Italian Schools: 5 Things I Love About Them

2 things I don't, and 1 thing I'm not sure of yet

Italian schools are different - kids are required to go to school til age 16, all schools have some religion component, and high school marks the beginning of a career path. Additionally, you can choose to go to a school in any city or village, with your own willingness to commute and space available, of course. But the 5 reasons I love Italian schools are not related to these characteristics, but more correlated with stability, security, and enrichment.

Living in a foreign country requires constant awareness of ‘home bias’, unconsciously thinking that our experience in our home country is the ‘right way’ and different ways are ‘wrong’ - or not good enough. Do you ever catch yourself doing this this? I was initially very concerned about the Italian school system for a few reasons. Some was gossip, some was true, some was flat out incorrect. I created this list of pros and cons after 15 years bringing up a child in the Italian school system and teaching in both public and private Italian elementary and middle schools.

5 things I love about Italian schools

1. Safety

School started this week in Italy, the second week of September as usual. School has already begun in the United States. Last weekend, I spoke with my mom in the US about the school shooting and deaths in Georgia. I felt angry, frustrated, confused…and grateful, so grateful to live in Italy where school shootings are not even a thought.

This is not the reason I moved here, but it is one of the 3 main reasons we will not move back to the US.

The concept of practice evacuations or drills in schools is ubiquitous. Schools in northern Italy have fire drills. In southern Italy, they also have prove di evacuazione scuola for earthquakes. School shooter drills do not exist here. Growing up in Michigan, we also had tornado drills which I remember felt quite exotic and a little scary when I first moved there from upstate NY. It’s difficult for me to grasp how normalized the school shooter drills are for US children today, just as tornado drills were in Michigan. The inclusion of school shooter drills in schools seems like 2 things to me:

• the acceptance of regular school shootings as a ‘fact of life’, something that’s unpredictable and unavoidable like a natural distaster, and

• the equivalent of putting a used band-aid on a malignant tumor.

2. Inserimento

Inserimento is the slow and gradual entry of kids into nido (day care) and scuola dell’infanzia (nursery school). Typically, this transition occurs over 10 days, starting before the other children arrive, but can last up to a month - it all depends on the particular child. It’s based on the idea that ‘i bambini hanno bisogno del loro tempo’. Children need to take their own time to adapt to this new situation: new teachers, socialization, and being detached from their mother, most typically, or other primary caregiver. It’s completely unlike the abrupt kindergarden drop-off and intro to school of my time!

At first, the new children will arrive before school starts with their mamma, papà or grandparent and play in the classroom for an hour or so. Next day, the same, but maybe the mamma leaves for a half hour. This goes on for a few days, then the mamma leaves for longer and the child stays for gradually longer days. Perhaps the children will only do half days for the first month or first year, or maybe they will go home before lunch every day. The goal is to avoid chaos, and provide a context of calm.

3. Continuity of teachers and classes

Classmates and their teachers remain the same throughout elementary and middle schools. In secondary school (‘high school’), teachers and classes usually remain the same for the first 2 years and can vary for the last 3.

I didn’t like this concept at first. I thought, it’s good for kids to have to new teachers and groups of kids every year! It increases their adaptability! But after seeing classes of kids go through all 5 grades of elementary school with the same primary teacher who knows them well and tracks their progress over years, not months, I repeatedly found myself noticing that ‘school was my son’s rock of stability’ when he was in scuola elementare. Building long relationships between teacher and student and the other students in the classroom is a real source of security in a world where kids are growing fast and constantly changing.

Of course, there can be a dark side to this. If a child has a ‘bad’ teacher or conflict, the solution may only be to move schools. Also, if an elementary school teacher leaves during the course of the 5 years, the parental drama is akin to a Real Housewives episode.

