Return of the numerical evaluation in conduct also in middle schools, final exam grade reduced for those who do not reach at least 9, more stringent criteria to allow failure in case of failure, socially useful work in case of "long" suspensions from school.
These are the main innovations contained in the bill which, starting from the 2024/25 school year, aims to review, with a more restrictive but also more re-educational approach, the judgment on student behavior and the management of the increasingly widespread cases of violence and insubordination.
Currently, in fact, the grade in conduct is present in the report card of high school students and it is already possible to have students repeat the year who report an insufficiency.
However, this is a rare event, given that the latest available data speak of 0.1% of students failing due to indiscipline, with a peak of 0.4% only in professional institutes.
Much more frequent is achieving a conduct rating lower than 9, as happens roughly to 4 out of 10 students and which, if it occurs in one of the last three years of high school, for each year can lead to the loss of a school credit and therefore a point on the Maturity mark.
Will the new rules start as early as next school year?
Returning to the law to come, there is very little left to the finish line.
The favorable vote from the Senate now seems imminent, which to further speed up the process has entrusted its Education commission with the task of bringing a ready-made text to the chamber, the so-called "drafting office", to be voted on en bloc.
After that it will be up to the Chamber to give the final green light.
Despite this, it may not be so obvious that the changes will become effective as early as next September.
Because the same bill provides that, within 180 days from the date of approval of the law, the Ministry of Education and Merit adopts a regulation that harmonizes the innovations with the current legislation.
This means that, to make the reform operational upon returning to school after the summer break, the case will need to be closed by February.
The new discipline on behavior at school
But what specifically does this mini-revolution wanted by the Government envisage?
As reported by an in-depth analysis by the specialized portal Skuola.net, which summarized the main steps of the provision, the system released by the Council of Ministers last September arrived at the vote in the parliamentary chambers almost intact.
There are two cornerstones of the project: on the one hand the evaluation of conduct, which will have a decidedly more substantial weight in the final ballots;
on the other, a new method for the "treatment" of suspensions.
These, in more detail, are the main innovations:
Conduct rating, numerical, even in middle school.
The descriptive rating on behavior will remain only for primary school children.
For all the others - first (middle) and second (higher) secondary schools - there will be the classic grade, expressed in tenths.
Effectively equating the evaluation yardstick for the little ones to that already in force for the older ones.
With failure in conduct you repeat the year
Both in middle school and high school, if you don't reach at least a 6 in "behavior", you will automatically fail.
The reform aims to tighten the rules of the current legislation, which confines this eventuality to events that are as serious as they are, fortunately, rare.
The attribution of the insufficiency can occur in the face of serious and repeated disciplinary failures that occurred throughout the entire school year (and not just the last quarter), also with reference to the violations provided for by the institute regulations.
With a difference depending on the school level.
In middle school, in fact, any grade above a passing grade allows you to move on to the next class.
With a passing grade, suspended in court.
In high school, however, anyone who gets a full 6 will receive an educational debt.
As for an insufficiency in any other subject, the student will be asked to use the summer period to write a paper on the topics of "Active and supportive citizenship", to be discussed together with the teachers.
Admission to the next class will depend on the positive outcome of the interview.
With less than 6, goodbye end-of-cycle exams.
A separate case is that of students at the end of their education cycle.
Without passing grades in conduct, both in middle school and high school, you will not be able to access the final exam.
Maturity, the conduct mark can make a big difference.
The real watershed for high school students, especially from a diploma perspective, however, is the 8 in conduct.
In fact, if you do not exceed this threshold, you can lose up to 3 school credit points on your card.
This is a score that flows directly into the Maturity grade and is assigned at the end of each year, in the last three years of high school, on the basis of the average grades achieved by the student in all disciplines, including conduct.
The class council must follow a ministerial table which corresponds to each average score, but has a margin of discretion of one point for each year.
A bonus that will have to remain in the pocket in the event of a conduct grade lower than 9. Furthermore, in the upper fifth a simple 6 in "behavior" will open up an additional task, namely the presentation at the Maturity of the aforementioned paper on " Active and supportive citizenship”.
Short suspensions, ad hoc lessons foreseen for reinstatement.
The news on the disciplinary sanctions imposed by schools in the event of serious intemperance by students are common to the entire secondary, lower and upper secondary school.
The tenor of the punishment depends on its duration.
If, in fact, this remains within the two days, the student will be involved in what have been called "in-depth activities on the consequences of the behaviors that led to the disciplinary measure";
better if carried out in a school environment, therefore without the usual ban on entering school.
Long suspensions, a kind of "social service" will be performed.
The "rehabilitation" process is more demanding for those who are suspended for more than two days.
In this case the punishment will have to be served through participation in "solidarity citizenship activities, at facilities affiliated with educational institutions".
A sort of "social service".
Which, depending on the length of the suspension, may be limited to the actual days of the sanction or, in particularly serious cases, continued for an extra period even after the student returns to class.
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