Vocational training in Italy

In May 2016, you and your German counterpart Johanna Wanka agreed to extend the German-Italian memorandum on cooperation in vocational training. Why is this cooperation a success?

Germany has a consolidated tradition in vocational training and represents not only a benchmark for effective policies but also a fruitful partner with which we can develop mobility and exchange opportunities for teachers and educators, also within the European framework. This cooperation has allowed Italian and German expert groups to work together and elaborate appropriate policies designed to create ­stable links between schools and work. Italy and Germany have different features both in education and in the job system. We are aware that we cannot 
fully import the “dual system” model in Italy, but we strongly believe that we have to achieve the same goals: guaranteeing that students acquire new competences and skills at school and in the workplace through educational alliances with companies. The DESI project (Dual Education System Italy) is a 
successful example of this cooperation: Ducati and Lamborghini are committed to a comprehensive professional training programme, also integrating students into a company’s organisation and culture.

Youth unemployment is a major problem in many European countries. Could a more advanced vocational training solve this problem?

Vocational training and work-based learning help 
to fill the gap created in the job market by the skill mismatch. This mutual malfunctioning of job market and education system fosters youth unemployment and imposes costs not only on individuals and enterprises, but also on economies at macro level. So an intensive and effective vocational training is the way to equip employees with adequate and advanced skills and connect them to the employers. Italy has taken several steps to counter the youth brain drain from schools. School reform has paved the way 
and the constitutional reform, which will be submitted to referendum in October 2016, constitutes 
the most important innovation. We propose that the vocational education and training system, today 
governed by the regions, should be determined at state level in its general guidelines and framework. It is time to stop 21 different local systems if we want to have an impact at national and European level.

You are saying that vocational training has 
an important effect on cohesion in the EU – in what way?

Of course it has since it indirectly promotes social 
inclusion, integration and social mobility, creating the conditions to demolish poverty through skill empowerment. Youth unemployment and low growth are the current spectres that are haunting Europe, often spreading distrust toward the EU integration process. European policies are directed to invert this trend, focusing on investments for education.

What are the major goals of German-Italian 
cooperation on vocational training for the next three years?

In 2015, we started to experiment with six projects 
of school-work alternation according to a model developed through our cooperation with Germany. These projects will involve 2,500 students and more than 100 SMEs. This is, though, just one concrete 
example of what we have done together. In the next three years, we want to offer more mobility and 
exchange opportunities for students, teachers and employers, opening channels between Italy and 
Germany to share different perspectives and test new experiences. Furthermore, Italy and Germany will create new educational curricula taking into proper account the role of companies. We will also set the criteria for the competences of students. ▪