THEItaly continues to spend little and badly on the school, teachers are underpaid and too old. Not to mention the low level of investment. These are the main results of OECD report "Education at a Glance 2023” presented in Paris last September 12th. Among the countries involved are Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, India, Indonesia, Peru, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. The focus of the 2023 report is theprofessional technical education and the financing and organization of the school system.
School: a gap to fill
In our country the share of young adults (25/34 years) without upper secondary education has fallen from 26% to 22%, but the report notes that in Italy the regional differences are important and in fact al South the percentage rises to 25%. However, it remains high compared to those of the other countries analyzed. Of Italian graduates, over a third obtain a professional technical qualification; it is a key sector in our education system, especially in North part of the country. However, the data shows that the male component is prevalent; together with the lower results in mathematics of girls attested by the Invalsi surveys, the result is a gender imbalance in studies and therefore in subsequent professional roles which weighs very significantly on our system.
Is it worth attending a technical institute in Italy?
Italy continues to have many more subscribers to the technical and professional paths of other countries: 40% of 15-19 year olds compared to an OECD average of 23%. But going deeper, alarming data emerge. First of all, the students who reach high school diploma without failing are just over half (55% compared to 79% of high school students). If we also consider those who arrive one or two years late, the share rises to 70% compared to 90% of high school students. The others give up first, while now - observe OECD experts - "a high school diploma is the minimum level of education required to successfully participate in the job market".
Career opportunities: technical institutes and graduates compared
As for the job opportunities, it appears that in most countries the employment rates of young adults with a technical-vocational upper secondary education qualification are higher than those with a university degree. Predictably i earnings over long distances they are inferior. And equally predictably the risk of becoming Neet (those who neither study nor work) is higher among 25-29 year olds with a high school diploma than among graduates, given that obtaining a tertiary qualification requires a longer-lasting commitment. Things improve significantly for those who have been in the world of work for longer, given that the 45-54 year old group who have a technical diploma have a stipendio which is almost one and a half times that of non-graduates, while on average in other OECD countries the difference is 23%.
Funds for the school
As regards the funds allocated to schools, over longer periods the investments, in all OECD countries, grow at the same speed as GDP while Italian public spending on education decreased from 2008 to 2020, although the number of students remained stable. General and chronic is also confirmed for technical-professional training underfunding of education in Italy: we spend 4,2% of GDP on the entire sector compared to the 5,1% of the OECD average. This is because in our country more is spent on lower levels of education: in recent years, in fact, secondary and especially tertiary education have been penalised, contrary to what happens in a significant number of other countries. And in fact the expense for each child of nursery school increased from 2015 to 2020. Although the Report recalls that in Italy there is a lower rate of 3-year-old children enrolled in school compared to other countries, which in some cases reaches a percentage of 100%.
The quality of education in Italy
as to amount of education the report reiterates that in Italy the same number of hours of compulsory schooling is done as the average in OECD countries. The difference is in the number of holidays/school breaks since in Italy the summer holidays are the longest ever, lasting 13 weeks. In past decades this figure has been the subject of long discussions and the autonomy given to Regions and schools on the merits was thought to lead to significant variations. In reality the changes do not currently last more than a week and are used to slightly extend the holiday periods especially in relation to possible long weekends.
The problems of Italian schools: low salaries and henhouse classes
In general, the OECD observes that for the same expenditure, countries tend to follow different lines of conduct: there are those who focus on a higher pupil-teacher ratio, longer working hours, but higher and progressive salaries and those who instead focus on more staff with a reduction in the number of students, but also lower salaries and level yourself. It is not difficult to place Italy between these two alternatives: the controversy over the so-called chicken coop classes always avoids giving the real numbers and is silent about the classes with numbers lower than 15 which are far from rare.
But the report also tells us that the low salary of teachers has become a widespread problem which has led in some European countries to a shortage especially in technical-scientific areas. This is a complex and multi-faceted issue that cannot be addressed without taking into account the cultural aspects of the changes underway, especially in the so-called advanced countries and of which this situation is perhaps the effect. Furthermore, as regards the Italian situation, it must be remembered that in our country the ratio between the number of students and the number of teachers is among the lowest and that therefore priority was given to amount.
