“Wait for the results and you will see that the Made in Italy high school has absolutely satisfactory results,” said Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara. According to information gathered by Today.it, this was not exactly the case. Schools that will operate Made in Italy high schools are few and even non-existent in some regions. And the extension of membership periods requested by the Ministry within the deadline may be confirmation that something is wrong.
The new working process was widely supported by government officials: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced it months ago in Vinitaly. But little else remained beyond the advertisement, and the category’s misgivings remained unheard: sketchy study plans, vague or incomplete information, and professorships at risk. More than 84 thousand students were enrolled in the socio-economic branch in the last academic year. The new Made in Italy high school that will replace it will definitely be far from these numbers.
The new Made in Italy high school: what is it?
The new high school that the Meloni government wants is part of the bill approved by the Parliament in Made in Italy. The stated aim is to “promote knowledge, skills and competences linked to Made in Italy, given the harmony between job supply and demand”. The memo sent to schools by the Ministry of Education states that the new path “will allow students to develop entrepreneurial skills suitable for the promotion and evaluation of certain production sectors of Made in Italy.”
The Made in Italy high school can only be activated by humanities high schools and replaces the economic-social option, but can only start from the first grades of the 2024/2025 school year. The new path will not be an additional possibility in the educational offers of Italian schools: This is because the law does not foresee “new or greater burdens on public finances”. The Made in Italy high school should cost the public purse 0 and therefore replace an already existing course of study.
According to the latest data from the statistics office of the Ministry of National Education, the number of students currently enrolled in humanities high schools with the economic-social option is just under 83 thousand, that is, about 6 percent of those enrolled in Italian high schools. Registrations to this address have increased since the day it was introduced.
Information regarding the new address is unclear. There is no regulation yet that determines students’ teaching periods and learning outcomes. The law will be published within 90 days from December 27, when it was published in the Official Gazette.
In general, there are minimal differences between a Made in Italy high school and a humanities high school with economic and social options, but they are decisive. The critical issues were reported at the State-Regions Conference and were mainly related to timing and the change between the two directions. Additionally, basic information regarding the study plan is missing.
“Incomplete” study plan of Made in Italy high school: Three years missing
Lack of knowledge is the main reason that leads to low enrollment in Made in Italy high school Italian schools. What we know about the work plan covers only the first two years; Nothing is known about the three-year period. As can be seen from the comparison in the image below, the new study plan covers a total of 891 hours divided into eleven topics. The number of hours of the various courses corresponds to those of the economic and social high school, but the humanities are lost among the double law and economics, which are taught in separate courses in the new high school.
In addition, art history courses will be taught throughout the two-year period of the Made in Italy high school and fewer hours will be devoted to teaching a second foreign language. Registration for families will be possible from January 24 to February 10; This means that institutes will activate courses without having any idea who is enrolling. However, there are very few schools where it would be possible to do this.
Disappointing numbers for Made in Italy high school: what doesn’t work
According to data collected by Today.it among regional school offices, unions and schools, the number of institutes that have activated the new path is small, while some regions will be excluded altogether and there will be no new Made in Italy high schools.
No schools in Friuli Venezia Giulia will activate the new road, the regional school office reported. According to CGIL, in Tuscany “among the approximately 30 existing economic-social high schools, membership can be counted on the fingers of one hand”. There will be two Made in Italy high schools in Liguria: at the Firpo-Buonarroti public institute in Genoa and at the Della Rovere high school in Savona. Only one will start in Emilia-Romagna in Parma. Membership levels in the South are similar.
What are the reasons for the lack of interest? The tightness of deadlines discouraged institutes. The circular containing the working methods sent by the Ministry to schools was dated December 29, 2023, and the deadline for participation was set as January 15, and was then extended to January 18, 2024. The news of the extension by the Ministry came right on the deadline day. Little time left for schools was recognized as a problem by the National Principals Association, unions and the high schools interviewed.
But not only that: Teachers’ fear of losing their professorships and lack of knowledge also had a negative impact. The A-18 competition class (Philosophy and Humanities) is not part of the Made in Italy high school, contrary to the current social economic trend. “Made in Italy high school eliminates these competitive classes,” Domenico Di Fatta, head teacher of the Regina Margherita high school in Palermo, tells Today.it, part of the national network of economic and social high schools (LES). ) – It is obvious that those who teach these subjects are afraid of being left without homework. There is no indication of this even in textbooks. Schools that are Les have nothing against Made in Italy, but it is not clear why teachers should suffer.”
The Les network had highlighted the lack of basic information in a statement: “There is no clarity in the work plan and the regulation is missing, the indications of the law are unclear,” Colombini High School principal Monica Ferri tells Today. Piacenza – We do not know the disciplines and who will teach them. “We have not activated it, we are waiting for further information.”
According to Cobas, “70 to 80 percent of the schools monitored report that they do not participate. The Made in Italy high school was rejected by the vast majority. The ways in which they wanted to impose this high school, the scarcity of schools’ content, and the risk of losing business meant that colleges refused membership. And there were a few that enabled this I don’t know if the school will be able to create classes,” Davide Zotti (Cobas) told Today.
According to Stefano D’Errico, national secretary of Unicobas, “registrations were very low. We recorded the lowest levels in Campania, Sicily, Basilicata and Calabria. The ministry’s own goal is to accelerate at all costs something that has obvious critical problems.” On our recommendation, the colleges also adopted resolutions against the establishment of a Made in Italy high school, because at this rate it would become a minimalist higher institution. public affairs”.
The Meloni government’s new Made in Italy high school has been postponed for this school year: the failure comes directly from the schools.
Source: Today IT
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
