Italy

Description of the VET System in Italy

In Italy, the Elementary education system takes five years and upon completion, a diploma is given, the Diploma di Licenza della Scuola Elementare. Secondary education takes five years and is divided into lower secondary education (3 years) and upper secondary education (5 years). The upper secondary system consists of several disciplines in the scientific, artistic, technical, and vocational and teacher training areas. Classical secondary school has an emphasis on humanities, with scientific disciplines in the second cycle. Scientific secondary school focuses on scientific subjects, while Linguistic secondary school focuses on foreign languages and literature. All these three described secondary school systems take five years.

Technical upper secondary options are provided by technical institutes (Istituti Tecnici) and also last for five years. As far as vocational secondary education is concened, these options are offered by Professional schools (Istituto Professionale), Artistic schools (Liceo Artistico) and Arts institutes (Instituto di Arte).

All described systems and paths lead to the Diploma di Maturità upon successful completion, and is divided into Maturità Classica, Scientifica, Linguistica, Artistica, Magistrale and Tecnica, among others. The Maturità is the minimum requirement to enter higher education, but entry into certain courses requires the Diploma di Esame di Stato .

As far as Social Partners are concerned, the Framework Law 845/78 gave social partners a major role to play in the vocational training system, recognising them as partners of the Regions for the planning of training, as well as potential providers of training schemes. There are three levels of responsibility for VET in Italy:

At national level, the institutional framework is defined, at regional level, a direct intervention in the process of defining, planning and provision of VET strategies is implemented, and at enterprise level, training activities and the elaboration of training plans are defined. Roles at all levels are advisory .

IVET

VET usually begins with a two-year basic study program, followed by a yearlong (third year) professional qualification in a specific field. The first two years of study provide guidance and awareness for students about vocational specialization, in order for them to be certain about what path to follow professionally during the third year . The study course may be concluded at the end of the third year, with the acquisition of a professional or experience qualification certificate, allowing the pupil to deepen his knowledge and experience in a two-year course, the “post-qualification” (post-qualifica), successfully achieved through the completion of the State Exam (Esame di Stato).

The path to be followed depends on the typology of education followed. Two types of institutions provide VET in Italy:

VET centres (Centri di formazione professionale), providing a two- or three yearlong study program with subjects mainly related to the field of speciality chosen by the candidate.
Professional institutes of the state (Instituti professionali statali), with a more complex study program. These institutes provide a more detailed study program that can take up to five years, but providing also intermediate specialities in several fields of study.

CVET

Lifelong-learning strategies have a transversal impact on the reforms within the Italian education and training system, taking legislative, organisational and operational aspects into account.

The reference context of lifelong learning (systems of education, training and labour) has been recently affected by wide-ranging reform processes.

CVET is therefore disseminated through the education, training and labour systems, therefore any institutional jurisdiction regarding CVET is highly specialised. The main providers are the regions, the ministries responsible for multiregional programmes of the European Social Fund, private companies and other bodies (chambers of commerce, public administration).

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the definition of "continuing vocational training" gained popularity in Italy, including all the training activities making up (or allowing) learning pathways focusing on knowledge and skills following (and differing from) initial training. Based on this notion, the typical features of continuing training are represented first and foremost by its being different from initial training, and secondly, by the fact that it is addressed to adult individuals belonging to the workforce, and - in particular, but not limited - to employed workers .

CVET in Italy tackles those in need of continued vocational education and long term unemployment. It is identified by the concept of Education on a Training Plan (Piano Formativo) agreed between and adopted by social partners. This training plan can be at individual, enterprise, territorial or sector level, and is reflected through learning projects financed by the Interprofessional Funds for Continued Education and Training (Fondi Interprofessionali per la Formazione Continua). These learning programs are linked to workers of an enterprise that is linked to such a fund. To gain access to this training program, these enterprises pay voluntarily a quota (30% of the gross annual salary of each employee) that has to be paid to the National Institute for Social Security (Instituto Nazionale di Previdenza Sociale - INPS). These goals can be professional and are recognized by each enterprise, in order to provide continued learning and training courses for each employee, beneficial or compulsory for a company (e.g. courses such as “health and safety at work”) or as a benefit for an employee of a specific field of expertise within an enterprise. Any training course and funding from an Interprofessional Fund can be subject to an agreement between social partners.

Quality Assurance

The quality assurance systems applied by Italy in the education and training system essentially revolve around the quality of provision. However, until 2006 quality assurance was mainly viewed as a quality control rather than an improvement measure. Consequently, practitioners regarded attention to quality as a constraint instead of an opportunity. At the national level, there is now greater interest in quality assurance models and mechanisms as tools of continuous and comprehensive improvement in training provision. The multitude of initiatives launched at institutional and practitioners levels and systems testify to this turnaround .

As far as quality assurance in VET is concerned, the main body in charge is ISFOL - The Institute for the Development of Vocational Training of Workers, which supports the work of Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Education and Regional Governments in the field of vocational education and training. It covers all parts of VET.

Statistical data is provided by the Italian national statistics office, ISTAT.

An Italian Reference point for Quality Assurance in VET has been set up, under coordination of ISFOL. The main goals are to inform main national stakeholders about the activities of the ENQA VET, to provide active support for the development of this programme, to apply methods to ensure and develop quality in VET, to raise awareness among stakeholders of the benefits of QA tools and indicators and to coordinate organized national activities related to ENQA.

As far as this national reference point is concerned, its main tasks are :

Informing key stakeholders on the national activities for the European Network;
Actively support the development of the program for the European Network;
Promote initiatives to improve the use of methodologies and tools for the development of quality assurance;
Raise awareness of the benefits from the methodologies developed for quality assurance;
Coordinate the organization of national activities carried out vis-à-vis to participation in the European Network for Quality.

Representatives from the Ministry of Education and Labour, their regional sub-divisions, training bodies, schools, trade unions and enterprises participate in the Italian Reference Point. Technical support activities include the drawing-up of “The Initial Vocational Training Quality Charter (a document that describes the requirements for quality training activities) and the drawing-up and experimentation of a guide for self-assessment.

However, there are many needs to adapt Quality Assurance to the Italian VET system, as Italy still needs to build up its own National Credit System for VET .

A coherent set of indicators has been developed in the province of Trento for the self-evaluation of schools. General and vocational schools have to send their data through the web, and the system gives them back their indicators (context, input, process and outputs) compared with provincial averages. A self-evaluation report must be presented by schools, on the basis of these schools .

EQARF Indicators

The following PDF attachment summarises evidence identified that relates any indicators used at national level to the ten indicators proposed in the EQARF recommendation: EQARF Indicators Italy