4. Interrogazione

Students in Italian schools are primarily graded via 2 means: verifiche or tests, and interrogazioni or ‘oral exams’. Kids are regularly required to respond to questions on course material orally, in front of the entire class. This is a brilliant mechanism for practicing presentation skills and building confidence. I personally watched my son grow from a shy child in elementary school, anxious about oral exams, to a pre-teen, who when asked if he was nervous for a middle school interrogazione responded, “but no, I do them all the time.” Continuous public speaking development is inherent to the Italian school methodology and kids naturally develop confidence in this skill.

5. Incredible artistic classes

While I was initially devastated about the lack of theater classes in most Italian schools, I’ve been completely won over by the strength of other artistic subject matter. For example, my son’s middle school art history classes are easily at the level of the Art History 101 class that I took my freshman year at University of Michigan. As a bonus, the kids go on student field trips to experience much of the art in person.

Additionally, school music programs can be spectacular. Two of the public middle schools in Como offer “indirizzo musicale” or music path, which includes 3 hours of additional music classes for the nominal fee of about 30 euros a year. These hours comprise 1 hour of individual lesson, 1 hour of music theory, and 1 hour of group orchestra. The Italian value on artistic culture is evident in education, enriching and infusing children’s lives with an appreciation of beauty and art.

2 things I’m not in love with

You didn’t think school in Italy was a utopia of the perfect dolce vita, did you? There are always trade-offs.

1. Old buildings with limited facilities

This is not a rule but a generalization. Although some new, more expensive private schools have incredible, larger campuses with sports fields, theaters, and modern conveniences, this is far from the norm. Schools are typically housed in centuries old buildings. They may be stunningly beautiful in aesthetic and well-cared for or they may just be old and run down.

Due to limited space, many extra-curricular activities like sports and theater are offered outside of schools, not as part of school teams or activities, as in the United States. This makes transportation a little trickier for parents, as kids in public schools usually can’t simply stay after school for activities, but need to be picked up and moved around. Parents heavily rely on grandparents for help with this and if there are no grandparents nearby, they are at a great disadvantage.

2. Non native speakers teaching foreign language

Italian public schools are required to give contracted teaching positions to Italians. Consequently, foreign language teachers are Italian. Perhaps they are fluent in the foreign language and can demonstrate a proper accent and pronounciation, but often this is lacking. Unfortunately, this is to the deficit of Italian children, whose often recount their first trips to a foreign-speaking country involving a struggle to understand as the local accents or colloquialisms. In recent years, public schools have begun offering “bandi” or public contracts for mother tongue teachers to enhance and supplement teaching in English in public schools to bridge this gap.

1 thing I’m not sure of yet

My son will be entering liceo next fall, so it’s the one level of Italian school that we haven’t experienced directly yet and additionally, I’ve never worked in an Italian high school. Secondary school or scuola superiore is a 4-5 year program and the equivalent of high school in the US. In some ways it’s like selecting a college and is the most restrictive in terms of career path if they choose a professional or ‘uniformed profession’. I’ve never been confident that a 13 or 14 year old is ready to make a decision about specialization that can possibly limit career options, although I’m warming up to the concept.

This level of school is where the number of options really explodes. It involves one of three routes which are then subdivided into even more possibilities: liceo, istituto, or professional school. Kids are directed to specialize, select and apply to schools and curriculums which can be focused on liberal arts, sciences, languages, art, or music, or can go the direction of professional degrees like mechanic, hair dresser, or tourism.

We visited the school fair (Young) last year and have narrowed the options down to two already. Additionally, we’ve been talking to a lot of friends and their kids since applications need go in in January! I’ll do a deeper dive for you in an upcoming post.

In summary, the pros of the Italian school system strongly outweigh the cons for us. Every level of education has resulted in substantial enrichment in terms of knowledge and social experience. Plus, we feel the safety, stability, and methodology is conducive to our son’s growth to become a well-rounded, caring citizen of the world.

What questions do you have about schools in Italy? Would you like to know more details about the full school path - or certain types of schools? Let me know your thoughts in a comment. I’d love to hear from you!