Government halts reform of schools system

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In July 2001, Italy's newly-elected centre-right government announced the suspension of legislation reforming the primary and secondary schools system. The reactions of education trade unions have been mixed. Cgil has been highly critical, claiming that the government wants to penalise the public school system and favour private schools. The autonomous unions, which have always opposed the reform, have welcomed the move.

At the beginning of July 2001, Letizia Moratti, the Minister of Education in the new centre-right government which took office after the general elections held on 13 May 2001 (IT0106188N), halted the reform of the educational system approved by the previous centre-left government in February 2001, which should have entered into force during the 2001-2 school year. This was to be the most sweeping reform of the schools system since the so-called Gentile reforms of 1923 and the introduction of lower-secondary schools in 1962. The most innovative part of the reform was the reorganisation of primary- and secondary-level education (the so-called "cicli scolastici"). The intention was to merge elementary schools (for children from six to 10 years of age) and lower-secondary schools (from 11 to 13), and to introduce what was termed "basic schooling": that is, a single cycle lasting seven years. The upper-secondary system would change as well, with the five years of upper-secondary education being divided into a two-year general foundation course, followed by three-year specialisation courses in four areas: humanities; sciences; technical subjects and technology; and art and music. The overall cycle of studies would last 12 years rather than the present 13. This reorganisation of educational cycles was to be accompanied by a curriculum reform, introducing the teaching of computer skills and of a foreign language from the first years of basic school onwards.

The law reforming the schools system was approved after it had been at the centre of political debate for years. Consensus on the issue was hard to reach within both the various governments that held in office over the years and the education system itself. Strong criticisms were voiced by the then centre-right opposition and by a number of trade unions, especially autonomous unions. Among the main trade union confederations, Cisl criticised the fact that elementary schools would be abolished, and that the school-leaving age would be raised by only one year. The autonomous unions, which have large memberships in schools, claimed that reform of educational cycles would penalise teachers in elementary and lower-secondary schools. Moreover, in their opinion, the reorganisation of the curriculum would marginalise a number of subject areas.

According to the new government, the reform of the school system has been suspended because modifications need to be made to the law, which will now come into force in the 2002-3 school year. The centre-right coalition had already announced during the election campaign that if it won the elections it would halt the reform, which it regarded as unsatisfactory.

The government's announcement that the school reform law had been suspended aroused conflicting reactions among the trade unions. Cgil- which was the union most in favour of the reform - has expressed particular criticism and alarm. According to its general secretary, Sergio Cofferati, the government's intention in blocking the reform is to impede renewal of the Italian educational system and to redefine the relationship between public and private schools in favour of the latter. According to Cgil's education workers' federation, Cgil-Scuola, the newly-elected government's programme will lead to a penalisation of the public school system to the advantage of the private system. One of the measures envisaged by the government is the introduction of school vouchers which families can use to pay (at least in part) the enrolment fees charged by public or private schools. Cgil claims that this voucher system effectively removes resources from public schools and transfers them to private ones.

Uil has reacted more cautiously. According to its education federation, Uil-Scuola, it was never intended that the reform of the primary and secondary cycles should be fully implemented in all schools in 2001-2.

The autonomous unions, by contrast, have instead welcomed the government's suspension of the reform law, which they regard as a sensible measure to counteract confusion that would have arisen had the reform come into effect in September 2001 as scheduled. However, the autonomous unions consider that the schools system may be a source of conflict with the new government, especially as regards issues like parity between private and public schools, teacher assessments - which may be important in determining, at least partly, future pay increments (IT0003145N) - and the proposal to devolve management of the school system to the regional administrations.