The new technical branch takes off: more than 10,000 students in the classroom in September

One of the main, and most eagerly awaited, novelties of the new school year is the take-off of the 4+2, i.e. the new, and innovative, technological-professional training chain conceived, and grounded, by the Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara.

In September as many as 428 technical and vocational institutes will host four-year courses; practically a quarter of all Italian technical and vocational institutes. The total number of pathways authorised by the Ministry of Education and Merit is 587, 338 of which are in the south of Italy (57.6%), testifying to a strong drive for innovation also on the part of southern schools (and families). In all, in 2025/26, which is just around the corner, there will be about 10,500 students attending the 4+2 system (7,279 enrolled in the first year, 3,207 in the second); another figure to highlight, considering that in the previous experimentation of four-year courses the students taking part have always been just a few hundred..

Based on the official figures that Minister Valditara anticipates to our newspaper, the most attractive sectors are tourism, food and wine, IT, maintenance and technical assistance, administration, finance and marketing, business information systems, and construction, environment and territory, which account for just over 50% of all sectors.

"A school that does not know how to also educate for work, that does not give the tools to realise oneself professionally, is only doing half of its job," explained the head of MIM. This is why I believe that the 4+2 reform must become ordinal'.

The 4+2 system, i.e. four years of high school plus two years in the Its Academy, in fact, for the first time in Italy, provides an integrated training offer that includes, and links together, the courses of technical and professional institutes, regional vocational education and training (IeFP), regional accredited training institutions and the Its Academy. Linking them robustly to companies and territories of reference, in a 'campus' perspective.