When writing about school, one should always keep in mind that it is a “container word”. The term school also includes words such as “equality”, “justice”, “education”, “future” and others. Of course, the school should not be the only training center for the very young and it works best if family, society and institutions work together. This does not mean that the school has to show a strong capacity for reading the present and finding solutions at least to the challenges what a job, sociality and progress pose immediately. If times are chameleonic in their ability to change, institutions must show a capacity for adaptation and resilience that, until now at least, has not been there.
Training
At school in the Metaverse
by Francesco Marino
This is confirmed by numbers that make us think: according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the 64% of the children of non-graduated parents do not also obtain a diploma. It is therefore difficult to argue that school is a river with such a powerful flow as to eradicate the cultural context of a family.
Filling the lack of resources thanks to in-company training
To complete the picture there is that 23.3% (almost one in four) of young people who do not study or work, the so-called Neet who are the visible part of a wound inflicted by the family, school and society in general. The frame that supports the painting is built by graduates: in Italy they are percentagewise below the European average and theaccess to the world of work is complex for many of thema sign that school and the world of work run on two tracks that can intersect better than what is happening.
The world of work changes
The OECD Skills for Jobs report says that, in Italy, there is a surplus of workers with the physical skills and stamina that are essential to those who work in primary and secondary schools. On the other hand, there are skills related to the solution of complex problems and high-level management. This means that even today the school is struggling to follow the needs of the world of work and that, this being the case, it will be difficult to prepare professionals capable of moving with ease in those working areas increasingly interested in smart working, transversal skills, from 5G, from the sharing of spaces and tasks with robots or automated services.
What to do to improve? How can the school be more effective also to ensure greater social, cultural and professional balance? It should also be remembered that schools not only train workers but also and above all citizens. Having a correct vision of what the professions of the future will be is not always easy.
Sustainability, reducing the digital and gender divide for equitable and inclusive education
The Minister Patrizio Bianchi explains the point of view of the Ministry of Education, University and Research (Miur).
How does the Ministry, which is aware of the future challenges, intend to deal with the problem? Is there space and a way to include in school curricula, perhaps already in the primary, topics related to computational logic or others more inclined to prepare the citizens of tomorrow?
“The Ministry is fully aware of the problems facing us. And for some time it has developed programs to include in schools, including primary, all those tools to increase the logical, organizational skills, the sensitivities we call computational. And which, however, must be developed throughout the life of our children “.
Dad split. On the one hand the enthusiasts, on the other the detractors. Since many professions will take place remotely, and therefore every professional will have to demonstrate self-discipline and organizational skills, was this a missed opportunity from this point of view? Could something have been done differently? The premier had the opportunity to say that Dad creates inequalities. Does he agree or not? Because?
“We have undoubtedly lived a very difficult experience in these two years of health emergency. Precisely in the light of this awareness, the government strongly wanted, even while many were skeptical, to reopen the school in the presence, because the school is the ability to share emotions and life together. In these two years, however, many skills have also been developed that cannot be reduced to what we have called Dad, that is, the subrogation of the “face-to-face lesson” at a distance. We are talking about all digital tools, about the development of skills not only technical, but also of a managerial, organizational and psychological type. We have invested to tackle the pandemic and we will continue to do so with the PNRR, which provides specific resources on digital, with the aim of increasing our languages and our communication tools. I am also convinced, like President Draghi, that Dad, while necessary, has exacerbated the inequalities already present in our country. But it is precisely having overcome this phase of emergency, having invested and continuing to invest in skills, skills and tools that allows us to go beyond that emergency vision and get closer to a use of digital that not only does not create inequalities but gives more opportunities to everyone ” .
Honestly, it is necessary to deny those who are convinced that the school should teach those subjects that will serve young people when they are workers. There is no telling what skills they will need in ten years. Skills, however, are quite another thing: ways of thinking, analytical skills, design of solutions. What is your opinion?
“Our school today, and even more so in the school project we are working on, teaches the ability to live together as personal growth and as a collective investment in tomorrow. Nobody wants to predetermine the jobs of the future: it is a vision that dates back to Fordism, where all activities were determined, functions were segmented and the person’s own activities were replaced with repetitive activities. We are convinced, however, that we must move towards a way in which work recovers creativity, the ability to share, on the basis of that ancient but always valid principle, whereby efficiency is not the result of specialization of individual people, but of complementarity between them. In this moment we must find the conditions to rebuild this complementarity, the ability to work together and design together paths and investments on those method skills, the so-called ‘soft skills’, which allow us to face change without fear “.
Man and machine will share workspaces and activities, training seems necessary, if not even urgent. How to intervene?
“We come from a long tradition in which the man-machine relationship was progressively a relationship of subjection. Machines have changed a lot today. There is talk of artificial intelligence, supercomputing, big data and tools capable of supporting people’s creative abilities, of managing large complexes of activities. For this we need to support personal and collective skills capable of facing this extraordinary technological transformation. On this, however, we must be clear. There are different levels. The first is to give everyone the opportunities related to the knowledge of technologies, the method with which to face change, the skills of common life. After that it is necessary to allow girls and boys, on the basis of a strong orientation capacity, which is one of the fundamental reforms of the PNRR, to be able to undertake paths that will then be measured, in different contexts, with the technological developments of the time in which we will live “.
Among young people who leave school early, there are double-digit unemployment rates. It is a real and tangible problem. What reflections should be made? Is it a symptom of a school that does not respond to current issues? How do you interpret the neet phenomenon?
“The first problem is that of early school leaving. His statement is true: those who fail to complete a course of study for various reasons are at a much higher risk of unemployment or underemployment. For this reason, in the PNRR we have first of all included a 1.5 billion plan against territorial gaps to combat early school leaving with mentoring and tutoring activities and, moreover, we have foreseen the reform of orientation, which in my opinion is crucial. Orientation means accompanying female students in identifying their study paths, starting from the lower secondary schools. This means helping them not only to pursue studies consistent with their personal expectations and ambitions, but also with a reasonable degree of possibility of being accompanied in their future work. To do this, we want to build a school that helps female students to become aware, responsible citizens, but that increases the educational offer and is able to develop the skills necessary to face changes and transformations from an early age, enhancing knowledge in the area. Stem, coding skills, computational skills “.
In your opinion, does the school need to be renewed, improved or does it need only a few precautions?
“The school has shown, especially during this pandemic phase, that it is truly the center and beating heart of a community. The largest national infrastructure. For this reason, with the NRP we are allocating 17.59 billion to education, to be invested both in buildings, with resources for kindergartens and new schools, and in the enhancement of skills. With the six reforms that we will implement in 2022 as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, we will design a new school. We are talking about the reform of the technical and professional institutes, of the ITS system, of orientation, of a new system for the recruitment of our teachers, of the reorganization of the school system and of the continuing education of the staff. Once this process is completed, we will be able to give our girls and boys a new system, which responds to their needs and their needs ”.
One final reflection
From the words of the Minister Bianchi transpires the conviction that the school must be renewed and this implies that all the actors involved acquire an awareness that facilitates the continuous changes that society will face in the coming years. The Italian school is not old because it has the oldest teaching staff in Europe, it risks becoming old if it does not open both arms to change.