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Chapter 1
The Italian School System and the European
Context
1.1
The historical evolution of the Italian school
1.1.1
The nineteenth century
In 1861 the school model of the Kingdom of Sardinia was extended to the newly es-
tablished Kingdom of Italy. The
Casati Legislation in 1859
outlined a school system
divided in three sections: Higher education; Classical secondary education; Techni-
cal and primary education.
Primary school lasted a period of four years, with the first two compulsory for every-
one. The
Coppino Legislation of 1877
extended the compulsory period to three
years and the total period of primary school to 5 years.
1.1.2
The first half of the twentieth century
The main problem was illiteracy. At the census in 1901, 56% of the Italian population
was illiterate, especially women and people in rural areas, while the situation in the
industrial areas was a little better.
In
1904, the Orlando Reform
extended compulsory education until the age of 12
and changed the structure of the course of studies. At the end of the fourth year,
the pathways were divided between those who continued to the fifth and sixth year
of primary school (in preparation for professional training) and those who went to
secondary school.
In
1911
, with the
Daneo-Credaro legislation
, primary schools passed under the di-
rect management of the State through the Provinces and the school patronage be-
came mandatory to provide assistance to families in need.
In
1923
, with the
Gentile Reform
, the education system was definitively centralised
and governed by a hierarchical structure. Underlying the reform, there was an
aris-
tocratic conception of culture and education
, seen as tools for selecting the best.
Primary school education returned to an extension of five years divided into two
cycles (lower grade of three years and upper grade of two years).
Education was com-
pulsory
until the
fourteenth year of life
, even if implementation was conditioned by
the massive lack of school attendance in the poorest areas of the country.
Pupils graduating primary school had four pathways open to them:
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Grammar school, which gave access to high school;
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Technical school, structured into lower and upper courses;