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Conference
2008 Safe
Internet Use
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Highlights
of previous SSBA conferences :-
2007 Developing a
Parent Council and Encouraging Parental Involvement
2006 The Way Forward
for Parental Involvement
2005 Parents in
Partnership
2003 Partnerships and
responsibilities
2002 SSBA is fit for
the future
2001 Roadshow
2000 International
and published book
available here online
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Conference 2000-----------------------
Workshops
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"The
role of parents in the
Italian Educational System" |
The Italian educational system is
undergoing a transformation as it’s setting out for
the self government of the school establishment as far as
teaching, administrative and functional decentralization
conditions are concerned. Besides, the compulsory school
attendance has been risen to 15 years with the reform of
the school cycles, complying with the European standards:
7 years of primary school, from 6 to 13 years, 2 years of
vocational guidance and 3 years of specific trend.
However, such a great revolution started from the
changing of the Italian school system which, up to now,
has been centralizing and bureaucratic, rigidly and
hierarchically organized, and nowadays it has been
transformed into a systematizing type reticular school
system. There had been a first great reform in 1974 with
the "Delegated Decrees". At that time it was
born the first forms of democratic collegiate system:
Councils of class and between classes in the primary and
the lower secondary schools, attended by teachers and
parents, and Councils of Institute attended by the
Chairman (one parent) 6 teachers, 6 parents one member of
the technical/ auxiliary staff, as well as students in
the higher secondary school.
This type of
attendance, which seemed first rate, ended in failure as
its real weight in the school policy was minimum: the
parents’ role was only a suggesting and consulting
one.
As I
previously said, nowadays the whole Italian school trim
is changing: the system, by directing itself towards the
total quality, had to revise the roles of each member, by
strengthening the examination and evaluation moments as
well as the teachers’ training.
Parents
start to play a different role, no longer only a
consulting and suggesting role but also decision making
and evaluation. main educational action of every school
establishment becomes the POF "Piano
dell’Offerta Formativa" (The Educational Plan)
a document where to include the educational proposals,
the needs, the and the resources of each member of the
school. Parents are asked to outline, with the teachers,
the course of the educational action, and more than this,
they may become a resource for the same school and be
part of the educational program; finally, they will be
asked to evaluate what the school establishment has done
each year.
Case-study:
The
school where I teach is a lower secondary school
in a village – S. Stefano Magra – in
the neighborhood of La Spezia, in Liguria.
Inhabited by 8000 villagers, till few years ago
it was an agricultural village, now it is
undergoing a phase of rapid industrialization. It
is an important commercial junction in the area.
Starting next year, the school will be an
inclusive institute, that is, with the nursery
school and the primary school, that is, a single
base school. It has 250 students aging from 11 to
14, 28 teachers and 6 people appointed to the
administrative and technical works. The area
presents strong migration flows from South Italy
with areas of population culturally deprived.
This
year, under the self-government stage, all
parents were called to express themselves on some
very important organization decisions : duration
of the teaching hours (50 or 60 minutes) return
to school in the afternoon, possible school
closing on Saturday, choice of a second Community
language, besides English, choice of the optional
laboratories, choice of excellence subjects:
Latin or Informatics.
The
invitation to participate has been enlarged to
all the parent’s associations on the
territory.
There
have been few meetings attended by all parents to
whom set of questions have been given to record
the results later on. These results were lately
discussed in the Council of Institute with the
other member of the school.
Then,
it has been appointed an integrated group, of
parents and support teachers to the
headmastership staff, formed by three upper level
teachers. They have the task to test the needs of
students, parents, territory, to fill in a report
every two months, for giving effective and
efficient answers.
And
more, a parent will be in the handicap commission
of the school, to represent the needs of the
families of injured students or with difficulty
in learning. Their role is basic because, by Law
(L. 517/77), the Individual educational plan for
students with handicap, has to be drawn up with
these students’ parents.
Parents
in Past Legislation
1.1 Basic
legislation
Italian
school legislation has its foundations in a number of
Articles of the Constitution of the Republican State.
Articles 30, 33, 34 and 38 in particular lay down the
principles on which legislation must be based. Basic
principles which cannot be waived include the freedom of
education, the duty of the state to provide a network of
educational establishments of every type and level and
open to everyone with no discrimination of any type, the
right of private individuals to establish schools and
educational establishments at no cost to the State, the
right-duty of parents to provide education for their
children even if born outside the bonds of matrimony. If
parents cannot do so, measures must be taken by law to
help them to carry out their duties. Appropriate measures
must be taken to enable capable and deserving students to
enter higher
levels of education even if they lack financial
resources. The education of citizens also includes the
education and vocational training of disabled and
handicapped citizens.
