or professionali, students return to school in the afternoon some days in the week.
Particularly in istituti tecnici and in istituti professionali canteen services are provided by municipal and provincial administrations.
Vocational education and Istruzione e Formazione Tecnica Superiore – IFTS courses are organised in different ways according to their characteristics.
5.13. Curriculum, subjects, number of hours
5.13.1. Lower secondary education
According to article 14 of Legislative Decree 59/2004, the implementation of the new organ- isation of the scuola secondaria di primo grado has gradually taken place, starting from school year 2004-2005 and from the first class of the first two-year period. Full implementation of the reform will take place starting from school year 2006/07; at the same time, the teaching programmes approved with Ministerial Decree of 9 February 1979, will gradually stop being in force. While waiting for the complete implementation of the reform, the teaching staff organisation has been confirmed according to timetable references and criteria established by DPR 782/1982. However, the teaching staff interested in obtaining a decrease in their work- ing timeis destined to carry out facultative activities.
Article 14 of Legislative Decree 59/2004 foresees to adopt the Indicazioni nazionali of the
piani di studio personalizzati in the transient phase, while waiting for the definitive pedagog-
ical, teaching and organisational structure which will be regulated by the government. They indicate what follows for the scuola secondaria di primo grado:
• General objectives of the educational process: a school for integral education of the indi- vidual; a school that places young people in the world, a school for guidance; a school for identity, motivation and significance; a school to prevent uneasiness and make up for dis- advantages; a school for educational relationships.
• Specific learning objectives according to subjects on the one hand, and to “educations” on the other, all converging into “civil coexistence” education. The subjects concerned are the following: religion (facultative subject, see [1.4.]), Italian, English, a 2nd European lan- guage, history, geography, mathematics, science, technology, ICT, music, art and design, motory and sport activities. For each subject and each internal subdivision of the scuola sec-
ondaria di primo grado (first two-year period and third class) there is an indication of knowl-
edge and skills that will be transformed into personal competencies of each pupil with the help of the school. Table C indicates also the obiettivi specifici di apprendimento of civil coex- istence education (citizenship education, traffic education, environment education, health education, food and affectivity education) which is not a separate subject, but is composed of teaching units and activities carried out with the collaboration of the class teachers. • Formative objectives and the piani di studio personalizzati. The “core” of the educational
process lays within the task of schools and teachers who plan learning units marked out by formative objectives adequate and relevant for each single pupil, including disabled pupils. These learning units aim at transforming the abilities of each pupil into real and documented experiences.
• Portfolio delle competenze: the Indicazioni nazionali outline its structure, functions and drawing up. A part of the portfolio is dedicated to assessment and another to guidance; it contains notes of teachers, parents and, if required, preadolescents; it is made up of an accurate selection of relevant materials produced by pupils, individually or in a group, school tests, comments of teachers and the family on the pupil’s learning methods, indi- cations on the personal attitudes and interests of the pupil coming out from methodical observations as well as from meetings of teachers, parents and pupils and from question- naires or tests. In order to avoid the risk of considering the portfolio a folder for unor- ganised materials each school should individuate selection criteria in accordance with the principle of autonomous research and development and of the educational collaboration with the families. The portfolio of the scuola secondaria di primo grado is linked up to the portfolio of children of primary school and will last until pupils enter the secondo ciclo. It gains an added value in the last year of scuola secondaria di primo grado, when parents have to chose the formative path for their children. The portfolio becomes a proper doc- umentation for the docente tutor who should read once again the “story” of the pupil from childhood to preadolescence also in order to make a reasoned balance, together with the family and the pupil him/herself, of his/her outcomes in view of his/her future study choices for the accomplishment of the diritto/dovere to education and training for at least 12 years. The docente tutor should express his/her guidance advice in the name of the school. The portfolio should be drawn up and updated by the docente coordinatore-tutor, in collaboration with all teachers, upon opinion of the pupil and his/her parents.
• Restraints and resources. The scuola secondaria di primo grado contributes to carry out the educational, cultural and professional portfolio at the end of the primo ciclo di istruzione (Annex D to Legislative Decree 59/2004; see ahead) and collects the piani di studio personal-
izzati, aimed at realising the obiettivi specifici di apprendimento, within the Piano dell’Offerta Formativa (POF) of each school. The POF should take into consideration the following ele-
ments which are, at the same time, restraints and resources for each school planning: the school staff (see [5.10.1.]); the lessons timetable (see [5.12.2.]); the annual compulsory total amount of hours, (see table below); ensuring the exploitation of artistic and musical talents through a network of facultative laboratories which can be organised also by the Conservatori di Musica, music and dance licei (“licei musicali”), upper secondary schools (also accredited non state schools), which institutes them autonomously; individuating, for each group of pupils, a teacher with docente tutor’s functions who keeps regular relations with the families and the territory, advises pupils and families on the choice of facultative activities, co-ordi- nates the pedagogical team and draws up the portfolio delle competenze.
ANNUAL COMPULSORY AMOUNT OF HOURS
* 33 hours out of this amount are dedicated to Technology.
Subjects Minimum number Average amount Maximum number
Italian 307 313 319
History (203)
Geography (60)
(50)
Mathematics 239 245 251 Science and Technology (127)
(118)*
English 114 120 126
2ndForeign Language (54)
(66)
Art and Design 54 60 66
Music 54 60 66
Motory sciences and Sport 54 60
Religion 33 33 33
Annex D to Legislative Decree 59/2004 outlines the Profilo educativo culturale e profession- ale of the pupil at the end of the primo ciclo di istruzione. The Pecup represents what a pupil aged 14 should know and should be able to do as a human being and a citizenship at the end of the primo ciclo. The objective has been reached if subject and interdisciplinary knowledge and operational skills respectively learned and put into practice in the formal system (school), non formal system (other formative institutions) and informal system (social life) have become personal competencies of each pupil.
