4+2 technical chain in 400 more schools: boom in Southern Italy

For half a million families who, from today until 14 February, are called upon to choose their children's high school online - through the MIM Unica platform, accessing it with their Spid, Cie, Cns or Eidas credentials - there is one more option, strongly linked to work, that has been made structural: it is the new technological-professional training chain, the so-called 4+2 model, i.e. four years of high school plus two years in the Its Academy, which, in total, has conquered over 700 institutes. The growth has been significant: 532 new courses have been authorised, in addition to those already launched on an experimental basis in the previous two school years. Approximately 400 schools are contemplating 4+2 courses for the first time this year. In the south of Italy, there has been a strong uptake: in Campania alone, 90 more have been authorised, including around 50 in the province of Naples.

The Minister for Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, speaks of an 'unprecedented success', recalling 'the strategic nature' of this reform for the world of education: 'The four-year model,' said the MIM incumbent, 'can also have a structural impact on local employability, training highly specialised young people with the knowledge and skills required by companies.

4+2 envisages four-year (instead of five-year) courses with graduation one year earlier, as has been the case in several EU countries for some time. Students are faced with new programmes, not a compression of those designed for the five-year course. The five-year teaching staff is committed to the four-year curriculum without any reduction, thus guaranteeing quality and enhancement of teaching.

The key feature of the new technical pathway, in line with the successful model of the Its Academy, is the close link with companies and innovation. The pathway in fact envisages the strengthening of on-the-job training, also through the ordinary use of apprenticeship training. Space will also be given to laboratory teaching and to strengthening the internationalisation process. It will be possible to introduce didactic modules and workshop activities carried out by individuals from companies and professions, through the stipulation of work performance contracts, in order to adapt the training offer to the needs of the territory and the evolution of knowledge and technologies in the sector. One more card in hand for all those boys and girls who aim, soon, at quality employment.

"The growth of the 4+2 pathways also this year exceeds expectations," underlined Riccardo Di Stefano, Confindustria president's delegate for Education and Open Innovation, "and leads to a result that two years ago seemed unattainable: more than half of the technical and professional institutes in Italy offer a 'supply chain' course, looking therefore to the Its Academy, to laboratory work, to training that aims at employability but also promotes Italian industrial culture. Confindustria has contributed to this success, mobilising extensively throughout the country to guarantee more and more schools those partnerships that are at the heart of the reform. 'Potentially this result,' added Di Stefano, 'will bring many new enrolments to the Its Academy and, for those who will choose university, enrolments who will care about our companies. This is the best possible result, for now, but we want the maximum: we will be satisfied when all technical and vocational schools will have at least one '4+2' class, and obviously there must also be the Its Academies. But in the meantime, let's enjoy these figures and now get a head start on guiding young people and families along this path".