The awaited meeting of the Council of Ministers on the school reform is not for today but the Government will publish the guidelines of the reform on its website, even if President Renzi prefers to call it an "educational pact". Then, as in the case of the public administration reform, a broad consultation will take place and only at the end will the Government approve the consequent reform measures, effective from 2015.
In recent days, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has announced two innovations which, if actually implemented, could mark a turning point: the introduction of a principle of real meritocracy in schools (for both teachers and students) and the definition of a pact between the school (teachers and principals) and its users (families and students) that puts the true purpose of the school itself in the foreground, without self-referential tendencies.
However, the race to hire more than 2015 teachers since 100 without criteria, purposes and financial coverage being clarified for now, however casts a shadow on the reformist depth of the Government. But the facts will speak in the hope that they are not of a welfare nature but that they are the first steps of a real reform.
In view of the appointments awaiting school and government, FIRSTonline asked Roger Abravanel, guru of strategic consultancy and successful author of three counter-current books (the fourth will be released early next year with Rizzoli) on the crucial issues of school and work , how a true meritocracy can be achieved in the school, how to understand the pact between the school institution and its users and how to really connect school and work. Here are his answers.
FIRSTonline – Engineer Abravanel, today the Government promises to begin putting school problems on the table in view of a reorganization that should introduce elements of meritocracy and based on a new educational pact between the school and its users (families and students). What do you think? Is it reasonable to expect a change of course compared to the past?
ABRAVANEL – Being on the side of the students and not only of the teachers is a right principle, which I have already often invoked in my essays. Provided, however, that you really do interest the students, which doesn't always coincide with what Italian students appreciate. Just look at the case of the abolition of the limited number for enrollment in Medicine, a disaster for students (a good part would be thrown out after missing one/two years and those who pass would spend their first year in overcrowded conditions), but greeted with enthusiasm by the student associations.
FIRSTonline – If you were the Minister of Education, how would you concretely implement a policy of meritocracy in the school, both in relation to teachers and students?
ABRAVANEL – To relaunch merit in schools, one can only start from objective evaluations of student results. Then of course you have to take into account the level from which the students start. If a high school in the center of Milan which already caters to students from good families and which has a reputation for being selective, also puts up an entrance test, it will obviously have better students than a vocational institute in the suburbs. What matters is the improvement. When it comes to objective evaluation, there's nothing you can do, tests are needed. You don't like those from the Invalsi? Let's change them. Let us get help from the OECD, which carries out the Pisa tests, recognized all over the world or from the ETS, but a test of some kind is essential. After that the question becomes who gets to rate whom. The Ministry through its inspectors must evaluate schools and their principals not individual teachers who should in turn be evaluated by principals with far more power and managerial skills than today. Schools would then have to be evaluated by a "quasi market" which would be obtained by making school results more transparent to parents and students themselves who would try to go to the best schools.
FIRSTonline – In addition to meritocracy, what are, in your opinion, the priorities of a new school policy that the Government should launch?
ABRAVANEL – When we talk about meritocracy (and about tests) we end up talking about the development of so-called cognitive skills which are very important, such as the ability to reason, to solve problems, to understand a written text. They are important but they are not everything. Equally, if not more important are the so-called soft skills, such as the ability to communicate, to work in a team, and most important of all, work ethic. Work ethic is learned with study ethic which means: don't copy, be committed, and feel responsible. OECD data show that while Asian students who are absent from school are practically zero, the Finnish and French ones are 20%, the Spanish 44% and the Italians 66% (much worse than the Greeks: 48%)”.
FIRSTonline – Is it possible to carry out a serious school reform without having many financial resources available?
ABRAVANEL – Yes, spending it better, following the example of the leading countries in Pisa results. With more meritocracy between schools as in Poland or with better paid teachers but who have larger classes and work more hours, to select better teachers as in Finland. Vietnamese schools have much better Pisa results than American ones which are obviously much richer.
FIRSTonline – Faced with the dramatic data on youth unemployment in Italy, there are those who think that this is mainly the result of the economic crisis: do you not believe that in reality the enormous youth unemployment in Italy is also the bitter result of the profound crisis of school and your total separation from the world of work?
ABRAVANEL – The crisis has worsened everyone's unemployment, but the drama of youth unemployment in Italy goes further and can be seen from two indicators:
– the ratio between youth unemployment (definition of "young people" between 15 and 24 years) and total unemployment is more than 3 times the highest in the world;
– the number of young people who work (16%) or are looking for work (12%) in total just over a quarter of young people, while in countries like the Netherlands only those who work are over 50%. Unemployment aside, in Italy people start working and looking for work too late, also because we don't have many graduates at all.
FIRSTonline – Engineer Abravanel, the Government is now worth strengthening the school-work alternation in upper secondary school: what do you think and how would you implement it to make it really effective?
ABRAVANEL – The German apprenticeship is very different from the Italian one. It starts much earlier, you study and work and employers hire young people they know. It doesn't teach industrial skills as many believe, but soft and cognitive skills that employers value. In Italy, the apprenticeship begins at the end of the diploma or degree and above all serves to make entry into the company less expensive and more flexible. Internships during studies often take the form of school visits to companies, which are of very little use.
