My name is Leonardi Stefania and I am a Spanish teacher in the “Primo Levi” Institute in Badia Polesine. I actually teach in two different courses: one is focused on the study of European languages (English, French, German and Spanish) and their related cultures; the other one is about the study of pedagogy, psychology, anthropology and subjects of the same field.

Here, in these few lines, I will try to give my opinion of what teaching in Italy means.

            Some days ago it was published an article about the five countries with the best Educational systems. It showed the results of a research carried by the Pearson Company of Educational Systems (A Financial Times’ Company) and the British Economist Intelligence Unit ( EIU), this study was based on parameters such as the amount of money that a country invests in the didactic field, the teachers’ salary, the examination surveys (considering PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS) and, the last but not the least, the employment rate (or better to say the unemployment rate).

            As it is obvious and quite deductible, the Asiatic system won over the European one; in fact, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong were the first four countries with the best Educational systems (just following the order in which they are written). The fifth country was Finland.

            Reading this article, I was not astonished because I have always thought that Italy’s educational system is very pitiful, with so many problems that we cannot solve in one or two years. The fact is that if I think of the School, as institution of course,  I don’t believe in its quality, that is to say that I don’t believe in the Ministry’s work, in the Didactic Reforms and bureaucracy because there is no notion about what this job is really like.

            Italian teachers are overwhelmed with obligations, forms to fill and above all, they are underestimated. Nonetheless, I think that Italian teachers are very prepared and they believe in the power of knowledge. It is difficult to overcome the financial problems that prevent us from improving our level, yet, considering other countries, there are positive aspects.

            Last summer, during a didactic course in Spain I compared my teaching experience with Scottish, French and Swiss teachers. I understood, then, that sometimes we cannot see the resources we have got. For instance, the Scottish teacher told me that it was forbidden to talk about some simple topics with which I usually deal like “friendship”. 

            On the other hand, on that occasion I also thought that all of us, no matter our nationalities, had many things in common, we were all so passionate about our job.

            I work in a region called Veneto, so I can tell what my experience is in one part of Italy because, and I suppose that it is the same all over the world, there are differences between the north, the south and the centre of Italy. I don’t know if it is relevant my small view: I can tell that there is the will to change our situation, that we want to provide the students for the right means  to achieve their goals with a discriminating view. Now, it is so trendy in Italy to talk about teaching “competences” but I dare to say that we have always thought that what it is important is how our students can use what they learn, how they can see the world with their cultural baggage and how can they build their perspective of the world.     

STEFANIA LEONARDI