Asilo Nido & Scuola
Materna
Education In Italy ~
by Deirdré Straughan
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recounted at length my own experiences in various schools, I now turn my
attention to the Italian system which my daughter attends. Caveat: I haven't
lived here all my life, nor ever attended any Italian educational institution
myself, so my views may be biased by inexperience, at the least.
When we arrived
in Italy in December, 1990, Rossella was 16 months old. I had been full-time
at home with her for most of her life, except for two months of increasingly
long hours in a parents' cooperative daycare center at Yale in late 1990,
when I needed time to pack up our house and make other arrangements to
move. Ross, although the youngest in the group, had been quite happy in
daycare; she enjoyed being with other kids. So when we got to Milan, I
decided it was time for me to go back to work, and I wasn't worried about
her reaction to more daycare. |
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Under Italian
law, working mothers have paid maternity leave for the first six months
of a child's life. For ages six months to two years, there are good daycare
centers, partially government- subsidized. Unfortunately, there had been
a decline in births in Milan which had led to many of these public asili
nidi being closed. Then there was a sudden rise in the birthrate around
the year of Ross' birth, so when we arrived in Milan, mid-year, there was
no space available in the local asilo nido. My in-laws kindly paid for
a good private asilo, where Ross very happily stayed for two years; the
catch was that it was a long way across town by bus, so it was quite a
trek every day to get her there and back again. It was a financial and
commuting relief when, at age three, Ross was able to transfer to the nearby
pre-school.
Scuola materna
is a wonderful thing. In Italy, every parent has the right - though not
the obligation - to put their child in preschool, free of charge, for three
years, until they begin first grade in their sixth year. Traditionally,
this seems to have been regarded as a way to socialize kids to life outside
the family, but the schoolday was kept short, on the assumption that mom
was home anyway. Nowdays, in many families both parents work, so most scuole
materne offer full-time hours up to 4 pm, and after-school programs for
parents who can't pick up their kids that early. Essentially, this is very
high quality, state-sponsored daycare.
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Ross's
scuola materna was part of a loose cooperative of pre-elementary, and middle
schools, all set in a large park, with each grade level occupying its own
small building. The park had originally been a track for trotting races,
hence its name, Parco Trotter. In the early 1900s, it was well outside
Milan, and sickly children were sent there to breathe clean air and take
the sun. There had even been a swimming pool and a tall, airy gymnasium,
though these and the dormitories are now ruined past repair. It was a practical
school, where the children tended gardens and raised farm animals as well
as (presumably) studying the usual subjects.
Parco Trotter
is now engulfed by the city, but remains an island of green among the gray
cement; not surprisingly, it has a lower incidence of absences due to illness
than any other school in Milan. The pre-school kids spent a lot of time
outside simply running around, as few kids in Milan are able to. |
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They weren't
expected to learn to read or write, but they did many pre-reading and pre-math
activities, construction and art projects, and more - Montessori methods
were very much in evidence! They could be as messy as they liked outside
with sand, flour, dirt, and rocks. The bathroom was designed for water
play as well as other uses. They decorated their spaces with trees made
of cloth, and their own paintings and other creations.
For one project,
parents were asked to show the kids around their workplaces, which included
a car repair shop and a bakery. Afterwards, the teachers interviewed the
kids about what it meant to work, and wrote down the answers, such as:
"Work means sweating a lot." "No one likes to work, but if you don't work,
you starve."
As preparation
for the passage to elementary school, the kids visited elementary classes
to see what the older kids were doing, and afterwards were interviewed
about what it means to "get big."
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Food
At all educational
levels, school hours used to be organized so that kids went home at lunchtime.
Offices, shops, and factories would also close, so the family would gather
around the dining table for a midday meal. Apparently, many Italian parents
of my generation grew up this way, and still aren't entirely comfortable
with leaving their children at school for lunch.
But, again,
modern life intrudes: many mothers as well as fathers now work full-time,
often so far across town as to make the family lunch together impracticable.
The city government stepped into the breach with a school lunch program,
usually prepared somewhere else and then trucked to the various schools.
Parco Trotter is fortunate to have a kitchen on the premises, so the food
doesn't have to travel far. The quality was quite good, though they sometimes
served vegetables that no self-respecting child was likely to eat, such
as boiled fennel bulbs. |
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It seemed
that many parents were more concerned about this aspect of their child's
education than any other. The teachers would furnish daily reports on how
well the child had eaten, and there was a parents' committee to oversee
the kitchen. Several times we were called upon to sign petitions protesting
this or that aspect of the kids' diets. (After four years of legendarily
bad food at Woodstock, and seeing that Ross ate more at school than she
did at home, I had a hard time taking these seriously.)
Every day when
I picked up Ross from school, I'd hear the other mothers greeting their
children. Invariably, the first question every mother asked was: "What
did you eat today?" Just as invariably, my first question to Rossella was:
"What did you do today?" And Ross would promptly tell me - what she had
eaten.
To contact
Deirdré Click Here
To see her
web site on living in Italy Click Here
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