The fundamental principles of the Constitution were kept
as a basis for all subsequent legislation, particularly
with regard to compulsory education, teacher training,
student assessment, the integration of handicapped
pupils, and vocational training.
Some of the fundamental laws which have determined the
education policy in Italy are the following:
- Law no. 1859 of 31st December 1962 created the unified
middle school;
- Law no. 910 of 11 December 1969 liberalised access to
Universities;
- Law no. 477 of 1973 made the Government responsible for
issuing regulations on the legal status of all State
school personnel, the establishment of assemblies organi
collegiali and
educational experimentation with the resulting delegate
decrees of May 31, 1974;
- Law no.517 of 1977 provided the regulations to be
applied to primary and lower secondary education
concerning planning of teaching activity, students’
assessment and integration of handicapped pupils;
- Law no.270 of 1982 provided for some significant
changes in the regulations concerning the legal status of
teachers, with particular reference to their recruitment
and initial training;
- Law no. 168 of 9 May 1989 established the Ministry for
University and Scientific and Technological Research;
- Law no.148 of 5th June 1990 reformed the order of
primary education;
- Outline Law no. 104 of 5 February for the school
integration of handicapped people;
- Law 13-3-1997, no. 59 which under art. 21 has granted
autonomy to schools of all levels and type, accompanied
by a process of rationalisation and merging of schools,
and granting more autonomy to Universities.
In the Unified Text (Testo Unico) of legislation on the
subject of education, published on 16th April 1994 the
main regulation in force at present, with the exception
of those concerning higher university education, have
been collected.
1.2
Compulsory Education
Compulsory
education involves students aged 6 to 14, it therefore
includes both primary education (6 to 11) and lower
secondary education (12 to 14). The responsibility of
controlling student attendance is given to head teachers Direttori
didattici in
primary schools and Presidi in secondary schools and the
administrators of the Communes where students have their
official residence.
In the case of primary education, the Mayor of each
Commune must provide each head teacher (Direttore
Didattico) with the names of all the children who
will attend the first year of primary school in his/her
establishment. The names can be obtained from the General
Register Office and must be communicated before the
beginning of the school year. During the following years
student attendance must be ensured by the Head teacher (Direttore
Didattico), who must keep a complete and up-to-date
school record with information on students who have moved
or transferred to other schools.
For the enrolment of students in secondary school, the
Head teacher (Direttore Didattico) must send to each
lower secondary school scuola media a list of all students who have
completed their primary education in his/her
establishment and should enrol there. In the absence of a
specific request from parents, the school establishment
attended by a student will depend on the territorial
distribution established by school and local authorities.
The head teacher Preside of each secondary school (scuola media)
must ascertain all his/her students’ enrolment.
During the school year the regular attendance of students
must be checked by the head teacher and teachers who must
request from parents a justification for their
children’s absence from school.
Whenever a child is not enrolled or does not attend
school, the parents or persons entrusted with parental
authority are punished with a fine applied by the
authorities of the Commune of residence. In order to
avoid non-attendance of schools and the exploitation of
minors, the Commune or school authorities can even ask
for the help of social workers or the police.
A hot debate on the extension of compulsory education has
been going on in Italy for many years, but up-till now
legal provision has been taken in this matter; recently
the Chamber of Deputies has passed the bill for the
extension of compulsory schooling to the age of 15 but
the Senate must still approve the relevant regulations
for it to become law.
Compulsory education may also be provided by a
child’s family scuola paterna , i.e. the child’s parents or a tutor
of their choice. Every year, parents must send to the
Provincial Director of Education) Provveditore
agli studi a
statement that they intend to take care of their
child’s education together with supporting evidence
of their ability to do so. For each educational level the
student will be required to pass an examination.
The number of parents opting for this type of education,
however, is very small.
1.3
Democratic assemblies
There are four levels of assemblies, one
only for teachers and the others attended by teacher and
parents:
The
Teachers' Assembly Collegio dei docenti is made up of the permanent
and temporary teachers from each primary school group
or individual primary or secondary school and is
chaired by the head teacher. It formulates teaching
and educational plans for each academic year, taking
account of the particular conditions and
environmental needs observed in the area in which the
school is located, the national learning targets, and
decides on the different types of interdisciplinary
co-ordination, while respecting the freedom of
teaching of each teacher. It periodically evaluates
the teaching standards being offered, in order to
check that they are in keeping with the planned
objectives, and proposes, wherever necessary,
appropriate measures to improve educational
activities. The Assembly selects textbooks, having
consulted the Inter-class Consiglio
di interclasse
and Class Councils Consiglio di classe , and teaching materials
within the financial limits laid down by the School
Council Consiglio di istituto . It approves and promotes
experimental teaching, educational research and
training activities within the school (Law 30 July
1973, no.477 and D.P.R. 31 May1974, no.419). it is
consulted by head teachers as regards class
formation, lesson timetables and the performance of
school activities, taking account of the general
criteria laid down by the School Council (Consiglio
di istituto) and the proposals of the Class
Council.The head of Institute assembly is a parent
Glossary Terms
Teachers
Council/Collegio dei docenti
Assemblies
at school levels that function in active
administration and supervise the application of
educational programming in the school.
