We have to wait another year for civic education
21 August 2019 | Written by La redazione
The provision, to be active starting from the new school year, had to be published in the Official Gazette by August 16th
Many, including us, had celebrated the news of the return to the class of civic education with great enthusiasm. The text of the law, approved by the Senate with an almost unanimous vote at the beginning of August, provided for the reintroduction of the subject from 1 September, with a vote in the report card and a revised and updated training offer. Instead, we will have to wait: in order to be applied as early as the next school year, in fact, the law had to be published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale by August 16th. However, this did not happen.
The causes of the postponement. In article two of the provision, we read: “For the purposes of article 1, starting from the 1st of September of the first school year following the entry into force of the present law, in the first and second cycle of education the law is established the teaching of civic education […] “. According to our Constitution, however, the laws come into force only after the so-called “vacatio legis” period, ie 15 days after publication in the Official Journal. For this reason, the provision had to be published by 16 August to be active before the date indicated in the aforementioned article 2. It is now late and therefore the law will come into force on a date after September 1, which is why it will be applied starting from the 2020/2021 school year.
What happens now? The introduction of the Civic Education Hour would have effectively “retired” the teaching of “Citizenship and Constitution”, which will continue for another year.
Meanwhile, Anief, the national association of teachers and trainers, hopes that the aspects related to teacher training will be defined: the new provision, in fact, provides that all classes will have a teacher responsible for teaching civic education, chosen from among the staff already present in the staff. The designated lecturers will have to acquire in a short time content, information and methodologies, to be transmitted to the students in the 33 hours a year foreseen for civic education.
The teachers who in these years, with great passion and dedication, have always transmitted to their students the contents and teachings of civic education, will certainly continue to do so.
If exploited correctly, this “transitional” school year can be transformed into an opportunity and allow teachers to train and acquire the tools to better carry out their task.
Update of September 22.
The provision was published on August 21. Now the MIUR is trying to avoid the postponement of the law’s entry into force by 2020.
