Italy will severely punish students who do not behave appropriately at school. Primary school students will be assessed with a score of between zero and ten points for their behavior in class and those who fail will have to repeat the year, regardless of whether or not they were up to par in terms of academic performance. The conduct assessment standard was in effect until 2000, having been created in 1924 by Mussolini.
Likewise, those with a score between five and six must complete a civics exam. These grades will be valid when establishing the final grade in career studies.
Giuseppe Valditara, Government Minister of Education of Giorgia Meloniassured that this “reform of driving qualifications restores the importance of private personal responsibility, makes central respect for people and public property and restores the authority of teachers”.
It is not in vain that the reform, approved last Wednesday, introduces fines ranging from 500 to 10,000 euros for acts of aggression or violence against school staff.
“The law approved by Parliament represents a fundamental step for the build a school system that empowers children and return authority to teachers,” insisted Valditara.
The Chamber definitively approved the Valditara bill by 154 votes for, 97 against and 7 abstentions. “I thank the majority parliamentary groups this important result“, Valditara said, as reported by the Italian Nova agency.
“With the reform, the behavior of students will weigh in the general evaluation of the school career and in admission to state exams. The institution of suspension changes, there will be more school and not less school for the student who breaks the rules of civil coexistence”, warned the Minister of Education.
Likewise, the head of the portfolio specified that “for the most serious cases, there will be job in solidarity citizenship activities“.
The goal, Valditara said after the approval, “is support the daily work of teachers and all school staff so that young people clearly understand not only the rights but also the duties that arise from belonging to a community, starting with the duty of respect towards others.
The reform, which also concerns other aspects, concerns primary school classes: “Synthetic judgments return, excellent to poormuch more understandable than in previous levels, thus improving communication with families and at the same time the effectiveness of the assessment”.
Valditara insists that “school is always the cornerstone of education through which a better society can be built. “We are proudly continuing the path of reforms undertaken.”
The president of National Association of Italian Directors, Antonello Gianelliassured that the approval of the conduct law is “a step forward on the path which, according to Minister Valditara, should lead to the restoration of the fair authority of teachers”.
“Lately we’ve been hearing about too much unruly and unusual behavior,” he said. Gianellireferring to the increase of more than 100% in cases of indiscipline in one year.
“It is true that students are being asked to consider their responsibility for their actions if they could have been suspended with a 5 for conduct even earlier, the fines for those who attack school staff are also positive, an indescribable act that must be prosecuted in criminal courts,” Giannelli said. “Here it is about an administrative processso it’s probably faster.”
“Finally, the sentences are simplified to communicate to families the results of their children’s academic results,” said the president of the Italian directors.
However, not everything was the norm for applause. Giuseppe Lavenia, psychotherapist and adolescent expertassured that it is a “an easy solution to a complex problem“.
In words to School of OrizzonteLavenia was surprised by what happened, “as if numbers were enough to dominate the tumults of adolescence. But do we really believe that a vote on behavior can resolve the emotional chaos of those who learn, every day, to cope with themselves” and with the world? »
In his explanation, he stressed that “the risk is that the vote becomes a sort of “red card”, something that punishes without educating. But a number does not explain, does not teach, does not make you grow. »
Likewise, he ended by recalling that children do not act out of fear of being punished. “Education It’s not a question of punishment, but of understanding. School must above all be a place where we learn to understand the consequences of our actions, and not just to fear them. The conduct of the vote, if used as an isolated tool, risks constituting a superficial intervention. It is not enough to qualify a behavior; “We need to address it, understand where it comes from and provide the tools to deal with it.”
