Adult education, applications by 1 June (for justified cases there is time until 15 October)

Returning to study as an adult is a right, and the Ministry of Education and Merit has just reminded schools and territories how to make it a reality. With Note 1212 signed on 18 May, the Ministry took stock of enrolment in adult education courses for the next school year, confirming the system already in place since 2019 and updating the operational deadlines.

The timetable is precise: those who want to enrol must do so by 1 June 2026, although the door remains ajar until 15 October for those who arrive late. This is not an automatic extension, admissions beyond the deadline remain linked to the availability of staff and specific reasons, but a flexibility designed for a clientele that often moves on a different timetable from that of the traditional school. Think of those who have just lost their jobs and decide to resume their studies in the autumn, or those who arrive in Italia in the middle of the year and need to learn the Italian language before anything else.

Special attention is paid to young adults between 18 and 29 years of age who have not completed compulsory schooling and are in economically fragile conditions: for those who receive the inclusion allowance or support for training and work, enrolments can be accepted even beyond the ordinary deadlines, within the limits of available resources. A measure that tries to concretely support those who risk being left behind twice, first at school, then in the labour market.

Who do you apply to and where do you have to go depends on the level of education you want to achieve? For first-level courses, which also include literacy classes and learning Italian for foreigners, the application is submitted directly to the Cpia (provincial centre for adult education), also through its associated branches spread throughout the territory. This is the case, for example, of a forty-year-old worker who has never obtained a secondary school leaving certificate, or a foreign woman who wants to learn Italian in order to be able to work or move independently where she lives. Those who instead aim to obtain a secondary school diploma apply to the school at which the course is activated, which then transmits a copy of the application to the Cpia with which it has entered into a network agreement. An administrative double track that reflects the hybrid nature of these pathways, halfway between school and adult centres.