ITALY• EDUCATION

Travel•Info

SISTER SCHOOL PROJECT

The goal of the sister school project is to compile contact information of schools in different regions of the world to provide the possibility of establishing sister school relationships.  The sister school project will be accomplished through the following three components: pictures/images of schools around the world, a forum (as internet access allows) where students from different schools can discuss student life, and written correspondence between schools and students where internet access is not possible.

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Name: Koine Zara Scuola Primaria (Primary School)

Location: Monza, Italy

Ages of students: School: age 5-10 (grades 1-5), Ramona's class: 8-9 years old (grade 4)

Number of students: School: 400 students. Ramona's class: 18 students (9 boys, 9 girls)

Number of teachers: School: 60 teachers, Ramona's class: 2 teachers, 1 assistant. One teacher instructs Humanities, while the other instructs Math/Science

School hours: Monday through Friday 8:30 - 4:30, with a one hour lunch time period. Students eat together as a class with their teacher. Students are not allowed to bring lunch from home, instead they eat a two course meal (first course being pasta or rice, second course is meat and vegetable, bread is also served, all students drink water) provided by the school. The intention is for teachers to emphasize the importance of eating good quality, healthy food and relaxing and enjoying meals. Students must try everything on their plate and are not allowed to play with their food.

Subjects taught: Math, science, Italian (language and grammar), history, geography, computer science, music, art, English, religion, gynmastics

Classroom Instruction: During our visit to Ramona's class, they were learning about English vocabulary for clothing, working on special holiday lab projects, and reading Pippy Longstocking. They also enjoyed a variety of art based projects. During gym time, we introduced the students to kickball and baseball; they were great!

Note: More pictures coming soon!!!!

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Name: Scuola Media Statale

Location: Lecco, Italy

Ages of students: 11-13

Number of students: about 20 students

Number of teachers: Students have different teachers for different subjects.

Activites outside of school: Most students like to play video games, soccer, watch TV and hang out with their friends.

Hours of school day: Students go to school Monday through Saturday from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm everyday. In the afternoon students can take part in sports, computers, music class or get started on their homework.

Note: These students interviewed us about our work with GPHE and the details surrounding long distance cycle touring. However, students were very interested and excited about asking us about the new President-elect Obama.

EDUCATOR PERSPECTIVES PROJECT

The educator perspectives project highlights the life of educators through interviews and surveys.  The following are a sampling of typical questions asked:

• How many subjects do you teach?
• How do you get to work?
• How long is your workday?
• Approximately how much do you earn monthly?
• What level of respect does an educator hold in your country?
• What level of education is needed to be a teacher in your country?
• How many students are in your class?
• How do you discipline your students?

Educators                                                                                       

Name: Ramona Brigatti

Grade level taught: Primary School. In Italy, primary school teachers keep the same students for five years (from grade 1 to grade 5. Once the students graduate to middle school, the teacher will be given a new group of students to work with for the next five years. Due to their long term relationships, young primary students can become very close with their teachers.

Years teaching: 4

Location: Monza, Italy

Salary: 1,200 Euro per month (plus one extra check for Christmas season)

Schedule: Ramona shares her teaching schedule with another classroom teacher. Ramona instructs the humanities, while Anna intructs math and science. With this schedule, each teacher works half a day - either from morning (8:30 am) until lunch (about 12:00 pm) or from noon until 4:30 pm. Each teacher usually has a standard morning or afternoon shift every day of the week except Friday. Teachers alternate who works the afternoon shift every Friday, so each has the opportunity to have a longer weekend every other week. This schedule seems to work quite well. However, due to less classroom time, teachers salaries are significantly lower than US teacher equivalents (although these teachers in Italy work fewer hours per week).

Teaching in Italy: Teaching in Italy is a state position. Therefore, once your name is on the "list" of certified working teachers, your position is guaranteed for life and can only be denied for serious infringements. You can also request to change locations within Italy, or work abroad for Italian international schools. Seniority gives you a greater advantage in getting your desired position.. This job guarantee makes teaching in Italy a desireable career. However, this guaranteed position does have some strong criticism. Some people and teachers in Italy feel that some teachers take advantage of their stable position. Some teachers take extended paid sick time and also lower the quality of their instruction.