The Fondazione Agnelli’s 2011 Report on School in Italy offers an in-depth analysis of the critical issues for junior secondary schools in the country, in search of the reasons for their shortcomings and trying to define the meaning of their current “mission”
“More equal and, therefore, more effective: rebooting Italy’s junior secondary schools.”
Families and public opinion see junior secondary schools as the soft underbelly in Italy’s education system. On the international level, any comparison concludes they are lagging in terms of learning quality.
Is all of this true, and why? The Fondazione Agnelli’s Rapporto sulla scuola in Italia 2011 (2011 Report on School in Italy) offers an in-depth analysis of the critical issues for junior secondary schools in the country (teachers, students, educational and organisational resources), in search of the reasons for their shortcomings and trying to define the meaning of their current “mission”. Indeed, while junior secondary schools in the 1960s and 1970s served their original purpose of advancing the population’s cultural level by completing compulsory education, today they appear to be an in-between land where not all students are given the same chances for academic success.
Just like the two previous Reports, this edition counted on the multi-disciplinary contributions of a team of experts; its conclusions offer policy recommendations for a renewal of junior secondary schools that can make them both more egalitarian and more effective.