tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post1444063649536396552..comments2024-01-20T11:56:48.682+01:00Comments on WindRose Hotel: Think again, Mrs. Education SecretaryS.R. Piccolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-81611554633508624952008-10-31T09:22:00.000+01:002008-10-31T09:22:00.000+01:00No problem, I was busy too ... off to Rome and bac...No problem, I was busy too ... off to Rome and back ;-)<BR/>MelanieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-37563025788787561382008-10-30T18:53:00.000+01:002008-10-30T18:53:00.000+01:00P,S. Sorry for the delay, I have been very busy to...P,S. Sorry for the delay, I have been very busy today and away from my computer ...S.R. Piccolihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-75453638915065174822008-10-30T18:38:00.000+01:002008-10-30T18:38:00.000+01:00”Being a “precarious” teacher means living an exis...<I>”Being a “precarious” teacher means living an existential instability” ... </I>etc. I know, Melanie, it’s terrible. I don’t know whether I would have been able to resist 10 or 20 years in such deplorable conditions, or not.<BR/><BR/><I>”If you really believe that there is no right to be engaged permanently maybe all the incompetent and “fannulloni” teachers could be sacked to leave space to who has been desperately trying to get the job they LOVE doing and to acquire the dignity of a professional status for which they have qualified, specialized and worked for even in difficult and precarious situations !”</I><BR/><BR/>In my view you hit the center of the question. As for the “fannulloni” the task is quite simple, while there is a problem with incompetent people. The problem is <I>how and on the basis of which criteria should teachers be evaluated?</I> Do you remember the so-called “concorsaccio?” <BR/>I don’t think it was a great idea … Nevertheless I don’t ever think it’s impossible to find an adequate national evaluation system. <BR/><BR/>Ciao<BR/>RobS.R. Piccolihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-83298924849255989482008-10-29T23:22:00.000+01:002008-10-29T23:22:00.000+01:00" ... since I am a teacher, too, I am bound to say..." ... since I am a teacher, too, I am bound to say that I don’t know of any “precari” who are over 50, or, still better, some years ago I heard of some of them—very few, to tell the truth—but meanwhile they have been “sistemati” (engaged permanently)"<BR/><BR/>I suppose you teach in one of those schools where teachers with a permanent job aspire to teach. My experience is quite different from yours. This year I have to travel 3h a day to get to my school and back ... the school has 50% of precari ... most of them are around forty and 5 are over 50 years old, including a colleague who will RETIRE next year!!!!! If you’re a teacher you must know that it depends on what the subject you teach (classe di concorso) ... so if you have a look at the “graduatorie” (provincial lists of qualified teachers) of certain subjects (for example languages, physical education, philosophy etc.) you will see that there are hundreds of “PRECARI” who are over-50 (birth dates are included in the lists!)<BR/>Some of us (most of us?), thanks to this “reform”, might NOT work next year!<BR/>I firmly believe that ONE of our problems is that our “colleghi di ruolo” have never shown any kind of solidarity with those who, for many reasons, have not been as lucky as them. This, of course doesn’t mean that the teachers with a permanent job are BETTER than the PRECARI. If you really believe that there is no right to be engaged permanently maybe all the incompetent and “fannulloni” teachers could be sacked to leave space to who has been desperately trying to get the job they LOVE doing and to acquire the dignity of a professional status for which they have qualified, specialized and worked for even in difficult and precarious situations !<BR/><BR/>Being a “precarious” teacher means living an existential instability. After 20 years in the Italian school system I’m fed up and will probably go back to England next year but many of my colleagues will be left, after many years devoted to teaching, without the possibility to support their families.