What’s new in the latest decree of the Ministry of Education

6 August 20213 years ago babelfish

The intervention of Sister Anna Monia Alfieri

Covid has made evident the limits of the Italian school system, a prisoner of the strong powers of politics, trade unions and bureaucracy, which have made it classist, regionalist and discriminatory. This has been the subject of this for a long time in recent years and especially in these months of pandemic.

The government of National Unity has taken on the task of bringing the school back to the center of the country, thus trying to address and if possible contribute to solving the atavistic problems.

Starting with the 2021 Summer Plan, it has been clear that the country is on the right path: autonomy, equality and freedom of educational choice, pluralism, transparency and reporting are terms that bring the public closer to the private in mutual respect.

An unprecedented cultural transition, which leads to important choices. In fact, in these hours, while the various ministries are committed to laying the foundations for restarting the school safely, it is possible to intervene on important issues, including the precariousness of teachers, including IRC ones.

Yesterday's Council of Ministers authorized the Ministry of Education to hire, for an indefinite period, a number equal to:

12,193 ATA personnel (Administrative, Technical and Auxiliary);
450 units of school leaders;
108 units of educational staff;
673 units of Catholic religion teachers.

Historical numbers after years of stalemate. Suffice it to say that there are still 150 thousand precarious workers. For example, since 2004 (the year in which the last competition was held) the teachers of religion are all precarious.

A dramatic condition, that of precarious teachers, which prevents them from having the necessary economic certainty even just to take out a mortgage. It is a painful situation which, like all injustices, falls mainly on the frail, with the logic of the blame and the guilty of the moment.

There is no need to look for the scapegoat in the ministers of education who have alternated over the years. In fact, if in one respect it is true that the ministers have not launched the competition for the teaching of Religion – according to governmental logic that did not authorize them -, since 2004 about 15 thousand precarious teachers have been produced, produced by multiple Higher Institutes of Religious Sciences . In view of a necessary census that meets supply and demand also in the school chapter, the stabilization envisaged by Minister Bianchi for IRC teachers is a breath of fresh air: 673 units of Catholic religion teachers, compared to 15 thousand precarious and only one thousand about chairs they can aspire to, on the national territory …

In any case, precarious teachers increase because at the same time young people think of school as a certain job, without considering the decline in the birth rate, the location of the chairs in the north and the difficulty of moving from the south, where aspiring teachers reside. Not only that: aspiring teachers from fifty-year-olds left out of work due to the pandemic, who have dusted off the degree obtained five decades ago and who do not hesitate to face – unaware – the lions' den of a class of adolescents are exponentially increasing. Congratulations.

It is hoped that, among the next steps, there will be the qualifying paths of teachers of independent schools, but it is also desirable, upstream, that university students are finally given a path of scientific and realistic orientation on the characteristics of the teaching profession and on the concrete possibility to access it. Let it be clear to aspiring teachers: “If you wish to teach Classics, you will have to move to Pordenone and stay there until the end of your career or at least for 15 years, that is, until your colleague retires at the school in Lecce where you would like to teach. And if you focus on Mathematics and Physics there will be no problems. Several available professorships are right behind your house ”. At this point the young aspirant will decide, even before choosing the degree course, whether to face the transfer or go to other university shores. But it will certainly be able to plan its future and regulate itself, in the same way as the free professions.

In turn, Parliament, an expression of the sovereign and finally aware people, will be able to legislate in favor of the teaching class, enhancing it also economically, instead of paying for redundant staff who, in order to work, are recycled in the secretariat. Sic res est.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/che-cosa-ce-di-nuovo-nellultimo-decreto-del-ministero-dellistruzione/ on Fri, 06 Aug 2021 14:14:33 +0000.