Istat: 22% of support teachers are without specialisation

In the 2024/2025 school year there will be almost 377,000 pupils with disabilities attending schools of all levels, about 18,000 more than the previous year (+5%). This was highlighted by Istat in a report on the school inclusion of pupils with disabilities.

It is confirmed that there has been a steady growth in the number of students with disabilities which, over the last 10 years, has led to an almost doubling of the share in the total number of enrolled students from 2.6% to 4.8% for all school orders. The increase can be explained by several factors: a greater attention in diagnosing and certifying the disability condition among young people, an increase in the demand for assistance from families and a growing sensitivity of the ordinary education system towards the issue of school inclusion.

At the same time, the number of support teachers is growing. There are more than 261,000 support teachers employed in Italian schools, of which almost 250,000 in state schools (source: MIM) and more than 11,000 in non-state schools. Compared to the previous year, there has been an overall increase of 6%. At a national level, the pupil-teacher ratio, which is 1.4 in state schools (source: Mim) and 1.8 in non-state schools, is better than the ratio established by Law 244/2007, which recommends a ratio of 2 pupils for every teacher. Each pupil with disabilities benefits from an average of 15.8 hours of support per week (15.3 in the 2021/2022 school year): the figure is higher in pre-school and primary schools (21.1 and 17.2 hours respectively), while it decreases in first and second grade secondary schools (13.6 hours).

The number of support teachers with specific training continues to increase: compared to the 2023/2024 school year, the proportion of specialised teachers has risen from 73% to 78%, consolidating a positive trend that had already begun in the 2019/2020 school year, when this percentage stood at 63%. However, a non-negligible share of staff without specialisation remains: 22%, around 57,000 teachers. These are curricular teachers assigned to support to cope with the shortage of specialised staff. This phenomenon, although gradually decreasing, is still very frequent in the northern regions, where the quota stands at 32%, compared to 11% in southern schools. The use of non-specialised figures is more widespread in pre-schools and primary schools (27% and 28% respectively) while it is significantly reduced in secondary schools (10%).

At the beginning of the 2024/2025 school year, more than 22% of the teachers for support were still not assigned; one month after the start of classes the share of vacancies still stood at 10%. Delays mainly characterise pre-school and primary schools (where the share of teachers not yet assigned at the beginning of the year rises to 27% and 25% respectively) and are more frequent in northern schools (26%).