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HOW DO WE MANAGE OUR
SCHOOLS ?

Mara Bonitta
Circolo Didattico Maniago ( PN)
ITALY

MIUR:Ministry of Education, University and Research

• Central authority, responsible for supervising and coordinating
scholastic institutions throughout the country.

The Ministry of Education, University and Research lays down
:
•��the general goals and learning outcomes of the school process;
• specific learning objectives related to student competence levels;
• the subjects and activities which make up the national curriculum
quota and annual teaching hours for these;
• general indications for student evaluation and assessment.

2

21 Regional Education Offices

• At peripheral level, the U.S.R. or Regional Education
Offices were instituted in the late ’90s;
• Led by General Manager for Education;
• Appointed by the MIUR;
• Duration of appointment varies.

Regional Education Authorities:
• are autonomous centres with administrative responsibility;
• have residual state functions which have been transferred neither to
the Regions nor to the schools (for example: the determination of the
number of the schools’ staff
• have functions related to the relationships with the Regions, local
authorities, universities and formative agencies;
• are present also at provincial level through the centres for
administrative support to schools, called Provincial Education Office.

3

Who does what
 Ministry:
 sets the national curriculum
 appoints teachers to the schools through its regional
offices (and pays directly for them)
 regulates the educational system in most of its aspects
 funds schools for the ordinary running costs
 acts for most matters through regional offices
 Local authorities ( Municipalities or Provinces):
 provide for buildings, maintenance, and general
supplies (telephone, electricity, heating, transport)
 have no competence in the curriculum or management

Education Reform in Progress

• THE REFORMED
• THE OLD SYSTEM
• Old education system was SYSTEM
centralised, characterised by • New system is characterised by an
national curricula established by the increasing level of autonomy granted
Ministry of Education. to individual schools
• From four school types or levels:
pre-school education, primary • to a three-phase structure: Pre-
education, lower secondary school education, primary cycle,
education, upper secondary secondary cycle.
education
• Ministry provided detailed • Ministry now defines general
curriculum for all school levels and framework, guidelines and principles,
subject areas (fixed) for all levels, types and branches of
study. (flexible). Schools make any
needed adjustments

5

Individual Schools

Led by Head Teacher / School Manager
responsible for:
• the overall management of the institution, of which he has legal
responsibility;
• the management of financial and material resources and for the
quality of the service provided;
• the promotion of the necessary interventions aimed at
guaranteeing quality in the educational processes;
• s/he can resort to teachers, of his choosing, to whom specific
tasks can be delegated;
• his/her salary is made up of a fixed part and a variable part, this
one related to the ‘complexity’ of the school and attained results
• (e.g. number of pupils, student success and/or dropout figures,
additional school projects)

7

School Autonomy
(all must be worked into a ministerial outline and framework, to ensure
uniformity throughout the country )

• School autonomy • 1997 - Law 59: the old centralised school system
was dismantled and School Autonomy granted
(teaching, administration, research activities,
experimentation and development).
• Education Offer Plan
• Schools determine and implement the educational
( P.O.F.)
offer: each school prepares the Education Offer
Plan yearly.
• Teaching autonomy • Flexibility in organising school time and teaching
time in the way which is better suited to the study
• Organisation autonomy and learning rhythms
• Overall timetable can be adopted to the Education
• Autonomy in research, Plan’s requirements;
experimentation and
development • Teaching staff and other personnel plan training
activities, set up ‘network agreements’ with other
schools, education institutions, businesses, etc.

