Even student-athletes can fail their exams

The Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional Administrative Court (Decree No. 126/2026) has clarified that even for student-athletes with a personalised learning plan, if there are gaps in their knowledge, they may fail to progress to the next year and miss out on moving up to the next year group.

The case concerns a ‘high-level student-athlete’ enrolled at a classical secondary school. During the year, the pupil had failed Latin, Greek and mathematics. In June, the decision had been deferred. The resit examinations did not alter the situation, and the student was not admitted to the next year group. The family lodged an appeal, arguing that the academic failure could not be attributed to the boy. This led to a request for the student to be enrolled in the next year group on a provisional basis.

The Regional Administrative Court, however, rejected the application for interim relief. The reasoning is based on a concrete and verifiable fact: the student had not attained a sufficient level of preparation to pass the resit examinations. And this is where the decisive point comes in. Even if there had been shortcomings in the teaching process, these cannot be interpreted as conferring a right to progression to the next year. A personalised learning programme is designed to provide appropriate tools and support, not to guarantee that the student will pass the year. Promoting a student who lacks sufficient foundational knowledge could exacerbate their difficulties rather than resolve them. There is a second limitation. The judge cannot act as an examination board called upon to decide whether the pupil deserves to be promoted. The assessment of learning is the responsibility of the school; the judge’s role is merely to verify the legality of the decision.