Monday, June 4, 2012

Education in Italy


Today I had a vocational visit in the morning then our group did a tour of the city center with a guide. Since this post is about Education there are not any images. Nevertheless, I'm going to intermingle a few photos of sights we have seen with the information about the vocational visit.





St. Andrews Basilica- Vercelli

Our visit was to the Regional Education Offices - the rough equivalent to the Virginia Department of Education. There are 19 Regions in Italy each one having some autonomy within the Italian Ministry of Education. The office we visited covers 214 schools.



The Alps - Aosta (Tara, Alessandro - our driver, interpreter, and friend; Me)
Education is compulsory or required from the age of 6-16 after that “graduating” or getting a high school diploma is up to each individual student. There are pros and cons to this system of course, but on a national level only 8% of student continue the last two years of high school. A student does need to complete the last two years to go on to university.

The Savoy Family's hunting castle - Aosta
Italians go to school for 13 years just like us, but their high school is five years. During this time the students choose a course of study in classical or vocational study.  Within classical they can study one of the following areas: history, science, languages, human science, music and dance or arts. In vocational or technical school students can study one of the following areas: business, hospitality, mechanics or craftsman. That means that once a student enters high school at age 14 they only study that specific area and no other.

Seal at the Aquarium - Genova
As a Virginia teacher, I had some very specific questions the first of which related to assessments. The students in this region take an annual test covering the body of knowledge taught. This test is developed and given by the teacher. At the end of elementary, middle, and secondary school (10th grade) students are given a state exam that covers Italian and Math. Passing this exam is necessary to go on to the next level of school.

Gorgeous Column dated from the 14th century
For my other questions, things were getting lost in translation so I still have no answers.

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