To the educational credit market – Christian Raimo

On 14 March the tests for the ordinary competition for secondary school teachers begin; the members are more than 400 thousand. In Italy, to become a teacher it is necessary to have taken a series of exams in the disciplines that one wants to teach and then to obtain a qualification. Competitions have always been very sporadic (the last ones are dated 2000, 2012 and 2016), while the various courses for the qualification that have occurred in recent years have never managed to find a convincing formula: the SSIS, the schools of specialization, have been replaced by Tfa, the active training internships, and then leave a regulatory vacuum that today holds many aspiring teachers in suspense.

Furthermore, since 2017 – more precisely by the decree n. 59 of 13 April – to participate in the school competitions one must have obtained at least 24 university credits (credits) in disciplines that include psychology, pedagogy, anthropology and teaching methodologies.

One credit corresponds to 25 hours of commitment, divided between lessons, individual study, exercises and laboratory activities. Therefore to achieve the 24 credits it takes almost a semester of study: 600 hours, 15 weeks for 40 hours a week. These training credits serve to certify fundamental skills for those who want to become a teacher.

Born with the elimination of the active training internship (Tfa), and designed to be preparatory to the initial training and internship path (Fit), which however has never been activated, university training credits have remained like a branch without a tree : the structural reform of teacher training in which they had to be included still does not seem to be on the agenda of the new school policies.

However, the obligation of 24 credits has retroactive value, therefore most of the aspiring teachers, even those already in the professorship with substitutes, had to obtain credits. Public universities have activated training courses and have recognized any credits already accrued during the course of study. At the University of Rome Sapienza, for example, to obtain 24 credits, former students pay according to income up to a maximum of one hundred euros per exam, which corresponds to six credits. All universities have special courses; in some those who are doing their doctorate take exams
free.

But there are so many aspiring teachers who urgently need the 24 credits. And so the offer of private institutes, often telematic, and of all the training bodies accredited by the ministry of education has become enormous.

Other educational institutions do not have the possibility to take exams, but offer courses and rely on other universities for exams. For example, the San Giuseppe Moscati School of Higher Education or Docenti.it or 24cfu.info, linked to associations or companies that do not always deal with teacher training, use the accreditation of the eCampus university; the Athena study center uses the accreditation of the Pegaso telematic university; the Agape study center uses both universities. There are hundreds of these entities, especially in the province and in the south.

One of the main providers of courses and exams for the 24 credits is eCampus, an online university that has grown a lot in recent years that today has 60 degree courses and 30 thousand students. The certification of the 24 credits costs 500 euros, the maximum amount set by the ministry of education. There are schools and platforms where it costs even less, 450 euros or 399 euros: often the discount is conditional on a certain booking date, or on promotions for certain categories. Not negligible detail: the courses can be paid for with the teacher’s card, a voucher from the ministry for professional updating of 500 euros that is due to permanent teachers.

With the ordinary competition at the door, many have hurried to obtain the 24 credits in the last few weeks. It is not necessary to follow the lessons, it is not even necessary to check the lessons as carried out: someone in the group claims that it was the tutor himself who advised them to do so.

P. lives in the province of Catania, attends an online university and has just finished the courses for 24 credits at the Moscati training school affiliated with eCampus. She signed up in November and took the exam in December. She says that she was a farce: she studied only from the baskets of answers, she never heard of a tutor and she did not follow the lessons, included in the price she gave her a computer course to increase the score in the ranking.

He didn’t get 24 credits from a public university because he didn’t think about it. She does not have a job and “here you have to look for all the ways to be able to work,” she says. Even Anief, the union of teachers and trainers that has close relations with the Orizzontescuola website (the most important portal on schools), organizes courses in agreement with the Eurosofia training institution. It relies on the Pegaso telematic university: the price is 500 euros plus 50 for certification. The exercises take place on the portal: there are between 300 and 400 questions per discipline and the exam questions are chosen from among these.

“There are a lot of WhatsApp and Telegram groups where you can download the baskets with the answers for the first two subjects, they are about fifteen pages of questions and answers”, says F., who is a member of the Facebook group of Pegasus students. “For the last two, it’s a couple of pages. But I don’t like this very much, it creates a mixture of annoyance and conflict between the traditional pupil I have been and the telematic pupil I am experiencing. I was used to a completely different study method. Studying the baskets of questions only serves to complete the purchase and sale of the 24 credits. But hardly anyone will be left with the notions. I chose an online university like Pegaso because I could do everything from the comfort of home. I do not hide the fact that I felt a strong embarrassment both for the whole system behind it, and for the teachers and students, including myself “.

