1. Italian education system Comenius Project “From The Waste Basket” Circolo Didattico Rignano sull’Arno – Italy

2. Education population and language of instruction On 31 January 2008, the Italian population was 60.045.068. In the school year 2008/09, children enrolled in pre-primary schools were 978.302. Students enrolled in compulsory school education (6-16 years of age) were 6.789.769. The language of instruction is Italian, although in some areas the use of the local language is officially authorised for education.

3. Administrative control and extent of public-sector funded education Overall responsibility for school education lies within the Ministry of Education, University and Research (Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca), which works at central level, while regional and provincial education offices work at local level. Regions may delegate certain responsibilities to the provinces and municipalities. The Constitution establishes that the State has to provide for a state-owned education system, but it also establishes that also non-state school may exists. In 2004, the National service for the evaluation of the education and training system was instituted. Its task is to improve the quality of the education system, through the evaluation of its efficiency also in relation with the international context.

4. Pre-primary education Scuola dell’Infanzia (nursery school) Age 3-6 The scuola dell'infanzia is the first stage of the education and training system and it is not compulsory. Children enrolled in pre-primary education, considering both State and non-State schools, are about the 96-97 % of the entire population aged 3- 6 years. Pre-primary education is offered free of charge. Families are asked to pay a sum for transport and canteen services. Families with low incomes are exempted. The amount of hours in one year is between 875 and 1.700 hours, corresponding at about a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 50 hours a week. In our school we have 40 hours a week. Children can be organised in groups according to their age or in mixed groups. Groups can be made up of a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 30 children.

5. Compulsory education Primo ciclo di istruzione (first cycle of education) : Scuola primaria (primary school)Age 6-11 Scuola secondaria di primo grado (lower secondary school)Age 11-14 Secondo ciclo di istruzione (second cycle of education)Age 14-16 Compulsory education covers the first cycle of education (8 years) the first two years of the second cycle (upper secondary education).

6. Length of school day/week/year The school year comprises at least 200 days between the 1st of September and the 30th of June. Schools open five or six days a week. Compulsory annual teaching hours are 891 in primary school and 957 in lower secondary school; this amount is subdivided into 33 teaching weeks with an average amount of, respectively, 27 and 29 weekly hours. According to school autonomy, each educational institution is responsible for the organisation of its annual teaching time. At primary level schools can also organize the teaching time on an average of 30 or 40 weekly hours. In the last years also a weekly timetable of 24 hours has been introduced.

7. Class size/student grouping Pupils are grouped according to their age. Each class is generally made up of maximum 26 and minimum 15 pupils, at primary level, and of maximum 27 and minimum 18 in the first classes at lower secondary level.

8. Curriculum control and content Schools of the first cycle of education (primary school and lower secondary school) adopt National Guidelines together with Guidelines for the Curriculum, that are also for pre-primary school. Specific learning objectives at primary school level have been defined for the following subjects: Catholic religion, Italian, English language, history, geography, mathematics, science, technical education and ICT, music, art and drawing, sport and motory sciences. Teachers are free to choose textbooks and teaching methods.

9. Post-compulsory education/upper secondary and post-secondary level Secondo ciclo di istruzione (second cycle of education) within post-compulsory education Liceo classico (classical upper secondary school) Liceo scientifico (scientific upper secondary school) Liceo linguistico (linguistic upper secondary school) Liceo socio-psico-pedagogico (upper secondary school with a sociological-psycological- and pedagogical orientation) Liceo artistico (artistic upper secondary school) Age (14) 16-19 Age (14) 16-18/19 Istituto tecnico (technical school)Age (14) 16-19 Istituto professionale (vocational school)/Istituti d’arte (art schools) Age (14) 16-17/19 Formazione professionale di base (Initial vocational training) Age (14) 16-17 Istruzione e formazione tecnica superiore (higher technical education and training system) Age 19-21

10. Higher education Higher education is organised at university and non- university level. This latter is offered by the higher level arts and music education system (Sistema dell'Alta formazione artistica e musicale – Afam) and by other institutions. Only universities and Afam institutes issue officially recognised degrees. Higher education, both at universities and Afam institutes, is organised in three cycles: the first cycle lasting 3 years; the second cycle lasting 2 years the third cycle has a variable length. Courses in medicine and surgery, veterinary science, and dentistry are still organised in one single cycle lasting 5-6 years.

11. Special needs Students with special needs are integrated into mainstream education and specialist support is provided. Teachers At present, teachers at pre-primary and primary level must hold a university Laurea in primary education sciences. Teachers at secondary level must hold a Laurea magistrale and, afterwards, a 2-year specialisation course at the Specialisation school for teaching at secondary level (scuola di specializzazione per l’insegnamento secondario – SSIS). Universities offer in service training to teachers for their professional development. Primary school teachers are generalist teachers, but are responsible for a specific subject area. Secondary school teachers are specialist teachers. All teachers are civil servants.

12. Our school: Circolo Didattico di Rignano sull’Arno Our insitute includes 7 schools: Three pre-primary schools, with about 330 pupils Four primary schools, with about 450 pupils The schools are located in two different municipalities: Rignano sull’Arno and Incisa in Val d’Arno. In our Comenius project are involved three classes of Rignano sull’Arno pre-primary school and one class of Troghi pre-primay school. Both the schools belong to the municipality of Rignano sull’Arno

13. Timetable in our pre-primary school From Monday to Friday, from 8,30 in the morning to 16,30 in the afternoon. Subjects in our pre-primary school They are named “experience fields”. They are: the self and the other, body, movement, health, use and output of messages, exploring, knowing and planning Pupils have also lesson of catholic religion, but it isn’t compulsory.

14. The scuola dell'infanzia is an educational environment where children can make real experiences and learn by reflecting, thus integrating the children’s various forms of doing, thinking, expressing, communicating, enjoying beauty and giving sense. It requires adults’ attention and availability, flexibility and adaptability; it should create a pleasant atmosphere of curiosity and joy of playing and knowledges the following elements as fundamental of its educational service: the relationship among peers and with adults; the improvement of all the forms and experiences of playing; the relevance of productive making and of direct experience of the contact with nature, things, materials, social environment and culture to lead the children’s curiosity along gradually more organised exploration and research paths.

15. Statistics about pre-primary school in Italy

16. A day in our pre-primary school This is the organization of a day in our pre-primary schools: 8,30 – 9,00 arrival and welcoming in the class 9,00 - 10,00 calendar and conversation 10,00 – 10,30 free playing 10,30 – 12,00 didactic activities 12,00 – 12,15 preparation for the lunch 12,15 – 12, 50 lunch 13,00 – 13,45 free playing 13,45 – 14,30 relaxing on the carpet or rest for the children aged 3 14,30 – 15,30 light didactic activities 15,30 – 15,40 snack 15, 50 – 16,00 tidy up materials 16,00 - 16,30 exit The children could also exit from 11,45 to 12 or from 13,30 to 13,45, instead of from 16 to 16,30,.

17. The spaces in our pre-primary school According our learning objectives, our classrooms are organized with some special “corners” that are used in a flexible way and with different tools for the different activities. Conversation corner Here we talk, sing, play. Children can stay here all together and learn to communicate and to follow the rules of conversation Library corner Here the children can browse the books individual or in little groups, or listen a story red by theacher. Here they begin to know the books. Games corner In this space there are some educational games like memory, domino, lego…

18. Graphic corner in this space children can express themsleves with drawings made with different materials Paint corner Here children can know diffrerent painting tecniques Creativity corner with recycling and re-using materials Pc corner with didactic software, that the pupils are free to use in group with no more than three children Mail corner for exchanging messages