Education in Italy

History

From Italian Unification to the Gentile Act

In Italy, a state-wide school system, or Education System has existed since 1859, when the Legge Casati (Casati Act) mandated educational responsibilities for the forthcoming Italian state (Italian unification took place in 1861).

The school year (A.S.) usually begins around September 15th, the academic year (A.A.) around October 1st.

Present Situation

Today, there are two stages of education in Italy: primary and secondary. Secondary education (Scuole Medie) is further divided in two stages: "Medie Inferiori", which correspond to the Middle School grades, and "Medie Superiori", which correspond to the Secondary School level.

Primary school can be preceded by 3 years of nursery school/kindergarten, although kindergartens work as in Germany, and attending them is not compulsory.

Primary school lasts 5 years, and there is no final exam required to move on to additional education; the lower tier of "Scuole Medie" corresponds to Middle School, lasts 3 years, and involves an exam at the end of the third year. "Scuole Superiori" lasts another 5 years, with exams at the end of the final year. A typical Italian student is 19 when he enters university, while in the UK and other countries, 18 is the more common age.

Until middle school, the educational curriculum is uniform for all: although one can attend a private or state-funded school, the subjects studied are the same, except in special schools for the blind, the hearing-impaired, and so forth.

The secondary school situation varies, since there are several types of schools differentiated by subjects and activities. The main division is between the "Liceo", the "Istituto Tecnico" and the "Istituto Professionale".

The "Liceo" concept was created by Gentile, and in 1923 indicated a specific type of secondary school; today, it rather refers to a class of secondary schools oriented towards the study of the arts and sciences. All of the Licei have some subjects in common, such as Italian Literature or Mathematics (although the effective number of hours spent on each subject varies), while other subjects are peculiar to a particular type of Liceo (ie. Ancient Greek in the Liceo Classico or Geometrical Drawing in the Liceo Artistico).

The different types of Liceo are:

• "Liceo Classico", which features Latin, Ancient Greek, Literature and Philosophy as its most important subjects. There is a debate regarding the effective usefulness of some of the subjects taught, such as Ancient Greek.
• "Liceo Scientifico", where the emphasis is more on scientific and mathematical topics, such as geometry, calculus, chemistry or physics - although Latin, philosophy and literature are also taught in dept. Together with the Liceo Classico is the most prestigious in Italy. In addition it is more and more popular, being more modern and offering extra options (extra foreign language, informatics, extra science...)
• "Liceo Linguistico" puts emphasis on language learning and languages taught are usually English, French, Spanish and German - although recently Russian has been introduced as well.
• "Liceo Artistico", which is oriented toward arts teaching - in a theoretical (ie. History of the arts) and practical (ie. drawing sessions) sense.

The "Istituto Tecnico" (Technical Institute), called in Italian ITIS (Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale, i.e. National Technical/Industrial Institute) and ITC (Istituto Tecnico Commerciale i.e. Technical/Commercial Institute) is more oriented toward practical subjects, such as aeronautics, business administration, computer science and chemistry.

The "Istituto Professionale" offers a form of secondary education oriented toward more practical subjects, enabling the students to start searching for a job as soon as they have completed their studies (sometimes sooner, as some schools offer a diploma after 3 years instead of 5) and is even more specific in terms of vocational course offerings than the "Istituto Tecnico."

"Liceo" education involves a broad, specifically academic curriculum and is generally considered necessary for University preparation.

Costs

State schools charge an income-based fee but are largely funded by the state. A typical year's fee for high school is around €150, and for university can reach €1400 if the student still lives with his family, although all levels of education are free if the family doesn't earn a certain income.

Private schools, i.e. schools run by religious organizations, charge much higher fees, and there is no fixed upper limit for these.

School Years

• Primary Education
  • Scuola elementare (Primary School)
    • Year 1, age 6 to 7
    • Year 2, age 7 to 8
    • Year 3, age 8 to 9
    • Year 4, age 9 to 10
    • Year 5, age 10 to 11 (there isn't an exam at this point)

• Secondary Education
  • Scuola Media (Middle School)
    • Year 1, age 11 to 12
    • Year 2, age 12 to 13
    • Year 3, age 13 to 14 (Licenza di Scuola Media)
  • Scuola superiore (Secondary School)
    • Year 1, age 14 to 15
    • Year 2, age 15 to 16
    • Year 3, age 16 to 17
    • Year 4, age 17 to 18
    • Year 5, age 18 to 19 (Licenza di scuola superiore, former Maturità)

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