The Italian Education System

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The Italian Education System

• Viterbo 20th February 2003

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Nursery School

• contributes to the affective, cognitive and
  social development of children between 3 and 6
  years of age.
• aims at promoting children independence,
  creativity and learning potentialities as well as
  assuring equal education opportunities in the
  respect of the educational orientation of their
  parents

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Nursery School Organisation

• creation of a comfortable and stimulating living
  environment suitable for communicating and
  learning
• offer of activities both structured and free,
  differentiated, gradual and mediated
• emphasis on the importance of games, exploration
  and research as well as social life

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Primary Education

• aims at the education of the person and the
  citizen in the framework of the principles
  enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic
• aims at the interaction with families and the
  broader social community
• aims to promote initial cultural literacy

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Primary School main Educational Features

• teaching moves from an all-encompassing
  pre-disciplinary approach to the identification
  of the various disciplines
• teaching activities entail a multi-disciplinary
  approach

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Secondary Education

• Lower secondary
• a 3-year cycle organisational variations of
  school time
• Upper secondary
• Classic Lycées,
• Scientific Lycées
• Art College, (Art Lycées), Technical schools
  
• Vocational Schools

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Lower Secondary Education

• contributes to preparing young people and
  citizens for life based on the principles
  established by the Constitution and promotes
  guidance to help young people choose their
  careers
• complies with the democratic principle of
  improving the education of each citizen and in
  general of the whole Italian people

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Lower Secondary Education Educational Project

• identify students' needs based on their
  socio-cultural background and initial situations
  
• define final, intermediate and immediate targets,
  concerning the cognitive and non-cognitive
  spheres and their interactions
• devise activities and organise contents according
  to established goals
• identify adequate methods, materials and
  textbooks
• monitor the teaching learning process

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Upper Secondary Education

• Classic Lycées and Scientific Lycées prepare
  young people for university and higher education
• Technical Schools and Vocational Schools provide
  young people with a vocational specialisation,
  while ensuring the opportunity of acquiring
  general cultural Knowledge

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Higher Education

• Post-secondary training courses
• Courses of Higher Technical Education and
  Training (IFTS)
• Higher Education for the Arts and Music and other
  types of non university higher education.
• Higher education in universities

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Post-secondary Training Courses

• provide practical and theoretical activities also
  including periods of on-the-job training
• last max 600 hours
• are addressed to students who have completed
  their secondary education
• conclude with final examinations either written
  or oral/practical aimed to ascertain the level of
  skill attained
• are organised and managed by local authorities,
  in particular by the Regions

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Higher Technical Education and Training

• improves and widen the educational offer for both
  employed and unemployed young people and adults
• assures integration among educational systems, on
  the basis of guidelines defined by the Ministry
  of Education University and Research, in
  agreement with the Ministry of Labour and
  Welfare, the Unified Conference which includes
  State, Regions, local governments and social
  partners

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IFTS Courses

• are planned and carried out by minimum four
  educational subjects school, vocational
  training, university, enterprise or another
  public or private subject, formally associated in
  the form of a consortium
• are addressed to people who have attained their
  school leaving diploma/certification

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IFTS Courses

• aim to develop professional specialisations which
  meet the requirements of the labour market, in
  both public and private sectors
• entail interactive teaching methods, ICT, a
  balance between activities carried out in the
  lecture room and training in a real working
  environment
• permit to obtain intermediate and final credits
  recognised at national and international level

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University Education

• Regulation n. 509 of 1999
• reformation of university courses carried out in
  the academic year 2001/02
• In Italian universities there are courses based
  on the old regulation, destined to disappear, and
  courses based on the new regulation.

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University Education

• Laurea (L) course three years (180 credits)
• Laurea Specialistica (LS) course two more years
  (120 credits)
• University Master course of 1st level
• Specialisation course of 1st level
• University Master course of 2nd level
• Specialisation course of 2nd level
• Research Doctorate course

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University Education

• Laurea (L) course aims to provide students with a
  high level of understanding of methods, cultural
  and scientific aspects of their field, as well as
  specific a professional understanding
• Laurea Specialistica (LS) course aims to provide
  students with advanced competence for highly
  qualified activities in specific sectors
• The specialisation course aims to provide for
  knowledge and skills for specific professional
  activities

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University Education

• Research Doctorate course aims at training for
  highly specialised research
• The Master course aims at ensuring scientific
  specialisation and high permanent and recurrent
  training