At the start of multi-year interventions, teams against dispersion can be activated in the institutes
The Minister of Education Patrizio Bianchi, as already announced in recent days, wrote to the school managers of the beneficiary Institutes of the first 500 million allocated under the Plan for reducing territorial gaps and combating early school leaving, provided for by the National Plan of Recovery and Resilience (PNRR).
The Minister's letter accompanies the “Guidelines for the implementation of interventions in schools”, a document designed to guide schools in the strategic use of available resources.
"The common challenge - writes the Minister - is to be able to overcome long-term gaps and to strengthen the conditions for the development of an economy with a high level of knowledge which, starting from the current criticalities, may be able to invest in skills of female students and students. The key guidelines for the implementation of interventions in schools provide the first operational indications, the objectives of the investment, the timing and the main measures that can be activated, to start planning effective actions, starting from a context analysis of the school and the major critical issues on which it is necessary to intervene, also through network projects with other educational institutions in order to create territorial synergies, collaborations and exchanges ".
Involved in this first phase of implementation of the Plan, which provides a total of € 1,5 billion, 3.198 first and second grade secondary schools with female students aged 12-18, selected on the basis of indicators relating to dispersion and the socio-economic context, to which the resources will be assigned directly. Multi-year projects will have to start with the next school year.
The document sent today defines the key guidelines for the planning of interventions by schools, outlines some types of actions that can be implemented, sets out a time schedule and highlights the tools to support the institutions in all phases of the Plan.
"As part of their autonomy - explains Bianchi - schools are called upon to develop, also online and in conjunction with other subjects in the area, a multiannual wide-ranging project for the improvement and enrichment of the educational offer and for support learning and extra-curricular activities, also by providing for territorial educational pacts and by identifying a dedicated team of teachers and expert tutors for the prevention of early school leaving ".
The guidelines
Schools will have to prepare actions that have a vision articulated in multi-year plans, with the aim of building networks and strengthening the links with the territory. They will have to foster synergies, systematic and continuous collaborations and involve the whole educating community - including families and the Third sector - also through educational pacts. The activities must not be limited to the curricular offer: the planning of extra-curricular learning paths will be important, with a view to opening up and enhancing the skills of girls and boys. Orientation will be central in defining the interventions, especially in the transition between lower and upper secondary schools. In cases of greater fragility, it will be possible to provide personalized learning paths, as well as tutoring activities and greater laboratory teaching. School projects must also be structured to deal with any signs of unease and risk situations in a preventive manner.
The types of actions and the time schedule
The paths that schools will have to define can be organized for individual students, in the case of mentoring activities, or for groups, for the enhancement of skills, for orientation, also with the active involvement of families, for the realization of laboratory activities. extracurricular (disciplinary or concerning cinema, theater, sport, music, for example). After a phase of context analysis, the projects must be prepared by October 2022 and be implemented over the two-year period, by December 2024.
The school dropout prevention team
Within each school, a team of expert teachers and tutors will be set up to support in identifying female students at greatest risk of dropping out and in planning and managing interventions. The schools will also have support groups, activated in the Regional School Offices, the territorial training teams and the “School Task Force”, which will ensure technical-administrative support, as well as the collection of data and the monitoring of activities.