<BR/><BR/>I firmly believe that this “reform” (which includes Tremonti’s L. 133 which takes away 8 billion euros from the Italian School System) “is ONLY based on cutting expenses” the rest is “gettare fumo negli occhi”<BR/><BR/>Best regards,<BR/>Prof.ssa Melanie Segal (docente precaria di lingua e civiltà inglese)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-28111573554173288482008-10-29T20:31:00.000+01:002008-10-29T20:31:00.000+01:00Melanie, thanks for explaining in good English the...Melanie, thanks for explaining in good English the concept of “precari,” I made use of the definition adopted by the Guardian, because otherwise it would have taken me years to find one of my own, since English is not my mother tongue. But you gave my Anglophone readers the opportunity to fill the gap. <BR/>Yet, since I am a teacher, too, I am bound to say that I don’t know of any “precari” who are over 50, or, still better, some years ago I heard of some of them—very few, to tell the truth—but meanwhile they have been “sistemati” (engaged permanently). Nonetheless I agree that even if there were only one left behind, so to speak, it would be a scandal. Which doesn’t mean that I think there is any right to be engaged permanently. I just think that “the State” <I>cannot</I> make use of precari as a sort of permanent resource. <BR/><BR/>I agree with you that, nevertheless, “the presence of the precari is useful for the finances of the State.” I don’t agree on your point that the “reform” (and I made/make use of the inverted commas) is “ONLY based on cutting expenses.” And this for self-evident reasons. <BR/><BR/>As for the Catholic Religion teachers, appointed by the dioceses (not the Vatican) but paid by the State, I suppose that actually “this does not happen in any other country.”<BR/><BR/>Thanks for your contribution to the discussion.<BR/><BR/>All the best<BR/>RobS.R. Piccolihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15622464895435470724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-34196315612961990142008-10-29T18:18:00.000+01:002008-10-29T18:18:00.000+01:00"The homeland of Maria Montessori spends more on i..."The homeland of Maria Montessori spends more on its six- to 11-year-olds than the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development average. Cash gets a bit tighter in secondary education. But even there the average spending per student is £4,420, only fractionally below the OECD average."<BR/><BR/>In Italy there are 25.000 Catholic Religion teachers appointed by the Vatican and paid by the State .... this does not happen in any other country ... At Primary education level there are about 96.000 teachers for children with Special Needs which allows a good level of integration of these kids. In other countries Special Needs teachers are paid by other Ministries or by local agencies .... and the list could go on and on. I think it is unfair to compare different systems without considering what they entail.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33445632.post-64462428745232577192008-10-29T17:43:00.000+01:002008-10-29T17:43:00.000+01:00.... "(it) is not a good thing, however, for sever....... "(it) is not a good thing, however, for several thousands of young freelance teachers whose hopes of a career in education have been put off, at least, until 2012"! <BR/><BR/>Young???? Freelance?????<BR/><BR/>The teachers who will lose their jobs are the so-called PRECARi. The schoolteachers called ‘PRECARI’ (literally “precarious” or “temporary” teachers on short term contracts) are teachers who have passed one or more State examinations and are placed in provincial lists waiting to become employed full-time. They are not simple supply teachers occupying the post of an absent colleague. The ‘precarious’ teacher does not replace anyone. He or she occupies an absolutely empty position that the following year comes back absolutely empty. <BR/><BR/>The presence of the ‘PRECARI’ in the school, even if in empty posts, is useful for the finances of the State: they cost much less than a full-time teacher because they are nominated in September and employed only until June. Their salary always remains the same without increases and without seniority increases, their contract is renewed from year to year with part-time contracts that nobody is concerned to regularise in any way, i.e. they are left this way permanently! <BR/><BR/>The ‘PRECARI’ are not even allowed social welfare treatment that at least helps when work is lost, guaranteeing a period of transition for finding another.” In the Italian school you can be ‘PRECARI’ until pensionable age or end up in the street without being able to claim any rights.<BR/><BR/>I work with PRECARI who are over 50 and have been exploited this way for up to 23 years!<BR/><BR/>This "reform" does not IMPROVE the Italian school system beacause it is ONLY based on cutting expenses without considering that many of the people who will suffer the consequences are those with better qualifications and experience.<BR/>Best Regards,<BR/>Prof.ssa Melanie SegalAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com