Alternating School-Work Pathways in Italy. Some Remarks on the "Competence Society"


Abstract


Since the mid-nineties, the European Union and UNESCO have promoted a new form of didactics aimed at developing competences. These "key competences", subsequently identified by the Council and the European Parliament, are considered as fundamental for Europe's response to globalisation. Their close link with a neoliberal perspective of the working world - as can also be deduced from the non-random choice of the term "competence" - is evident. In particular, the competence related to the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship has assumed a strategic role within the "Lifelong Learning Programme" and the "Europe 2020" programme, fostering the spread of a new labour market model no longer based on the prevailing paid employment. Recent Italian legislation on educational institutions, and Law 107/2015 in particular, have acknowledged the European Union guidelines regarding promotion of the key competences, and more specifically of alternating school-work pathways. Although it is too early to make an overall evaluation of the effects these laws have produced, the actions promoted so far do not seem to overcome the existing inequality in Italy's educational and employment opportunities. Furthermore, the objective of promoting competences that can be directly used on the labour market, to the detriment of broader cultural preparation deemed useless for this purpose, risks impoverishing the education of the most disadvantaged, those people who have the fewest chances of acquiring knowledge and critical thinking outside the school context. The transformations taking place in the educational field appear to proclaim the advent of a "Competence Society", the last metamorphosis of an epiphenomenon with its roots in the globalised capitalist system which is leaving social reproduction mechanisms unchanged.

DOI Code: 10.1285/i20356609v12i1p217

Keywords: alternating school-work pathways; competences; educational inequality; Italian school; neoliberalism

References


Ajello, A.M. (2002), La competenza, Bologna: il Mulino.

Ajello, A.M. (2011), Le competenze e il rinnovamento della didattica come prospettiva culturale nella scuola, Scuola democratica, 2: 98-105.

Bacigalupo, M., Kampylis, P., Punie, Y., Van den Brande, G. (2016), EntreComp: The En-trepreneurship Competence Framework, Brussels: European Commission. doi: 10.2791/593884

Ball, S.J., Vincent, C., Kemp, S., Pietikainen, S. (2004), Middle Class Fractions, Childcare and the “Relational” and “Normative” Aspects of Class Practices, The Sociological Re-view, 52(4): 478-502. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-954X.2004.00492.x

Ballarino, G., Checchi, D. (2006), Sistema scolastico e disuguaglianza sociale. Scelte indi-viduali e vincoli strutturali, Bologna: il Mulino.

Ballarino, G., Schadee, H. (2006), Espansione dell’istruzione e disuguaglianza delle opportunità formative nell’Italia contemporanea, Polis, 20(2): 207-228. doi: 10.1424/22553

Barone, C. (2009), A New Look at Schooling Inequalities in Italy and their Trends over Time, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 27(2): 92-109. doi: 10.1016/j.rssm.2009.04.001

Barone, C., Luijkx, R., Schizzerotto, A. (2010), Elogio dei grandi

numeri: il lento declino delle disuguaglianze nelle opportunità di istruzione in Italia, Polis, 24(1): 5-34.

Barone, C., Triventi, M., Assirelli, G. (2018), Explaining Social Inequalities in Access to University: A Test of Rational Choice Mechanisms in Italy, European Sociological Re-view, 34(5): 554-569. doi: 10.1093/esr/jcy028

Bauman, Z. (1998), Globalization: The Human Consequences, New York: Columbia Univer-sity Press.

Bauman, Z. (2000), Liquid Modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Beck, U. (1997), Was ist Globalisierung? Irrtümer des Globalismus – Antworten auf Globa-lisierun, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag.

Becker, G.S. (1964), Human Capital, New York: Columbia University Press.

Benadusi, L., Fornari, R., Giancola, O. (2010), La questione dell’equità scolastica in Italia. Analisi delle performance in scienze dei quindicenni della scuola secondaria superiore, Programma Education FGA Working Paper, 26(3): 1-69.

