Page 133 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

Guiding at-risk youth through learning to work
Lessons from across Europe

flexible and rich learning programme catering for different types of learners. This
can help to overcome the problem of early school leaving.
This study has identified study and work alternation initiatives in Germany,
France, Italy and the UK.

School and work alternation, Italy

The lack of opportunities to develop practical skills in secondary schools has recently been recognised as a
weakness of the Italian education system. For this reason, the government passed a law in 2003 to promote
of ‘school and work alternation’ in all types of secondary school (law 53/2003). The principle of school and
work alternation in secondary schools was restated in the 2005 law for secondary school reform (which has
yet to take effect), which made it mandatory for young people to be enrolled in formal education or training
until the age of 18.

The overall purpose of these reforms is to contribute to reducing school-drop out and to help pupils
familiarise themselves with working life, making them better equipped for the transition from school to work.
More specifically, the objectives of the secondary school reforms are:
• to introduce more flexible learning systems for pupils aged between 15 and 18;
• to enrich the learning experience with cross-cutting skills and equip pupils with skills that are required in
the workplace (for example, team working, communication, planning and problem-solving);
• to help pupils to test their work aspirations and motivations.
Although the reform is still being implemented, during the school term 2007-08 nearly 50 000 secondary
schools had already activated some school and work alternation projects (INDIRE, 2009).

The law provides general guidelines on the objectives of school and work alternation, indicating some
general principles to be followed by secondary schools. For instance, there are requirements to create a new
body within the school and new staff roles to support pupils and to liaise with external businesses.
Businesses participating in the project are also required to appoint an internal tutor to be responsible for the
pupils during the time spent in the workplace.

Schools and businesses must also cooperate closely on the definition of the objectives and specific tasks to
be provided through the work experience, which must be in line with the education activities of the school and
real working life of the enterprise. Aside from these general guidelines, schools are free to develop their own
specific models for the alternation measures, including the duration of the work experience, the specific
educational objectives and the assessment system.

The Chamber of Commerce has proved to be an ideal partner for schools offering school and work
alternation programmes. The chamber worked together with schools to define the core modules, which
include the following two examples:

• career orientation path: this module is for pupils aged 15 and lasts for between 90 and 110 hours. Around
60-70 % of this time is spent within the school on preparatory activities and 30-40 % is spent within the
enterprise doing practical tasks;
• working experience path: this is for the pupils from 16 to 18 years old. It is a module of 150 to 180 hours,
with 10-20 % of the time spent within the school in preparatory activities and 80-90 % spent within the
enterprise on practical tasks.
The Chamber also helps schools with a number of crucial tasks: analysing the local economic structure and
business skills needs; developing the pre-work experience preparatory activities which take place within the
school; training teachers to become school tutors and liaise with businesses; presenting the school and work
alternation to local businesses and identifying enterprises willing to participate in the project; and helping
schools and businesses to plan and manage together school and work alternation.

A full evaluation of the Italian system has not yet been conducted but the
Chamber of Commerce has collected views from some of the pupils participating,
as well as those of schools and enterprises (Casagrande et al., 2006). Schools
and pupils have identified the following as key strengths of the approach:

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