Middle School (South Tyrol)
In South Tyrol, the term middle school refers to the “scuola media” school type, which was first introduced in the province of Bolzano in 1940 as part of an Italy-wide school reform. The organization and teaching of the middle school were modified in the course of several Italy-wide school reforms. The middle school is currently part of the compulsory education.
history
Introduction of middle school in Italy
In the first decades of the middle school was commonly as Latin middle school known as the school subject Latin occupied by the high school students as a compulsory subject had. In the school system, the three-year middle school followed the five-year elementary school , although attendance at the middle school was not originally compulsory. In South Tyrol, secondary schools were only created in the largest localities, where until 1943 the teaching language was exclusively Italian.
Middle school as an extended compulsory school offer from 1962
In 1962, a major educational reform was passed in Italy , with which the three-year unified middle school was created nationwide and made compulsory for all. After a few reforms, the unified middle school provides education for 11 to 14 year-olds to date (2013). At the technical level, Latin was relegated to an optional subject and was only intended as such in the third school year; In 1979 the subject was finally abolished. The reform brought physical and technical education (“works”) onto the timetable as new school subjects. The weekly schedule comprised 25 compulsory lessons, and electives were also offered.
Regional features of the South Tyrolean secondary school
In the first decades after the Second World War, the South Tyrolean compulsory secondary school had to struggle with particular structural difficulties, as the German-speaking school system in the province had only been undergoing reconstruction since 1945. After the German school from old Austrian tradition was banned by Italian fascism in the mid-1920s (and the secret, illegal German lessons were significantly under the influence of National Socialism in the following years ), there was a lack of university-educated teaching staff and corresponding school books. The above-average lack of teachers was gradually compensated for in the following decades; However, school books are still z. Partly from Austria or Germany, especially since they coincide with the content that is dealt with in the rest of the country.
With regard to language teaching, Italian is taught as a second language in the German-speaking middle school in South Tyrol, while German is a second language in the Italian-speaking middle school. With the progressive development of the South Tyrolean provincial autonomy , the curricula could be designed from the mid-1970s in part independently of state teaching specifications.
The Italian school reform, which came into force in the 2006/2007 school year, currently stipulates the following teaching time per school year:
- 918 hours of 60 minutes each in the core area
- 68 hours of 60 minutes each mandatory quota reserved in school (basic quota)
- 34 to 102 hours in the elective area
When divided over 34 weeks, this means 27 hours of 60 minutes each per week in the core area (of which 4 units are Italian and 2 units are English), as well as 2 hours in the area of the mandatory quota reserved for the school and a maximum of 3 hours in the elective area. The duration of the teaching units does not necessarily have to be 60 minutes. When converting to shorter units, their number increases.
In the 2012/2013 school year, the school year was extended from 34 to 35 weeks. During this time the change from the six to the five day week also took place.
See also
literature
- Eduard Widmoser: South Tyrol A-Z . Südtirol Verlag Herbert Neuner, Innsbruck / Munich
- Rainer Seberich: South Tyrolean school history . Edition Raetia, Bozen, 2000
- German Education Department / Autonomous Province of Bozen: 50 Years of Middle School , in: Info - December 2012 / January 2013