On the initiative of the Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara, at the end of a meeting with the technicians of the Ministry, and taking into account the final report of the work of the ministerial table of experts on the subject of bullying, interventions were established on the evaluation criteria of the vote of conduct in secondary schools, on the extent of the suspension and on the establishment of solidarity citizenship activities. These interventions will give rise to a regulatory review which will concern Presidential Decree June 22, 2009 n.122, relating to the assessment of learning and behavior, and Presidential Decree June 24, 1998 n. 249, which contains the Statute of male and female students.
"In order to restore the culture of respect, to contribute to affirming the authority of teachers and to restore serenity in our schools, we have decided to intervene on three guidelines”, declared Minister Valditara. The guidelines and their contents are as follows:
First director:
- It should be noted that the mark assigned for conduct refers to the entire school year and that in the assessment particular emphasis must be given to any violent acts or aggression towards teachers, all school staff and students.
- In lower secondary schools, the evaluation of behavior is restored, which will be expressed in tenths and will be averaged, thus modifying the 2017 reform.
- The evaluation of the behavior will affect the credits for admission to the final state exam of the secondary school.
- The current legislation, which presents various critical issues and ambiguities, provides that the rejection, following the attribution of 5 for the conduct, is implemented exclusively in the presence of serious acts of violence or the commission of crimes. With the reform, however, it is established that the assignment of a 5, and therefore the consequent rejection, can also take place in the face of behaviors that constitute serious and repeated violations of the Institute Regulations.
- The assignment of 6 for conduct will generate a scholastic debt (in secondary school) in the field of civic education, which will have to be recovered in September with a check concerning the constitutional values and the values of citizenship.
Second director:
- It is believed that the suspension measure, understood as a simple removal from school, is completely ineffective and, indeed, could generate negative consequences for the student. It is therefore expected that the suspension of up to 2 days from class lessons will lead to more schooling, more commitment and more study. The suspended student will be involved in school activities -assigned by the class council- of reflection and in-depth study of the issues related to the behaviors that caused the measure. This path will end with the production of a critical paper on what has been learned, which will be subject to appropriate evaluation by the class council.
- If the suspension exceeds 2 days, the student will have to carry out joint citizenship activities at affiliated facilities. The agreement will contain the appropriate insurance coverage.
Third director:
- In the event of suspension of more than 2 days, if it is deemed appropriate by the class council, the solidarity citizenship activity may continue beyond the duration of the suspension, and therefore also after the student has returned to class, according to the principles of temporariness, gradualness and proportionality. This in order to further stimulate and verify the effective maturation and responsibility of the young person with respect to what happened.
Decisions regarding these measures will be taken by individual schools, specifically by class councils, in compliance with school autonomy.