Benadusi, L., Molina, S., a cura di (2018), Le competenze. Una mappa per orientarsi, Bologna: il Mulino.

Bloom, B.S., Engelhart, M.D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W.H., Krathwohl, D.R. (1956), Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain, New York: David McKay Company.

Bonichi, F. (2010), Istituzioni educative e riproduzione dell’ordine sociale, in G. Paolucci (a cura di), Bourdieu oltre Bourdieu (pp. 219-251), Torino: UTET.

Bottani, N., Benadusi, L. (2006), Uguaglianza e equità nella scuola, Trento: Erickson.

Bourdieu, P. (1966a), L’école conservatrice: Les inégalités devant l’école et devant la cul-ture, Revue française de sociologie, 7(3): 325-347. doi: 0.2307/3319132

Bourdieu, P. (1966b), La transmission de l’héritage culturel, in Darras (Éd.), Le partage des bénéfices (pp. 383-420), Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit.

Bourdieu, P. (1967), Système d’enseignement et système de pensée, Revue internationale des sciences sociales, 19(3): 367-388.

Bourdieu, P. (Éd.) (1993), La Misère du monde, Paris: Éditions du Seuil.

Bourdieu, P. (1994), Raisons pratiques. Sur la théorie de l’action, Paris: Éditions du Seuil.

Bourdieu, P. (1998), Contre-feux. Propos pour servir à la résistance contre l’invasion néo-libérale, Paris: Éditions Liber.

Bourdieu, P., Boltanski, L. (1975), Le titre et le poste: rapports entre système de produc-tion et système de reproduction, Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 1(2): 95-107. doi: 10.3406/arss.1975.2459

Bourdieu, P., Boltanski, L. (1976), La production de l’idéologie dominante, Actes de la re-cherche en sciences sociales, 2(2-3): 3-73. doi: 10.3406/arss.1976.3443

Bourdieu, P., Isambert-Jamati, V. (Éds.) (1967), Sociologie de l’éducation, Revue fran-çaise de sociologie, 8-9: 3-166.

Bourdieu, P., Passeron, J.C. (1964), Les héritiers. Les étudiants et la culture, Paris: Les Édi-tions de Minuit.

Bourdieu, P., Passeron, J.C. (1970), La reproduction. Éléments pour une théorie du sys-tème d’enseignement, Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit.

Bourdieu, P., Passeron, J.C., de Saint-Martin, M. (1967), Rapport pédagogique et commu-nication, Paris: Mouton.

Boutang, Y.M. (2011), Cognitive capitalism, Cambridge: Polity.

Breen, R., Luijkx, R., Müller, W., Pollak, R. (2009), Long-term Trends in Educational Ine-quality in Europe: Class Inequalities and Gender Differences, European Sociological Re-view, 26(1): 31-48. doi: 10.1093/esr/jcp001

Brunello, G., Checchi, D. (2007), Does School Tracking Affect Equality of Opportunity? New International Evidence, Economic Policy, 52: 781-861. doi: 10.1111/J.1468-0327.2007.00189.x

Bruner, J.S. (1966), Toward a Theory of Instruction,Cambridge, MA: Belkapp Press.

Castells, M. (1996), The Information Age: Economy Society and Culture, Vol. I, The Rise of the Network Society, Oxford: Blackwell.

Checchi, D. (2010), Orientamento verso la scuola superiore: cosa conta davvero? Ricer-cAzione, 2(2): 215-236.

Chomsky, N. (2017), Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power, P. Hutchison, K. Nyks & J. P. Scott (Eds.), New York: Seven Stories Press.

Cobalti, A. (2007), Globalizzazione e istruzione, Bologna: il Mulino.

Cresson, É., Flynn, P. (Eds.) (1995), White Paper on Education and Training. Teaching and Learning — Towards the Learning Society, Luxembourg: European Commission. http://europa.eu/

documents/comm/white_ papers/pdf/com95_590_en.pdf

Dardot, P., Laval, C. (2009), La nouvelle raison du monde. Essais sur la société néolibérale, Paris: La Découverte.

