Commissioners and presidents remunerated insufficiently, an examination that is now anachronistic compared to the new reality of young Italians. And a state exam he presents “the critical issues of all time”: there is no shortage of critical voices on this first day of the final exam.
“One in 4 workers in the world of education is precarious, we are talking about 20-25% of the entire teaching staff, reports Nino De Cristofaro, member of the Cobas national executive. “Added to this is the progressive merger of educational institutions – he underlines – with the sole aim of saving (few) resources. This choice also has a negative impact on work in general. Schools are now companies drowning in bureaucracy. In this way it is impossible to work on the contents to train students for life. Not to mention the average salary of a secondary school teacher, now around 2 thousand euros net – concludes De Cristofaro – If we compare today’s salary with those of 30 years ago, same work and same commitment, we are poorer due to the reduction in purchasing power of 20%. Furthermore, the remuneration for internal members of the final exam is around 700-800 euros, which rises to a thousand euros for external members. This is why for many people working for this exam is less and less attractive and retired teachers are being resorted to.”
“With the 2024 Maturity I can say that there is nothing new under the sun. Compared to past years, the critical issues in the world of school are the same as always. I don’t have data, because they don’t give it to us, but the titles are those we’ve already seen: colleagues appointed to examination commissions outside the province where they live and work, the use of retired teachers to form the commissions despite the fact that 1 million people work in the school teachers, of whom around 200 thousand are temporary workers”, observes Rossella Latempa of the Roars Association – Return on academic research and school. “I see a lot of rhetoric – adds Latempa, teacher of Mathematics and Physics in a high school in Verona – but still no one can explain to me why last year all my colleagues in Art History in the province of Verona, for example, were nominated in the 2023 Maturity exam commissions in all the provinces of Veneto, except in the one in which they live and work” he concludes.
The Maturità is now an “anachronistic” exam compared to the “new reality” experienced by students today, says Francesca Bellia, general secretary of CISL Scuola Sicilia. “The kids experience it with emotion and concern, marks the end of a path but often this type of exam is not relevant to their needs and, perhaps, the entire study path is not relevant.” The State exam as it is set up dates back years and years ago – he explains – , but the context and the needs of the students have changed profoundly in the meantime. This is why, in my opinion, the children arrive at this stage with concern.” The teachers, “many of whom experience the school in an almost all-encompassing dimension, practicing this profession well beyond working hours”, need “to be valued in their professionalism also through better remuneration. Contract renewals are always inadequate in terms of salary levels compared to a profession that needs to have greater social recognition”.
“A recent study by the University of Sussex highlights that the social status of Italian teachers is the third lowest in the world with a score of 14 out of 100, well below the European average of 34. It is a dramatic figure that is absolutely worth subverted”, states the General Secretary of Uil Scuola Giuseppe D’Aprile. The respect and social recognition of teachers “inevitably involves an increase in salaries. Raising wages will be one of our main objectives for the next contract. In our country, school staff see their duties constantly increasing without the right financial recognition. Schools must leave the stability pact, therefore outside budget constraints, and be considered not as a source of savings but rather of investment, without which the fate of the new generations and, therefore, of the country will inevitably be jeopardized”.
And there is no shortage of those who protest against a test, today’s, considered more within the reach of students than the 2023 Maturity. “Would you trade Moravia and Quasimodo for Pirandello and Ungaretti? The 2023 graduates – the class of ’04, as they call themselves – would take the signature. And on the first day of the state exam they comment, instead of their colleagues studying the Italian course, on the proposals of the Ministry of Education and Merit”. As the Skuola.net website reports, there are numerous messages on social media that clearly underline how the pairing of authors proposed last year, Moravia and Quasimodo, was far more difficult than the one chosen for the 2024 Maturity, namely Pirandello and Ungaretti.
