ABSTRACT
The Italian school system has, at least as concerns primary and secondary education, a centralized structure under the control of the Ministry of Education. Curricula and timetables for schools are centrally agreed and any experimentation involving their modification has to be authorized by the minister. Initial teacher training is one of the most disputed and confused aspects of the whole Italian school system. The existing regulations require that all teachers have completed a university course and obtained, inside the university, a teaching qualification diploma through specific courses and postgraduate specialization schools. The assessment methods of students’ learning change according to the school level. In compulsory schools qualitative descriptive assessment is used, expressing a judgement on the capacities acquired by the student and on their personality and behaviour. At the end of each year the student is admitted to the following year or, in the case of a negative judgement, made to repeat the same grade.
