Education, CISL: some light and many shadows regarding recruitment

“When it comes to the recruitment situation in schools, one need only look at the figures to get an accurate picture of the situation, objectively identifying the positives and negatives without resorting to unnecessary political spin. The positives relate to the increase this year in the percentage of available posts filled by the recruitment of permanent teachers. This is a significant increase, given that, according to the figures provided by the Minister, we are at approximately 80 per cent coverage, almost ten percentage points higher than last year. But then there are the downsides, which are very pronounced and widespread.” This was stated in a note by the General Secretary of CISL Scuola, Ivana Barbacci.

“In fact, the number of posts to be filled with temporary contracts remains extremely high, particularly in the area of special educational needs support. The situation is reaching abnormal proportions, as the number of permanent posts (around 128,000) is far from sufficient to meet actual demand: just consider that last year it was necessary to fill a total of almost 275,000 support teaching posts, which is more than double the number that could have been filled with the permanent posts available under the statutory staffing framework, i.e. with permanent staff. Furthermore, in the northern regions, there is a significant shortage of such staff in primary and pre-school education, with particularly striking shortages in Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto,” he added.

“A few examples: in Lombardy, out of 4,292 available posts, only 2,088 teachers were appointed on a permanent basis; in Veneto, 924 were appointed out of 1,315 available posts. Action must therefore be taken, as we have been calling for for years, on two fronts: staffing levels, which must be brought more into line with actual needs, and the training of specialist primary school teachers, of whom there is a shortage in certain parts of the country. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to avoid a massive reliance on temporary contracts, an intolerable situation that has already been criticised at EU level,” he continued.

“On a different scale, the same issue arises with regard to ATA staff, where the legal cap on permanent appointments should be abolished – this, too, is a demand we have been making for years: at present, only posts left vacant by retirements can be filled, not those that are actually vacant. This restriction, too, is bound to make a high proportion of precarious employment structural and inevitable. It is high time that everyone – and first and foremost the government and political parties – realised the importance of the work carried out by administrative, technical and auxiliary staff for the smooth running of schools, by adjusting staffing levels and removing absurd legislative constraints that prevent all posts from being filled by permanent staff” he concluded.