A stony guest wanders around in the vortex of the electoral storm, but remains barely visible in the scene monopolized by the invectives on taxes and the economy which exchange the contenders with spreads and IMUs. There is little discussion about school and little space is given to it even in electoral programs which are limited to general and generic declarations of principle on the priority and centrality of education and training. We all agree on this but everyone also expects to hear more about what is meant by centrality and priorities. The programs-proclamations of the parties, on the other hand, do not put education and training at the forefront, unlike what happened in the recent past. What is above all silent or superficially stated is the crucial point of the school, the valorisation of merit from which the quality of the education imparted and the professional performance of the teachers derives. Meritocracy is the measure of the true opportunity for equality and school development but it still frightens many.
And if ample space is given to work and youth unemployment, almost none of the electoral programs dares to highlight how much the link between growth and training is a strategic issue for development and employment. A Freudian silence that reveals the substantial lack of interest in the profound problems of the school?
It doesn't deserve to mention the programs of those who, like that of Grillo or Ingroia, rave about the abolition of everything, starting from the legal value of educational qualifications. But even among the major contenders - Pd and Pdl - it must be noted that the panorama of proposals appears rather disappointing.
Bersani's party proclaims that it will start "in the next legislature from an extraordinary plan against early school leaving, especially in areas with the strongest criminal infiltration, from the launch of operational measures for the right to study, from an investment in advanced research in the driving sectors and highest innovation content.” Proposals in principle shareable but so obvious that they can be found in any preparation manual for psycho-pedagogical high school questions (formerly masters). Democrats also say they want to put an end to fifteen years of inconclusive and contradictory reforms. Apart from the fact that among these there are also the far from negative provisions of the Fioroni ministry, the Pd dedicates not a word to merit as if it were a demon to be exorcised. This is a raw nerve of the Democratic Party but in this icy silence it seems to grasp the hand of the CGIL which always unleashes its fiercest conservatism against merit and all reforms – even the good ones, as long as they are called reforms.
The worst performance, however, is that of Berlusconi's party which already in 2001 had foisted the hoax of the three "i" on the electorate. The word "merit" is indeed pronounced, but it is only evoked without any practical effect. The PDL program dilutes all the specific and crucial aspects of the school in tax reduction proposals and curves the welfare issues, showing off what is its Trojan horse in this electoral campaign, the tax issue seasoned in all sorts of ways. It promises vouchers or tax credits for schools and universities to promote freedom of educational choice for families and make children's education and training expenses totally deductible from the taxable income. All in the style of teleshopping, "and I'll even give you an iron".
In this gray panorama, some hope comes from the Monti Agenda which dedicates a chapter commensurate with the entire document to school, even if the declarations present a perhaps unavoidable vagueness. However, the incipit itself is significant: “Education, professional training and research must be taken seriously”. The development of the reasoning reveals the centrality of strategic points: education and training as a lever for competition with other countries with lower labor costs and job skills as a driving force for the realization of one's aspirations. The identification of the fundamental elements on which to intervene gives concreteness to Monti's document. But above all, the path to arrive at the valorisation of merit, both of teachers and students, is outlined with certainty. The re-motivation of teachers and the quality of teaching are linked to the evaluation and re-launch of INDIRE and INVALSI, the agencies responsible for evaluation. In the bleak programmatic void of most of the political forces on school, the Monti Agenda is already a good sign.