Delors, J., Al Mufti, I., Amagi, A., Carneiro, R., Chung, F., Geremek, B., Gorham, W., Kornhauser, A., Manley, M., Padrón Quero, M., Savane,

M.A., Singh, K., Stavenhagen, R., Won Suhr, M., Nanzhao, Z. (1996),

Learning: The Treasure Within. Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, Paris: UNESCO.

Drucker, P. (1957), Landmarks of Tomorrow: A Report on the New “Post-Modern” World, New York: Harper & Brothers.

Drucker, P. (1969). The Age of Discontinuity. Guidelines to Our Changing Society. London: Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd.

Drucker, P. (1993), Post-capitalist Society, New York: HarperBusiness.

Drucker, P. (1994), Knowledge Work and Knowledge Society. The

Social Transformations of this Century. Conference at Harvard University (John F. Kennedy School of Govern-ment). https://iop.harvard.edu/forum/knowledge-work-and-knowledge-society-social-transforma tions-century

European Commission (2010), Europe 2020: A European Strategy for

Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth, Brussels: European Commission. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52010DC2020&from=en

European Commission (2012), Rethinking Education: Investing in Skills for Better Socio-economic Outcomes, Brussels: European Commission. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/ HTML/?uri=CELEX:52012DC0669&from=en

European Commission (2013a), Council Recommendation of 22 April 2013 on Establishing a Youth Guarantee, Brussels: European Commission. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/ EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=OJ:C:2013:120:FULL&from=EN

European Commission (2013b), Work-Based Learning in Europe. Practices and Policy Pointers, Brussels: European Commission. http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/educationculture/repository/education/ policy/vocational-policy/doc/alliance/work-based-learning-in-europe_en.pdf

European Commission (2016), A New Skills Agenda for Europe. Working Together to Strengthen Human Capital, Employability and Competitiveness, Brussels: European Commission. https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2016/EN/1-2016-381-EN-F1-1.PDF

European Council (2000), Lisbon European Council − 23 and 24 March 2000. Presidency Conclusions, Brussels: European Council. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sum mits/lis1_en.htm? textMode=on

European Council (2006), Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning (2006/962/EC), Brussels: European Council. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32006H 0962 &from=EN

European Council (2008), Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on the Establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning, Brussels: European Council. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:3200 8H0506(01)&from=EN

European Council (2012), Council Recommendation of 20 December 2012 on the Valida-tion of Non-formal and Informal Learning, Brussels: European Council. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri= CELEX:32012H1222(01)&from=EN

European Council (2013), European Alliance for Apprenticeships Council Declaration, Brussels: European Council. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/lsa/ 139011.pdf

European Council (2017), Council Recommendation of 22 May 2017 on the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning and Repealing the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on the Establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning. Brussels: European Council. https://eurlex.

europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32017H0615(01)&from=EN

European Council (2018a), Council Recommendation of 22 May 2018 on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning (Text with EEA Relevance). Brussels: European Council. https://eur-lex. euro-pa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32018H0604(01)&qid=1550423002420&from=EN

European Council (2018b). Council Recommendation of 22 May 2018 on Promoting Common Values, Inclusive Education, and the European Dimension of Teaching. Brussels: European Council. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32018H0607(01)&from=EN

Fondazione Di Vittorio (2018), I modelli di successo della formazione duale. 25 casi di Al-ternanza Scuola-Lavoro, Milano: WE4YOUTH -

Fondazione Sodalitas. https://www. fondazionedivittorio.it/sites/default/files/content-attachment/WE4YOUTH-ebook-I-MODELLI -DI-SUCCESSO-DELLA-FORMAZIONE-DUALE-25-casi.pdf

Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli (2009), Rapporto sulla scuola in Italia 2009, Roma-Bari: La-terza.

Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli (2010), Rapporto sulla scuola in Italia 2010, Roma-Bari: La-terza.

Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli (2011), Rapporto sulla scuola in Italia 2011, Roma-Bari: La-terza.

Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli (2014), La valutazione della scuola. A che cosa serve e perché è necessaria all’Italia, Roma-Bari: Laterza.

Foucault, M. (1966). Les mots et les choses (une archéologie des sciences humaines). Pa-ris: Éditions Gallimard.

Fumagalli, A. (2011), Bioeconomia e capitalismo cognitivo. Verso un nuovo paradigma di accumulazione, Roma: Carocci.

Gasperoni, G. (1996), Diplomati e istruiti. Rendimento scolastico e

istruzione secondaria superiore, Bologna: il Mulino.

Gasperoni, G. (2008), Scelte scolastiche. I vissuti di famiglie e studenti. Un’indagine tra gli studenti del 3° anno della scuola secondaria di 1° grado e le loro madri, in ISFOL (a cura di), La domanda di istruzione e formazione degli allievi, in diritto-dovere all’istruzione e formazione. I risultati dell’indagine ISFOL (pp. 29-97), Roma: I libri del Fondo Sociale Europeo.

Gentili, C. (2018), Alternanza scuola-lavoro. Un bilancio, Scuola democratica, 2: 391-398. doi: 10.12828/90568

Giddens, A. (1999), Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping Our Lives, London: Profile Books.

Ginzburg, C. (1986, 1a ed. 1979), Spie. Radici di un paradigma indiziario, in C. Ginzburg, Miti, emblemi, spie. Morfologia e storia, Torino: Einaudi.

Gorz, A. (2003), L’Immatériel. Connaissance, valeur et capital, Paris: Éditions Galilée.

Gremigni, E. (2018), Campo educativo e “Buona scuola”. Narrazioni in rete di alcune con-seguenze sociali e politiche della legge 107/15, Pisa: Pisa University Press.

Habermas, J. (1998), Die postnationale Konstellation, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Ver-lag.

Hobbs, R., Jensen, A. (2009), The Past, Present, and Future of Media Literacy Education, Journal of Media Literacy Education, 1(1): 1-11.

Hobsbawm, E.J. (1994), The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1991, London: Michael Joseph.

Hanushek, E.A., Woessmann, L. (2008), The Role of Cognitive Skills in Economic Devel-opment. Journal of Economic Literature, 46(3): 607-668.

ISTAT (2017), Studenti e scuole dell’istruzione primaria e secondaria in Italia. Differenze strutturali tra scuole statali e paritarie, Roma:

ISTAT. https://www.istat.it/it/files/ 2017/04/Studenti-e-scuole.pdf

ISTAT (2018). Rapporto annuale 2018. La situazione del Paese. Roma: ISTAT. https://www.istat.it/storage/rapporto-annuale/2018/Rapportoannuale2018.pdf

Keeley, B. (2015), Income Inequality: The Gap Between Rich and Poor, Paris: OECD Pub-lishing. doi: 10.1787/9789264246010-en

Krathwohl, D.R., Bloom, B.S., Masia, B.B. (1964), Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook II: the Affective Domain, New York: David McKay Company.

Kumar, K. (1995), From Post-Industrial to Post-Modern Society: New

Theories of the Con-temporary World, Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Lane, R.E. (1966), The Decline of Politics and Ideology in a Knowledgeable Society, American Sociological Review, 31(5): 649-662.

Latempa, R. (2018), La competenza imprenditoriale: una cosmologica “Teoria del Tutto” per il terzo millennio?, Roars. https://www.roars.it/online/?p=64289

Martell, L. (2010), The Sociology of Globalization, Cambridge: Polity Press.

