School: 62 per cent of families pay additional costs

Three types of courses which, for one in ten families, cost more than 1,500 euros a year, whilst 21.1 per cent paid just over 1,000 euros, 23.7 per cent between 500 and 1,000 euros, and 44.5 per cent up to 500 euros.

From an economic perspective, families’ attitudes towards state-recognised private schools are also significant: 50.8 per cent of those surveyed would enrol their child in a state-recognised private school if, in terms of costs, it were as affordable as state schools.

The number of certifications relating to Special Educational Needs (SEN) is also rising: 14.4 per cent of families with school-age children reported that at least one child ‘with a certified condition that has required additional educational support additional educational support (personalised measures, support, adaptations, dedicated meetings)’, with forms and manifestations of distress/difficulty that vary greatly and are formally classified in various ways (Law 104, SLDs, various difficulties).

The CISF survey examines various aspects of the relationship between school and family, but when the analysis focuses on economic factors, a further vulnerability emerges. In Italia, even today, academic success depends heavily on material circumstancesand above all on parents’ level of education.

If at least one of the two has a upper secondary qualification, it is likely that only 5 per cent of their children will drop out of education before obtaining a school-leaving certificate or a qualification. This figure rises, however, to almost 23 per cent of young people aged between 18 and 24 whose parents have at most a lower secondary school certificate (Istat, 2025).

‘Schools could make a difference in addressing these initial inequalities, whilst today it does not fully fulfil its role as ‘great equaliser’,’ emphasises Francesco Belletti, sociologist and director of the CISF. ‘Teachers often waver between helping everyone to progress and pre-selecting the best: the two objectives become intertwined. However, in the absence of a coherent approach, schools tend to reproduce hierarchies’. In this context, 17.8 per cent (almost one in five families) even believe that schools are not only unable to level the playing field (in terms of family background and individual talent), but actually exacerbate these disparities.

The survey also reveals a significant disconnect between young people and school, which is often unable to understand their needs: a quarter of the parents interviewed in the Report ‘often’ or ‘very often’ observed a decline in motivation, social withdrawal or school-related somatisation, whilst 21 per cent tried to avoid school, with absences not justified from a medical point of view.