Digital teacher training: 331 million for schools on the table

Wide-ranging plan for digital training at school. With two ministerial decrees and as many notices, MIM has just allocated 331 million euro that institutes can use, on the one hand, for in-service training for teachers and Ata, and, on the other, for the purchase of PCs and tablets to be given on loan to teachers, so as to compensate, at least in part, for the tightening of the purchase of technological tools that came with the latest restyling of the teacher's charter.

The first DM contains two lines of intervention. The first, of 161.1 million, supports training courses for teachers and educational staff of State schools, both tenured and term in the 2025/26 school year. Resources to be allocated proportionally on the basis of staffing levels. Schools have until 15 May to send in their applications and thus seek to enhance a range of skills: disciplinary, pedagogical and methodological; digital and didactic; or focusing on educational and didactic planning; classroom management and educational relations; or orientation and school organisation. It is possible to request one or more modules of 30 or 60 hours of the same type for greater reinforcement of the training or to broaden the audience of possible beneficiaries of the training courses. The presence of an expert trainer (paid up to EUR 70 per hour) and a tutor (up to EUR 30 per hour) is envisaged. The funding is allocated within the limits indicated in Annex 1 to Ministerial Decree 38/2026: 14 thousand, 21 thousand and 35 thousand euro. At the application stage, the information system automatically calculates the amount of the project, on the basis of the choices relating to the various modules entered; this will allow schools to weight the data relating to the duration of the training course, the number of participants (up to 20 enrolled) and the use of optional items, in order to reach the maximum amount that can be authorised.

A further 120 million will go to schools for the purchase of digital tools to be loaned free of charge to school staff. Fixed PCs (desktops, all-in-ones) or laptops (laptops, notebooks, netbooks), tablets with microphones, speakers and web-cams, hardware accessories and peripherals, software and licences for the creation and/or use of e-learning platforms, books and digital teaching aids, to give just a few examples. The maximum amounts that can be obtained are indicated in Appendix 2 of the Ministerial Decree and range from 4,000 to 30,000 euro. Among the set limits, there is that the percentage of software on purchases may not exceed 20 per cent of supplies and only system and educational software may be purchased. Applications can be submitted until 6 p.m. tomorrow, 12 May.

These resources are intended, as mentioned, to compensate for the changes in the teacher's charter. In 2025/26 the training bonus has decreased from EUR 500 to EUR 383, thanks to the de facto extension to all precarious workers (with tenure until 30 June or 31 August) and to the educational staff of boarding schools and educandati, alongside the traditional tenured teachers. One million teachers will benefit, 253,000 more than the original number.

From this year, musical instruments and passenger transport services can also be purchased with the card. Stricter rules for the purchase of hardware and software make their debut: the card can only be used to purchase hardware and software for the first time and then every four years. 2025/26 thus becomes year zero: the bonus can be used for the purchase of PCs and tablets by both those who have already received it and those who get it for the first time; after that it will be four years.