The Conte Government's approach to the labor market, despite the amendments to the Dignity Decree promoted by the League side due to the reaction of the entrepreneurs, remains a serious mistake, precisely because it is moving (contrary to what an important part of the union and of the Democratic Party) in the opposite direction to that which those who want to promote growth in overall jobs and offer a favorable climate for investors should follow. It is true that development is the decisive factor that creates jobs, but it is equally realistic to think that in a situation of uncertainty, legislation that not only increases the cost of labor but increases the risk of litigation, even if we wanted to use glasses of Dr. Pangloss, will slow down hiring. Since it is correct to evaluate the real results, we will have to wait for the statistical results of the coming months with the hope that, in the presence of negative signs, the Government will have the political courage to remedy where the results are different from those hoped for.
However, there is one story that does not need to wait for Istat and INPS calculations to be addressed, the one concerning the repeal of the direct call of teachers to schools by the principals. With the agreement between Miur and the unions on mobility for next year it was restored the system of rankings and therefore of the prevalence of length of service with respect to the choice of the President-manager. Beyond the most correct legal instrument to be used to repeal the law, which certainly cannot be abolished by a trade union agreement, there remains a cultural rather than a political aspect which pertains to the autonomy of the school and its values including (also) the criterion of merit and responsibility that should apply to students and teachers.
With perfect bureaucratic language, the ministry, headed by the Northern League member Marco Bussetti, former director of the Lombardy school office, states in this regard that "the institution of the direct call has shown critical issues attributable to the wide discretion left to the school manager and to the numerous duties incumbent on him related to the identification of teachers' skills at a time which is fundamental for the completion of the preparatory activities for the start of the school year". In a nutshell, the Headmasters had other things to do and to avoid "discretionary excesses" it is better to go back to “objective and transparent” criteria for the assignment of teachers to schools. As if they were not under the eyes of all the drawbacks of the rankings used to fill vacancies. For Minister Bussetti it seems established that teachers are all the same (one is worth one as the 5 stars say), the only difference is length of service.
It will perhaps be inevitable that a government that takes office wants to mark the differences with its predecessors, but that the offensive against the "Buona Scuola", a very timid sign of change by the Renzi government, is directed against a provision which introduced (also) professionalism is much more serious than a 0,5% increase in the cost of renewing a fixed-term contract. This decision is a more or less conscious attack on the founding principle of a modern democracy which has the duty to offer all citizens equal starting conditions to reward those who, through merit and responsibility, will be able to build the conditions for climbing the social ladder.
The welfare egalitarianism from which Italian society suffers is one of the main ballasts slowing down growth. If it is perpetuated in the school, perhaps it will solve the problem of that part of teachers who see teaching not as a mission but mainly as an employment opportunity. But it won't bring great benefits to today's students who are the most important asset we have for building the future.
One last but no less relevant observation. If it were true, as is claimed by many, that the choice of teachers by the Headmasters was flawed not from discretion (which is obvious), but from substantial incompetence or patronageit would be much more serious. If this were to be the problem, a new reform would have to be placed at the center of not only the replacement of part of the current Headmasters, which to a large extent would not respond to the needs of schools today, but above all the training and meritocratic and professional selection of new managers . But from today's manager Minister Bassetti this is not heard, on the contrary competitions are organized with the old rules to promote new Principals.
Read also on this issue the comment by Umberto Minopoli