Annex D specifies in the details the Pecup internal subdivisions.
5.13.2. General upper secondary education
Licei classici
Teaching programmes were approved in 1945 and updated, as for Greek, with Presidential Decree of 25 September 1967, no. 1030; as for Latin, with Presidential Decree of 20 March 1967 no. 223 and 31 March 1980, no. 316; as for history, with Presidential Decree of 6 November 1960, no. 1457; as for physics, with Presidential Decree of the 1st of October
1982, no. 908.
The subjects, except for religion or alternative activities (optional subjects), are Italian, Latin, Greek, foreign language (only in the first two years), history and philosophy, natural sciences, chemistry and geography, mathematics and physics, history of art, physical education. The weekly timetable foresees 27 teaching hours in the first two years, 28 hours in the third and fourth years, 29 hours in the fifth year.
Licei scientifici
Teaching programmes were approved in 1945 and updated, as for Latin, with Presidential Decree of 20 March 1967 no. 223, as for history, with Presidential Decree of 6 November 1960, no. 1457; as for physical education, with Presidential Decree of the 1st of October
1982, no. 908. This subject, except for religion or alternative activities (optional subjects), are Italian, Latin, foreign language, history and philosophy, natural sciences, chemistry and geography, mathematics and physics, history of art, physical education.
The weekly timetable foresees 25 hours in the first year, 27 hours in the second year, 28 hours in the third year, 29 hours in the fourth year and 30 hours in the fifth year.
Licei artistici
Teaching programmes were approved with Royal Decree of 19 June 1924, no. 1239; howev- er, according to Ministerial circular of 20 January 1970, Consigli dei docenti were authorised to introduce adequate adjustments to them. Teaching programmes of history approved with Presidential Decree of 6 November 1960, and physical education, approved with Presidential Decree of the 1stof October 1982, no. 908, apply also to licei artistici.
Teaching subjects, except for religion or alternative activities (optional subjects), are Italian literature and history, history of art, mathematics and physics, natural sciences, chemistry and geography, physical education, drawn figure and modelling figure, geometrical drawing, perspective, anatomy.
The weekly timetable foresees 39 hours the first year and 40 hours the second year; 43 hours
the third year and 44 hours the fourth year for sections specialising in figurative arts and stage-designing; 41 hours the third and fourth years for sections specialising in architecture. Some schools have used experimentation not only to introduce new branches of study [5.11.2.] but also to introduce other subjects (ICT, history of art in the first two years, and foreign language in the tree-year period of the liceo classico, etc.) or to modify the amount of teaching hours of some subjects.
5.13.3. Vocational upper secondary education
Istituti tecnici
Technical education underwent the most relevant transformations through experimentations elaborated by the Ministry; as a consequence, the original teaching programs, subjects and timetables established through Presidential Decree of 30 September 1961 no. 1222, were not implemented for a long time. They were replaced by programs, subjects and timetables fore- seen by experimental projects which affect by now all technical education specialisations. We give here below only some general indications:
• teaching programs are established by the decrees that authorised experimental projects and are based on strengthening the study of humanities, scientific and technical subjects to the detriment of practical exercises. Programs of the two-year period are the same and change in the three-year period according to the different specialisations;
• subjects of the two-year period, except from religion or alternative subject (optional sub- ject), are Italian, history, foreign language, mathematics, physics, natural sciences, chem- istry and geography, and some specialisation subjects (for example, technical drawing in the Industrial technical institute) and practical exercises. As for the three-year period, the subjects typical of the branch of study will be added to the subjects of the two-year peri- od;
• weekly timetable foresees 32-38 hours, according to the different classes and branches of study.
Istituti professionali
Whereas technical education was updated mainly through experimentation co-ordinated at ministerial level, vocational education was reformed in 1992 as indicated below.
The courses leading to vocational qualifications have been considerably reduced, based on the assumption that if initial training is not too specialised, the student’s personality can become more flexible and he/she can be better introduced into the working world or be re-trained. The new system introduced the concept of basic training in the first three years, also as a guidance period helping to pass on to other courses or schools. Professional specialist options are still found in the fourth and fifth year.
Subjects are divided into:
• an area comune: Italian, History, Foreign Language, Law and Economics, Mathematics and Computer Science, Earth Science and Biology, Physical Education, Religion (upon request), for a total of 22 hours per week in the first and second year, 12-15 hours per week in the third year;
• an area di indirizzo: technological and vocational subjects for 14 hours per week in the first and second class, 21-24 hours per week in the third class;
• an area di approfondimento: 4 hours per week in each class.
Curricula outline standards and contents for the area comune and the area di indirizzo, while teachers have the broadest planning powers, since teaching must be focused on the goals of the institutes. The latter depend on the vocational training sector, as well as on local reality and on the evolving cultural, economic and productive traditions.
The area di approfondimento is entrusted to the autonomous planning of each school in order to reach the general goals established. All students must attend compulsory courses, but the class groups can be divided based on specific training targets. The lessons can fall within the curriculum or else be grouped into one or more modules correctly organised in the yearly school planning. The Consigli di classe must specify the contents within the framework of the school plans. The Collegi dei docenti, when identifying educational activities of the in-depth learning area area di approfondimento, must consider the specific conditions of the district,