McClelland D. (1973), Testing for Competence rather than for Intelligence, American Psycologist, 28: 1-14

MIUR (2015), Attività di alternanza scuola lavoro. Guida operativa per la scuola, Roma: MIUR. http://www.istruzione.it/allegati/2015/Guida_Operativa.pdf

MIUR (2016), Focus “Alternanza scuola-lavoro”. Anno Scolastico 2015/2016, Roma: MIUR. http://www.istruzione.it/allegati/2016/Focus_ASL_2015_2016_v4.pdf

MIUR (2018), Educazione all’imprenditorialità. Sillabo per la scuola secondaria di secondo grado, Roma: MIUR.

OECD (2011), Growing Income Inequality in Oecd Countries: What Drives it and How Can Policy Tackle it?, Paris: OECD Publishing. https://www.oecd.org/els/soc/47723414.pdf

OECD (2017), OECD Skills Outlook 2017: Skills and Global Value Chains, Paris: OECD Pub-lishing. doi: 10.1787/9789264273351-en.

OECD (2018). Equity in Education: Breaking Down Barriers to Social Mobility. Paris: OECD Publishing. doi: 10.1787/9789264073234-en.

Olssen, M., Peters, M.A. (2005), Neoliberalism, Higher Education and the Knowledge Economy: from the Free Market to Knowledge Capitalism, Journal of Education Policy, 20(3). doi: 10.1080/02680930500108718

Parziale, F. (2016), Eretici e respinti. Classi sociali e istruzione superiore in Italia, Milano: FrancoAngeli.

Pastore, G. (2015), L’Italia della conoscenza. Ritardi, retoriche e opportunità, Pisa: Pisa University Press.

Pitzalis, M. (2012), Effetti di campo. Spazio scolastico e riproduzione delle diseguaglianze, Scuola democratica, 6(ns): 26-44

Pitzalis, M. (2017), Ritorno sulla riproduzione sociale. Famiglia, capitale culturale e cam-po scolastico, in E. Susca (a cura di). Il mondo dell’uomo, i campi del sapere. Napoli-Salerno: Orthotes.

Queirolo Palmas, L. (2002), Nuove e vecchie disuguaglianze nella scuola di massa, in L. Ribolzi (a cura di), Formare gli insegnanti. Lineamenti di sociologia dell’educazione (pp. 207-220), Roma: Carocci.

Ritzer, G., Dean, P. (2015), Globalization: A Basic Text, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

Rullani, E. (2004), Economia della conoscenza. Creatività e valore nel capitalismo delle re-ti, Roma: Carocci.

Schultz, T.W. (1971), Investment in Human Capital: The Role of Education and of Re-search, New York: Free Press.

Spinoza, B. ([1675] 2010, 1a ed. 1677), Ethica Ordine Geometrico demonstrata, in Opera posthuma. Amsterdam: Jan Rieuwertsz. Ora in: Baruch Spinoza. Tutte le opere. Testi originali a fronte, Milano: Bompiani.

Stehr, N. (1994), Knowledge societies, London: Sage.

Stehr, N. (2001), The Fragility of Modern Societies. Knowledge and Risk in the Information Age, London: Sage.

Tropea, A. (2018), Scuola, lavoro e Alternanza in Lombardia. A che punto siamo?, Scuola democratica, 1: 91-100. doi: 10.12828/89598

Vercellone, C. (2006), Capitalismo cognitivo, Roma: Manifestolibri.

Viteritti A. (2018), Di cosa parliamo quando parliamo di competenze?, in L. Benadusi, S. Molina, a cura di, Le competenze. Una mappa per orientarsi, Bologna: il Mulino.

Willingham, D. (2010), Critical Thinking: Why Is It So Hard to Teach?, Arts Education Policy Review, 109(4): 21-32. doi: 10.3200/AEPR.109.4.21-32

World Economic Forum (2015), New Vision for Education. Unlocking the Potential of Technology, Cologny/Geneva: World Economic Forum. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEFUSA_ NewVisionfor Education_Report2015.pdf


Full Text: PDF

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Italia License.