Interclass
Council/Consiglio di interclasse
At
primary school level, this is the assembly that has
the task of programming, assessing and experimenting
at the level of the individual class. It is made up
of the teachers of groups of classes at the same
level or same cycle or same school, and
representatives of the parents. At the nursery school
level it is called consiglio di intersezione.
Class
Council/Consiglio di classe
At
secondary school level, the assembly assigned the
task of programming the educational and didactic
activity, experimental activities and evaluating each
individual class.
School
Assembly/Consiglio di istituto
At
secondary school level, the assembly that decides and
applies the general lines of educational policy and
determines means of self-financing of the individual
schools. It has deciding power as regards the
organisation and programming school activities.
1.4
Involvement of parents
Parents'
meetings can be held at section, class or school level.
The representatives of the parents in these councils, can
appoint a committee of parents of the group circolo or of the school.
The meetings take place outside school hours and the
assembly must have a set of norms regulating its
activities which must be submitted to the Group Council
or to the School Council.
The head teacher Direttore Didattico or Preside and the teachers of the section,
class or school can actively participate in the meetings
of the section, class or school.
The parents can choose to form associations outside
school institutions depending on their educational aims,
ideology, or religion and they can participate with their
own symbols in the elections of representatives in these
democratic school-assemblies.
Parents in Recent Legislation
New Regulations of Italian School in Progress
The
reorganization of the instruction cycles is changing from
a Centralized System involving.
to a new
mould involving:
The new
mould of the education system articulates over 12 years,
instead the present 13 years, following the main lines
issued by the European Community, and expressly directed
to our Country, which
scheduled
the leaving of the Education Cycle at 18 years, as it
occurs in the other European Countries.
This has
involved the modification of all the bills originally
presented by the Parliament, the majority and opposition
political forces, all articulated on a 13 years study
cycle.
The main
innovation is however the autonomy of the schools with
its main conceptual categories which are:
Flexibility,
involving both the organization mould of the didactic
activity and the school service;
Integration,
attaining the link between schools, territory and the
working world;
Unitary
Strategy that, in conformity with the centrality of
the Educational Plan (P.O.F.), involves the school staff,
the families, the pupils and the political and social
forces in a common action to reach the widely shared
goals.
Innovation
on the educational and methodological plan, considering
the resort to the teaching by Modula and to the new
technologies.
The
evaluation of the Instruction quality, with reference
to indicators as efficiency (relation between resources
and result) and effectiveness (the existing relation
between scheduled goals and reached results)
The ties put
to the autonomy can be detected on:
the
educational system (the cycles reorganization
bill is at the examination of the VII Commission
of the Parliament);
the
formative standards;
the
hours scheduled for entire educational cycle and
for each subject;
the
ministerial main lines.
As far as
the didactic and organization autonomy are concerned we
have to single out:
the
educational and professional trend (as a process
aiming both to the organization of experiences,
of logical processes and learning strategy, and
to the full valorization of competencies, skills
and the students’ potentialities);
the
enrichment of the Educational Plan (P.O.F.) with
the aim to promote and sustain not only the
teaching individualization but also the positive
and constructive forms of connection and
integration between schools and territory.
The
professional profile of the teachers on the autonomous
school is pointed out by:
the
cultural and professional autonomy of the
teachers. It carries on individual and collegial
activities and attend to formation and up-dating
activities during the service;
according
to the educational autonomy, teachers, during the
collegial activities, elaborate, actuate, verify
the pedagogical-educational aspects, the
educational plan;
the
teachers’ professional profile is
constituted by pedagogical,
methodological-didactic, disciplinary, research
and organization-relational correlate and
integrating competencies which develop with the
ripening of the educational experience, the study
activities and the systematization of the
educational practice;
the
work duty of the teaching staff is functional to
the service time scheduled by the activity plan
and are finalized to the development of the
teaching activities and to all the further
activities of research, scheduling, evaluation
and documentation necessary to the effective
development of the educational processes.
The
recent legislation change the parents’ roll in
relation to:
M. Rosaria
Micheloni
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