Italian school system

Hi everyone! I’m @evilprinxes and in this article I’ll show you how the Italian school system works (because, as many of you may already know, I live in Italy). If you would like to study here but you don’t know how our school system works or if you just would like to learn new things about this country keep reading because this article is for you!

Kindergarten school 2/3 to 5 years old

Kindergarten school can last 4/3 years or even less (for example some children only go for one year), it’s not compulsory (so the parents have to decide if they want their children to go to kindergarten or not) but in my opinion it’s necessary for the kids. In kindergarten school they learn ‘basic things’ such as seasons, fruits, national holidays, but most importantly they learn how to live with other kids and the importance of following the rules.

Kindergarten also prepares the kids for primary school.

Primary school 6 to 11 years old

Primary school lasts 5 years, and here kids start studying Italian, mathematics, science, English, history and geography, which are the most important subjects in Italian schools. The children that were born before the 30th of April can start primary school at 5 years old instead of 6, but the parents have to decide if their children should start earlier. Of course the kindergarten teachers can help them to decide, but the final decision it’s up to the parents.

Middle school 12 to 14 years old

Middle school lasts 3 years, and here the students study a lot of different subjects: Italian, two foreign languages (the first language is always English, the second one can change but in most school it’s French or Spanish), mathematics, science, technology, music, history and geography, art and physical education.

At the end of the three years the students have to pass an exam that has three written tests (one for Italian, one for mathematics and one for the two foreign languages) and one speaking part: for this part every student choose one topic for every subjects and then discuss them with the teachers.

High school 15 to 19 years old

In Italy we have different kind of high schools. The main difference is between “licei”, which give to the students a more academic preparation and the professional institutes, where there is also practice.

At first at the ‘liceo’ it was compulsory to study Latin, but now some of them don’t require this subject.

In every kind of high school the students study some compulsory subjects that are Italian, mathematics, English, science, physics, history and philosophy, and then each high school has got its own subjects, the so called ‘materie d’indirizzo’ (this term is used to talk about the most important subjects of each one).

During the first two years (the so called ‘biennio’) the students study only a few subjects, but in the last three years (the so called ‘triennio’) they start studying new subjects.

The most popular high schools are the liceo classico (the one I attend), which gives a classical preparation (so the most important subjects are Greek and Latin), liceo scientifico, which gives a more scientific preparation (so the most important subjects are science, physics and mathematics) and liceo linguistico, where the students can study three foreign languages. Of course there are a lot of other opportunities, but these are the most popular ones.

Talking about professional institutes, the main subjects can be computer science, photography, or even graphic. It really changes a lot for every institute. At the end of the 5 years the students have to pass an exam which is similar to the one made at the end of middle school, with the exception that one of the written tests is different for each school and of course it’s more difficult. After the exam the students can have their ‘diploma’.

University After high school the students can decide if they would like to go to university or not. University can last for three or five years; sometimes the students don’t have to go there everyday (just for a few subjects it’s compulsory to go to the classes in specific days) and of course they have to pass some exams. At the end of the course they discuss the thesis and have a degree.

After this degree, the students can choose if they would like to quit the studies and start working or if they would like to go ahead with some masters or with the so called ‘specialistica’.

The most famous universities in Italy are Federico II, in Naples, Bocconi, in Milan, Sapienza, in Rome, the university of Bologna and the university of Firenze.

And that’s all!

I hope that you liked this article and that you’ve learnt something new about this beautiful country.

I look foreword to share with you other things of my culture so stay tuned!