Education in Italy is regulated by the Ministry of Education, University and Research, in different ways according to the legal form (public schools, private schools, private schools). Vocational training, on the other hand, depends on the regions. Overall, at least according to the reform legislation in force, we pass from an education obligation that ends at 16, to a right, duty, or educational obligation, which lasts until the age of eighteen.
Kindergarten is a non-compulsory pre-school institution, characterized by play and coexistence with peers, and by preparation for the first cycle of education, that is, primary school. The average duration is three years: “small” section (first year), “medium” or “medium” section (second year) and finally large section (third year). With the Gelmini reform it is possible to enroll 2 and a half year old children, while the previous prerequisite was three years old. In Italy it was previously known as “nursery school”, until the introduction of the Moratti reform in 2003.
Primary school, before the Moratti elementary school reform, is the institution that represents primary education in Italy. Previously it was divided into two cycles, a two-year and a three-year, with a final exam for completion and access to secondary schools. With the Moratti reform it was divided into 3 cycles, a single year and two biennial, and the final exam was abolished. During the history of primary school, two didactic modules alternated: that of the single teacher and that of the didactic module. The single teacher was in use until 1990 to be abolished after years of experimentation and replaced with a group of teachers (3 for two classes or 4 for three classes), called the didactic module. With the Gelmini reform the figure of the single teacher was reapproved. With the legislative decree n.59 of 2004 applying the Moratti law, a new figure was born: the tutor teacher: a figure of guidance, counseling, tutoring for each student, in order to reach a grade.
The lower secondary school, formerly lower middle school, is the institution that represents the first level of secondary education. It was accessed until 2003 with the primary license (currently abolished). The junior high school was born in 1965 with the unification of the gymnasiums, which gave access to high schools, and vocational training schools, which gave access to technical / vocational schools. From that moment there has therefore been talk of a unified middle school. The weekly timetable of lower secondary school ranges, on average, from a minimum of 29 hours to a maximum of 33 hours. In some schools, periods of 50 minutes can be used instead of hours, so the timetable varies from a minimum of 35 periods to a maximum of 38 periods. With the Gelmini reform, however, we return to the time of sixty minutes.