In addition to the 24 credits, credits can be obtained to teach other disciplines besides one’s own, or to improve the score in the ranking. “Open the computer and start the lessons while you do something else. In the end, you have a certificate, a point or two more in the ranking, which however means moving on to a lot of people, ”says P., a philosophy student from Cagliari. “Everyone does it, so if you want to teach it’s the only way, otherwise you stay behind and they never call you for substitutes”.

The exam can be taken a few weeks after enrollment and in just one day. The eCampus exam, for example, consists of 30 multiple choice questions per subject, 30 minutes per subject. The exam is passed with 18 correct answers out of 30. In addition to the handouts and lectures, it is possible to download all the possible questions with the correct answers: in total more or less a hundred for each discipline, from a minimum of 62 for anthropology to a maximum of 170 for psychology. The exams take place face to face or on special online platforms. Almost all candidates pass them. Taking into account that the 24 credits still certify eligibility, the grade is indifferent.

There are several places online where people who have taken exams and those who have to take them exchange advice and tips. For example, there is the Facebook group 24 cfu eCampus which has almost two thousand members: from the discussions it emerges that most of the people to prepare for the exam limit themselves to reading and memorizing the correct questions. The most frequently asked question is: Do I have to study only the baskets of exam questions with the correct answers? Yes, just study the baskets, is the answer that comes back in the comments. In the group, one person asks how long it takes to study the whole program: someone answers a month, someone a week, someone a few days.

On the phone, an eCampus tutor confirmed to the Essential that all four exams can be taken in one day, ensuring that in 80 percent of cases, students have no problem passing it. She also confirmed that it is enough to study the baskets of answers. Registration gives you immediate access to the baskets, where there are also exam questions.

Often these are simple questions, which come back written in a different form; there are also difficult and specific questions, but it is enough to memorize them, it is not necessary to deepen the meaning of the answer.

Here are two examples from the basket of General and Social Pedagogy. “Which of the following statements defines the brain?”: A) Autopilot. B). Energy transmitter. C) Synaptic anarchy. D) Symbolic-biological game. Or again: “How should learning be organized for Bruner?”: A) According to an optimal progression. B) According to stadial and separate models. C) According to the proximal model. D) According to the deterministic perspective. You don’t need to know who Bruner was, not even what an optimal progression is, just remember the answer. Basically it’s like doing a crossword puzzle by reading the answers first.

An eCampus ad reads: “Sales start now! Increase your score: Clil + language certification B2, C1, C2 and get up to 9 points “. It is possible to pay the course in installments: the price is always around 500 euros and you will get 60 accredited master’s credits plus a linguistic certification.

The Clil (Content and language integrated learning) teaching methodology certification, like many other certifications, is practically impossible to achieve in a public university. Currently on the internet we have only found the University of Salerno. Even the 60 cfu master’s exam can be taken in a single day: it is a type of master accredited by the ministry of education and valid in all respects as a university master. Among these on eCampus there are masters that allow you to take the exams that are missing to access other competition classes (to teach each discipline at school, you must have given some specific exams at the university and therefore be qualified for a certain class of competition), such as the L2 master in “socio-literary, historical-geographical area for teaching in secondary schools of I and II degree”.

In total, depending on the starting degree, this master allows access to four competition classes (A11, A12, A13, A22) and therefore teaches Latin, Italian, history and geography in middle and high school.

It includes Latin and linguistics exams that would take months of study in a public university. These are exams that students often postpone because they are very demanding, especially if they do not come with adequate training from high school. The programs are always over a thousand pages, and in many cases it is necessary to follow the lessons.

An eCampus tutor confirmed to the Essential that all 60 credits can be given together in a single day one month after enrollment: the exam includes ten questions on each subject and is passed with 6 out of 10. You can check the lessons how you do it; you can study the baskets with the questions, but you have to wait six months for the final exam, which consists of an interview on a topic of your choice. The six-month wait is imposed by the technical times defined by the legislation, because it is a first level master with 1,500 hours of total commitment and it would not be possible to certify it earlier.

L’Essenziale asked eCampus and Pegaso for a discussion on these questions, but received no response. Education Minister Patrizio Bianchi has said several times that the 24 credits system can no longer be considered adequate but the ministry has not yet imagined a single state course, perhaps free, for aspiring teachers.

The problem is not only the commodification of knowledge and the poor regulation of the training sector and the recruitment of teachers. The problem is that this will fall on a generation of people who will have to train the students to come.