Italian Schools - Wow, worth a read

[sunseekin]

I was wondering why Italy was doing so well against coronavirus. If they’re policies for schools mirror their general approach and ethos I can see why. Worth a read...

www.google.com/amp/s/www.thelocal.it/20200630/outdoor-lessons-and-smaller-classes-how-italys-schools-will-change-when-they-reopen-in-september/amp

their!

I don't think Italy are doing well, are they? Still top 15 worldwide (although, like all other European countries that should drop over time). Still 3rd worst affected country in Europe overall. Broadly similar infection rates to the UK. Death rate lower but still higher than the majority of countries.

Their school plan sounds ok. But I wouldn't be thinking of them as an example of how to cope well in all this.

If you take a look at their new cases graph, you can see how they’ve really learned from what happened to them.

They were unfortunate - they were one of the first countries to be hit by coronavirus - nobody knew what was ahead. Some countries learned from their first wave and better prepared for their’s; some you could argue didn’t learn at all.

I think they’re definitely working hard to minimise future impacts and waves.

Worth having a look at their graph - link below. You can compare it to other countries using the drop down menu.

I think they’re determined not to get caught out second time around - and that it’s paying off so far.

www.google.co.uk/search?client=safari&hl=en-gb&ei=75seX57XHISG1fAPoKiy0A4&q=coronavirus+cases+italy&oq=coronavirus+cases+italy&gs_lcp=ChNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwEAMyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADIICAAQsQMQgwEyCAgAELEDEIMBMgIIADoECAAQRzoCCCk6BQgAELEDOgoIABCxAxCDARBDOgQIABBDOgQIABAKUNIcWO0oYIIsaABwAXgAgAGGAYgB8wWSAQM0LjOYAQCgAQHAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp

Parts of Italy has the weather to conduct outdoor lessons for a greater proportion of the school year.

Even if our government said here's the money for 50,000 additional teachers where would they come from?

But agree that the philosophy of prioritising safety of children should be high up the agenda, if only for the domino effect that if an outbreak sweeps a school bubble that will be at least one adult per child, average what 3 people in a household, possibly two households all disrupted until test results back.

It is in everybody's interest to have educational environments as risk free as possible.

Well done Italian govt for providing funding to support the measures and thinking out of the box. It’s a very different picture from the plans in place atm in England for September.

Thank you for sharing this, really interesting.

I would take this with a large pinch of salt. I really hope it works out as my kids have been off school since mid-February but I do not have a lot of faith in the schools at being able to work this out.

Parts of Italy has the weather to conduct outdoor lessons for a greater proportion of the school year.
But where? Many schools have little to no outdoor space and the few parks that are around are badly maintained and not suitable for lessons.

Wow-good on the Italian government to actually invest in schools and realising that without additional money, things are likely to go badly wrong.

I think in September/October, comparing the cases/transmission between us and Italy will be very interesting. I think they’ve made a good call here.

What caught my eye was at least a billion euros to implement safety features. English schools only get a deep clean after an outbreak paid for

I teach in a city centre school with a tiny playground and few green spaces nearby. We’d be just as close to one another if we all piled into the playground for lessons at the same time as we would be if we stayed indoors. With the added bonus that the weather is highly unpredictable up here (Scotland) and many of the children will be likely to dressed appropriately. We could go to the local park but I would need to magic up some extra adult supervision to facilitate this safely.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m desperate to go back to school (in Scotland and we are expecting to return as normal in two weeks), I’m looking forward to it. I’ve accepted that I will be coming into large groups of uncovered children every day. I’ve followed all of the other guidelines and having classrooms full of uncovered children seems to be directly contradictory to all the other advice. I’m not sure what the real risk to my health is, but the Government certainly seems unconcerned about us teachers. 🤷‍♀️

I actually think that the Italian government has dealt with the crisis quite well but schools in Italy have been underfunded for decades. I really hope this money can go towards general safety, not just "coranavirus" safety. So many schools are not earthquake safe, do not have safe grounds, do not have sufficient staffing or any technology....this is just part of the problem.

They've just received a whacking great bribe-/ grant from Germany-- the EU to keep them inside as there is a growing Italexit faction.

This is the crux of it isn’t it.
Get kids back to school, it gets parents back to work, it gets the economy going again.

It also protects the already known vulnerable and more importantly the currently unknown vulnerable.

They need decent funding and support to get it done, start a task force. Get them in to every school make lists what they need. They have the summer to sort this. Get it done.

Secondary is a whole different kettle of fish though.
Obtaining the number of teaching staff, is more tricky to solve as is our over crowded secondary schools and transport issues. Science teachers are rare as rocking horse shit let alone splitting them into smaller classes

My family are in southern Italy and have gone back to nearly normal now and their cases don’t seem to be rising so they must be doing something right 🤷‍♀️ We’re from a small village in the Campania region

1metre apart, not 2 = good.
I wonder where they will get the extra 50,000 teachers from?
Interesting no mention of masks (which some of the more deluded British unions are demanding today)

@Cusano34

My family are in southern Italy and have gone back to nearly normal now and their cases don’t seem to be rising so they must be doing something right 🤷‍♀️ We’re from a small village in the Campania region

When you say back to nearly normal-what do you mean? Are the schools all back full time now?

Schools are in the middle of the summer holidays.

Are the schools all back full time now?
Schools break up in the first half of June anyway in Italy! (I am in Northern Italy but we are already well into the second month of school holidays).

I wonder where they will get the extra 50,000 teachers from?
I don't think they are planning on getting extra teachers, just splitting classes and having them come in at different times.

We don’t have the room to space the pupils 1m apart. Schools don’t have spare classrooms and we don’t have the weather to teach outdoors. We also don’t have enough teachers - splitting classes in half would mean doubling the number of teachers.

I don't think they are planning on getting extra teachers, just splitting classes
So teachers have to work twice as many hours? Will they be getting paid double?

@totallyyesno

Are the schools all back full time now? Schools break up in the first half of June anyway in Italy! (I am in Northern Italy but we are already well into the second month of school holidays).

That’s what I thought. I wondered what the pp meant when they said their family in Italy has gone back nearly as normal?

Back to what?

I think back to ordinary life re: shopping, going out etc.

So teachers have to work twice as many hours? Will they be getting paid double?
I think the idea is that there will be fewer contact hours but we haven't heard anything definite yet. Possibly some lessons will be filmed and half the students will access them from home*.
*Disclaimer: I am also a teacher and think this is a daft idea.

I think the idea is that there will be fewer contact hours
What about parents who need to work? Unless wrap around care is being extended then the kids will be at home more. A reduction in school hours will hit mums and single parents the hardest.