8

School Collective Bodies
• School Council • is made up of elected representatives of
(Consiglio di istituto) teaching and non-teaching staff, parents and,
in upper secondary schools, students. It is
chaired by a parent.
• The Executive Board • is elected by the School Council; chaired by
(Giunta Esecutiva) the School Manager. It draws up the
preliminary budget and the final accounts and
ensures that resolutions of the School Council
are implemented.
• Teachers’ Assembly • is made up of the permanent and temporary
(Collegio dei Docenti) teachers and chaired by the School Manager.
It formulates the ‘School education plan’,
taking into account proposals and opinions
expressed by parents' associations and
organisations. it is consulted by the
Headmaster as regards class formation, lesson
timetables and the performance of school
activities, taking account of the general
criteria laid down by the School Council
• Class Council • comprises school manager (chair), teachers of
all subject areas (usually 8), special needs
teacher(s)

9

What schools are entitled to do
 The schools are supposed to follow the national
curriculum
 Since 2000 on, they have a limited possibility to
modify it (for a part not exceeding 20% of the
annual teaching time for each subject)
 moreover they take advantage out of the opportunity to
cooperate with “experts” directly appointed by the
school for some particular subjects ( sports, music, arts,
minority languages, italian as a second language...)
 A certain autonomy of budgeting (but 90% of
grants are under some kind of restraints)

Some critical points
 There is an increasing lack of financial resources
for schools
• Too many pupils drop out of the system before
completing their studies
• The system is not designed for certifying credits and
skills at intermediate levels (only final diplomas)
• The system is not performing well in the field of
vocational education (too much theory, not training
enough)

Some strong points
 Our school system works quite well in solving
problems and creating opportunities by their own
 It is highly effective for a minority of gifted
students (whose levels are often above the average
in international tests)
 It’s inclusive towards the less favoured pupils (in
that sense that they remain within the mainstream
education, while getting at the same time special
assistance)

And the school managers?
 They have many legal responsibilities, but they
lack corresponding powers of decision because of
a great number of other actors ( teachers, trade
unions, local authorities, administration, parents..)

 The juridical framework make heavy their tasks
and does not allow them to take real decisions
about the curriculum and the most relevant
educational issues such as integration and
multicultural challenges

Who assesses the schools
 There is no systematic assessment of schools

 From 2001 up to 2004 there has been a national system of
tests for students’ achievements (only for schools that
decided to make use of it)
 many schools actually did (80% approx.)
 only for 2005-2006 this system has been compulsory
 from 2007 on, it will be operated only on a sample of schools
(approx. 5%)

 There is no assessment for schools as a whole, nor for
individual teachers

The UNI EN ISO 9001:2000 Norms

1) Quality as a means of management and
improvement
2) Control of activities
3) Measuring and monitoring data

ABOUT UNI EN ISO
9000:2000
ISO 9000 : 2000
QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS -
Fundamentals and vocabulary

ISO 9001: 2008
Requirements

ISO 9004 : 2000
Guidelines for improvement

Keys about ISO 9000.2000
Standard based on 8 quality
management principles
1) customer focus
2) leadership
3) involvement of people
4) process approach
5) system approach to management
6) continual improvement
7) factual approach to decision making
8) mutually beneficial supplier relationships

4. QUALITY MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM

General requirements
identify QMS processes
sequence & interaction of processes
criteria & measures for effective operation
information to support processes
measure, monitor, analyse, action &
improvement
General documentation
requirements
procedures
other documents

5. MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY

Management Administration
commitment responsibility & authority
Customer focus management representative
internal communication
Quality policy
quality manual
Planning control of documents
quality objectives control of quality records
quality planning Management review
inputs
outputs

6. RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Provision of resources
Work environment
customer satisfaction
human & physical factors
Human resources
competency
training
effectiveness of training
contribution to quality
objectives
staff records

7. PRODUCT REALISATION

Planning of realisation Purchasing
processes control
Customer related processes information
Design & development verification
planning Production & service operations
inputs control
outputs identification & traceability
review customer property
verification preservation
validation measuring & monitoring
changes

8. MEASUREMENT,
ANALYSIS
& IMPROVEMENT
Planning
Measurement &
monitoring
customer satisfaction
internal audit
processes
product
control of non comformity
analysis of data

AND NOW...MY
SCHOOL !

http://www.circolomaniago.it/

Warning to navigators

“ It is necessary to learn to navigate in an
ocean of doubts between archipelagoes
of certainties” ( E. Morin)

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Italian School Management

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