School in Italy

Every country has a different school system. Today, we're going to discover Italy's.

In the beginning, I can say that grades in Italy go from 1 to 10. However, they can change from teacher to teacher. There are teachers who start from 2, 3 or 4 and others who consider 8 or 9 their highest grade. There's even a higher grade, 10 e lode, that is sometimes awarded during exams. Some schools, however, don't award 10 e lode. It's often a question of being lucky. This means having good teachers, who are good in explaining to the students and valutating them. Sometimes, teachers choose different highest grades for the "prove, o verifiche, scritte" and the "prove, o verifiche, orali".

Verifiche scritte are, literally, written tests. Verifiche orali are, literally, speaking tests. They can also be called "interrogazioni". The teacher asks questions to the students about the subjects they have studied, and the students answer them.

Another important aspect of Italian school is that students always stay in the same class, for example 1B, 4C, 2F... Every class has its own timetable, the same students and teachers during all the school year, unless a student decides to change school or class. This can happen when a certain student doesn't get well with the classmates or, in a Liceo or an Istituto Tecnico, when he doesn't like the subjects taught in the school.

In this school kids learn the basics of living in a community by practical experience with their classmates. Generally, kids there draw and have fun together.

The "Scuola Elementare" is where children aged from 6 to 10/11 years old study. In the beginning, students learn the alphabet, how to write and read correctly, the basics of mathematics, but it gets progressively harder. Out of the five years, the third and fourth are the hardest, because that's when students officially begin studying English and other subjects like History, Geography, Music... They study them before, too, but it's simpler because, for example, they don't play the flute (I don't know why Italian teachers are so obsessed with this instrument) and when they're 8 they begin to study human history from the Big Bang until the Romans.

Children and teens aged from 11 to 13/14 years old study in the "Scuola Media". Even if they study there for just three years, it's very hard. There are loads of homework, teachers can be supporting or not. At the end of the last school year, there's an important exam where students can get grades from 3 to 10, and, only in some schools, 10 e lode for the best student/students of the class. It's called "Esame di Terza Media" and changes through the years. For example, before the Covid pandemic there were writing and oral tests.

"Scuola Superiore" is a general term that includes both Liceo and Istituto Tecnico.

During their last year in the Scuola Media, students have to choose in what Scuola Superiore they will study for the next five years, until they are 18/19 years old. The Scuola Superiore can be a Liceo, a more theoric school, or a Istituto Tecnico, a more practical school. For example, Liceo Classico, for humanitarian studies (loads of hours about ancient Greek and Latin); Liceo Scientifico, centred on maths; Liceo Linguistico, to study languages; Liceo Artistico, art and design; Istituto Tecnico Alberghiero, to learn how to cook and work in a restaurant or a hotel, for example; and others.

At the end of the last year students have to pass an exam, called "Esame di Maturità", that, like the "Esame di Terza Media", changes through the years. Tests of different kinds of schools, like Liceo Classico and Liceo Scientifico, are different, because they're centred on different subjects and abilities.