ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to analyse the theoretical implications for a school improvement programme conceived within the ESF (European Social Funds) evaluation in southern Italian middle schools. The first of its kind in Italy, this programme arose from the need to audit the use of ESF grants to each of the schools involved, while helping them to introduce coherent and sustainable school improvement practices. After a diachronic literature review of school effectiveness and improvement models, and a brief analysis of school self-evaluation in Italy, the chapter seeks to answer a very simple but crucial question: What should we focus on in order to improve students’ learning outcomes? Here I propose a theoretical approach to school improvement that aims for coherence of practices and is grounded in learning to learn and reflection as the focus for students, teachers, and organizations. I develop a series of principles that can guide school improvements. I argue that improvement actions should stem from clearly stated objectives for students, classrooms, and schools, rather than from school effectiveness abstract reasoning or from mere statistical exercises.
Historically, a geographical and social divide between schools in the north and south of Italy has contributed to a dual educational system. However, school improvement in the southern regions is high up the Italian educational agenda and the European Social Fund (ESF) has been used by the Italian Government to help narrow the gap. ESF education programmes are focused on two major aims: a reduction of student drop-out rates and a concomitant increase in their key competences. This chapter discusses the theoretical antecedents for the proposed improvement model and related data collection strategies for model validation. It summarizes international models on school effectiveness and improvement to identify their strengths and weaknesses and avoid similar pitfalls in the Italian context. The chapter draws on the results of the synthesis to introduce the concept of learning to learn for school improvement, a framework of improvement principles and an improvement path for implementation in southern Italy.
