Schools, short-term suspensions and conduct marks: here’s what’s changing for pupils

In less than two weeks, the new school year will begin. One of the most significant changes for pupils is that the regulations concerning the temporary exclusion of pupils from school for a period not exceeding fifteen days will come into full effect. Between 2024 and 2025, a series of provisions and implementing measures, introduced by Minister Giuseppe Valditara, have been put in place to strengthen the Students’ Charter, paving the way for legislation that thus moves beyond the purely punitive concept of school discipline, and reinforcing the educational, responsibility-building and restorative functions of suspension. But let’s look at all the new developments in detail.

Suspension from school, for up to a maximum of two days, will involve the pupil taking part in school-based activities – assigned by the class council – designed to explore the consequences of the behaviour that led to the disciplinary measure; these activities will conclude with the production of a critical essay on what has been learnt. The activities take place on school premises, and the school will appoint the teachers responsible.

If the suspension lasts for more than two days, the pupils concerned must undertake community service activities at organisations affiliated with educational institutions and listed in the registers drawn up by the local administration of the Ministry of Education. The aim is to turn exclusion from lessons into a process of fostering responsibility. Such activities, if approved by the class council, may continue even after the pupil returns to class, in accordance with the principles of temporariness, graduality and proportionality.

In addition to short-term suspensions, the grading system for conduct is also changing. In lower secondary school, conduct is graded on a scale of 1 to 10. A final mark of less than 6 results in the pupil not being admitted to the next year group or to the final state examination at the end of the first cycle, even if they have achieved passing marks in their other subjects.

In general, the conduct mark must cover the entire school year (no longer just the four-month term), and the assessment will take into account acts of violence or aggression towards teachers, pupils and all school staff. A mark of 5 in conduct results in failure. A mark of 5 may also be awarded for behaviour constituting serious and repeated breaches of the school’s rules. In the event of a mark below 6 during a periodic assessment, the pupil must take part in activities promoting active citizenship and solidarity.