Education International Research
small groups at school level64 and establishing individualised educational plans and objectives (Piani Didattici Personalizzati) for students with special needs due to “socioeconomic, linguistic and cultural disadvantage65”, which “applies in particular - but not only - to newly arrived students aged over 16 years and coming from non-Latin countries”66. In terms of initial linguistic support, the Ministry of Education considers that an effective intervention consists of eight to 10 hours weekly of Italian as a second language over three to four months67. However, in all the schools visited during the field data collection, the lack of resources has prevented teachers from offering this number of extra hours to newly arrived children. All interventions ranged from two to five hours weekly with, in some cases, teachers working voluntarily in addition to their contractual hours. “We [teachers] have organised a system to offer a few weekly extra hours of additional linguistic support but these hours are not paid”. —Teacher, Lower secondary school (Catania) 2.5.2. Class size As previously mentioned, crowded classrooms may be invoked in some cases to refuse the enrolment of asylum-seeking or refugee students. Leaving aside illegitimate refusals, most interviewees recognised that this issue should not be neglected, urging local educational authorities (i.e. Provveditorato) to support schools in this regard, as small classes are essential to ensure a smooth and successful integration process. “It’s true that, very often, upper secondary schools – especially vocational institutes – have very big classes with up to 30 students. Enrolling a newly arrived child in such a context does not allow for the individualised approach that these students need”. —USR representative (Milan) Huge class sizes can also determine the enrolment in a lower grade than the grade corresponding to the age of the child.
64
Ministero dell’istruzione, dell’università e della ricerca (2007) “La via italiana per la scuola interculturale e l’integrazione degli alunni stranieri”.
65
Ministerial Directive “Strumenti d’intervento per alunni con bisogni educativi speciali e organizzazione territoriale per l’inclusione scolastica”, 27 December 2012.
66
Note MIUR Prot. 2563, 22 November 2013.
67 “Linee guida per l’accoglienza e l’integrazione degli alunni stranieri”, February 2014.
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