Italy – Country Background Information
- Describing the forms of education in the country
- Identifying an ‘inclusive setting’ in the country
- What an ‘official decision of SEN’ means in the country
- What ‘out-of-education’ means in the country
The EASIE data collection covers all recognised forms of education at ISCED levels 02, 1, 2 and 3.
This means any type of education organised by or approved by any recognised educational provider in the public or private sector: municipality, local or regional educational provider from the public or private sector, working with/for ministries responsible for education and areas such as health, social, welfare, labour, justice, etc.
Compulsory schooling concerns the age group between 6 and 16 years and is fulfilled attending the first cycle of education (i.e. the 5 years of primary school and the 3 years of lower-secondary school) and the first two years of secondary schools in second degree, or, alternatively, by attending educational courses and professional training carried out by training structures accredited by the Regions.
After the age of 16 there is an educational obligation until learners have graduated from high school or achieved a qualification through a professional course.
In addition, to fulfil the right and duty to education and training, there are professional apprenticeship qualifications for young people between the ages of 15 and 25, a form of contract with a maximum duration of three or four years in the case of a four-year regional diploma.
What are the typical age ranges for the ISCED levels?
| ISCED LEVEL 02 | ISCED LEVEL 1 | ISCED LEVEL 2 | ISCED LEVEL 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-5 years | 6-10 years | 11-13 years | 14-18 years |
Data provided by the Ministry of Education refers specifically to public schools and to private publicly-subsidised schools.
In Italy there are 3 types of schools: public schools, private publicly-subsidised schools (scuole paritarie) and private schools. Scuole paritarie can issue certificates with the same legal value as qualifications from state schools of the same type and level. The national education system is composed of public schools and private publicly-subsidised schools, so national data refers only to them.
Statistical surveys that are periodically collected also contain data related to private schools that are not publicly subsidised (however, these schools are not obliged to provide data, unlike the public and the private publicly-subsidised schools).
Vocational education and training: that is, the specific training path undertaken to obtain a profession and to be ready to enter (or re-enter) the labour market, in structures accredited by the Regions.
Data on vocational education and training is provided by National Institute for Public Policy Analysis (INAPP) and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies (MLPS).
This type of education is permitted by the Italian legal system and exercisable by families of fulfilling the obligation to educate minors of 16 years:
- directly, therefore fulfilling the education obligation within the domestic context;
- indirectly, by assigning the function to a private tutor, who has the relative competences or in non-formal education.
Though these children do not attend school, they are enrolled in mainstream education and are assessed at the end of each school year (to guarantee the fulfilment of the duty to education, the learner must take an exam to access the next school year).
In the EASIE data collection, an inclusive setting is operationally defined as:
A recognised form of education where the child/learner follows education in mainstream classes alongside their peers for the largest part – 80% or more – of the school week.
The 80% time placement benchmark clearly indicates that a child/learner is educated in a mainstream class for the majority of their school week. At the same time, it acknowledges possibilities for small group or one-to-one withdrawal for limited periods of time (i.e. 20% or one day a week).
Very few participating countries can provide exact data on children/learners spending 80% of their time in a mainstream group/class. However, all countries can apply one of three agreed proxies that provide an approximation to this benchmark:
- Placement in a mainstream class implies over 80% or more
- Data is available on the number of hours of support allocated to a child/learner
- Placement in a mainstream class implies over 50% or more.
In the EASIE data collection, the agreed operational definition is:
An official decision leads to a child/learner being recognised as eligible for additional educational support to meet their learning needs.
Countries may have different types of official decision, but for all official decisions:
- There has been some form of educational assessment procedure involving different people. This procedure may involve the child/learner, parents, school-based team members, as well as professionals from multi-disciplinary teams from outside the child’s/learner’s (pre-)school.
- There is some form of legal document (plan/programme, etc.) that describes the support the child/learner is eligible to receive, which is used as the basis for decision-making.
- There is some form of regular review process of the child/learner’s needs, progress and support.
In Italy, according to law 104/92 (art. 3, par. 1), a person with a disability is ‘one who presents a physical, mental or sensory impairment, stable or progressive, which causes difficulties in learning, relations or work integration, so as to cause social disadvantage and exclusion’. If a person is recognised as disabled according to law 104/1992, there is an ‘official decision’ of SEN.
The process starts with parents, who require a collegial assessment from the local health authority (according to law 104/1992, art. 12 and 13). The operating profile is drawn up by a multidisciplinary assessment unit and given by the family to the school. This document precedes the ‘individual educational plan’ that is necessary to establish an individualised path for the learner with disabilities for a more effective school inclusion. These documents are described in detail below.
An Assessment Report indicates the nature – stable or progressive – and the degree of severity of the pathology, ascertained with reference to the World Health Organization’s international classifications. The assessment report precedes the operating profile.
The Operating Profile (Profilo di funzionamento), in accordance with the legislative decree n. 96/2019, is a document that replaces the functional diagnosis and the functional dynamic profile (documents that until now were necessary for school inclusion). This document is drawn up after the assessment of the condition of disability in developmental age, by a multidisciplinary assessment unit within the national health system composed of a specialist in neuropsychiatry, a psychologist, rehabilitation therapist and social services operators, in collaboration with the learner’s parents. The family gives the operating profile o the school and precedes the individual education plan.
The Individual Education Plan (PEI) is a document that is drawn up at school by the Gruppo di Lavoro Operativo (GLO – operational working group for the inclusion of individual pupils with disabilities) with the collaboration of the learner and their family, in compliance with the principle of self-determination. The document is drawn up every year to allow an individual school path for pupils with certified disabilities.
The operating profile is updated with the passage of each level of education, starting from kindergarten, as well as in the presence of new physical or mental conditions. The PEI is drawn up every school year by the school and the family.
Within the EASIE data collection, specific questions examine children/learners who are out of education. This means children/learners who should, by law, be in some form of recognised education, but who are out of any form of recognised education. A recognised form of education is any type of education organised by or approved by any recognised educational provider in the public or private sector.
In Italy, the definition of out of education refers to different categories:
- drop-out;
- early leaving of education and training (ELET);
- young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).
In addition to the international ELET indicator, Italy quantifies the phenomenon of early school leaving at national level, from the National Student Registry data, which collects a lot of information relating to each learner attending the Italian school system for administrative purposes. The National Student Registry was established by legislative decree 15 April 2005 n. 76; subsequently, ministerial decree n. 74/2010 gave full implementation and defined the characteristics and methods of data acquisition. The main purpose of the Registry is to establish a monitoring tool to provide contrast to early school leaving in Italy.
Italy processes a drop-out rate, separately for ISCED 2 and ISCED 3, that includes:
- pupils attending school who interrupt their attendance without a valid reason before the end of the year (dropping out during the year) – ISCED 2;
- pupils who have attended the entire school year, in ISCED 2, and who do not pass to the following year either in order or as repeating (dropping out between school years);
- pupils who do not pass from ISCED 2 to ISCED 3;
- pupils attending school who interrupt their attendance without a valid reason before the end of the year (dropping out during the year) – ISCED 3;
- pupils who have attended the entire school year, in ISCED 3, and who do not pass to the following year either in order or as repeating (dropping out between school years).
The operational definition of out-of-school considers the monitoring of two school years, in ISCED 2 and 3, as follows:
- attendance interruption (drop-out) during the school year;
- non-attendance at the following school year of a learner who attended the whole school year (drop-out between one school year and the next).
In both cases, inexcusable non-attendance and non-recovered drop-out are considered.