January and February have become, for some years now, the warm months of open-days and enrollments at school, preceded by the orientation period that many institutes propose. But what are the criteria that parents and children should evaluate in the choice of high school?
Each passage from one school order to another involves a series of Doubts for parents And, as they grow up, even for children. The transition to second grade secondary school is certainly the one that involves the most, because it goes from a homogeneous school model – except for experimental institutes – to a model that provides for the acquisition of very different specific skills according to the various school addresses.
Choose high school Often it’s not easy at all; The same fragility experienced by families in the choice of primary school are proposed again. In the meantime, the children have grown up, it is truth, but the difficulty is the same: you have the feeling of making a decision on which their future will depend.
Here is a Small orientation for high schoola sort of useful guide to families and children to make a responsible and aware choice.
How to choose high school?
In Italy, students completing the three years of first grade secondary school (the “middle school”) can Choose the high school between two alternative paths:
- Second grade secondary school, duration of five years.
- Paths of education and professional training (FP), three -year and four -year duration and of regional competence.
Only secondary schools allows, once the qualification is obtained, to enroll in theUniversity.
To orient yourself well, you must first know the division between the different secondary school courses, i.e. high schools, technical institutes and professional institutes.
THE high school are divided into the following addresses:
- artistic;
- classic;
- linguistic;
- musical and choreutic;
- scientific (with any option of applied sciences);
- of human sciences (with possible economic-social option).
The Technical Institutes Instead they are divided into two areas. The first, that of economic addressincludes the institutes within which administration, finance and marketing are studied and those in which the subjects related to tourism are deepened. The second area, that technologicalon the other hand, has many more addresses: mechanics; Transport/logistics; electronic/electrotechnics; IT; graphics; chemistry; fashion; agricultural; constructions.
Finally, the professional schools. The areas of study coincide, in some cases, with those of the technical institutes. However, the difference lies in level of in -depth analysis of the subjects that, in the cases of professional institutes, focus on the acquisition of the most operational skills, linked to a single professionalism or a macro scope.
Within over thirty choice options, to which are added the regional proposals, it is inevitable that families and students feel confused. And then, How to understand which high school to choose? What elements do you consider?
Tests, questionnaires and orientation do you need to choose high school?
Most of the first grade secondary schools involve orientation paths. It is the “orientation advice” formed by the teaching staff who, after meeting, establishes which are the most useful advice to provide families and students on the study path.
Most students integrate this information with those obtained by the many Online platforms Dedicated to the topic, the most complete of which is certainly “Eduscopio.it”, a portal edited by the Agnelli Foundation that is updated every year and which allows you to orient yourself using the future access to the university or the world of work as magnifying glass.
Test to choose High School They are found on the main sites that deal with education (“Skuola.net”; “High School Observatory”; “Studenti.it”) and on many other platforms.
In short, we can say that theOrientation for high school It is a bit like the recipe for a cake, and that the ingredients are: a base composed of what the student or student would like to do when they grow up; a sprinkling of subjects in which it succeeds better; A garnish made up of the closest schools that deepen those study topics … and here is the suitable school for everyone.
But is reality so simple? Test and quiz To choose the high school they can really reliable? Just before writing this article, we experienced Five different online testsand at the end of the questions (which we have always answered in the same way) we received five very different results: a not very comforting feedbackwhich suggests a substantial unreliability of the platforms, in particular non -specialized ones.
On the other hand, the orientative council is also often a “photography” of the student or student according to its school path during middle school, age in which they are Many variables which affect the results obtained in the classroom, and during which the changes are sudden and sudden, even in the way of relate to the teachers.
Taking into account the council of the school of origin is fundamental, but in order not to fall into a simplified reading, by what else can we help us?
Tips to choose High School
What to evaluate in the choice of the school? What advice to follow? What if the choice turns out to be wrong? First of all, let’s be reassured by the fact that in life you can always change your mind. It is not said that at 14 years of age we have the same desires that are at 16, as is not said that the chosen school corresponds to the expectations of the boy or girl.
If it is important that students they commit themselves to the maximum from the first dayit is equally that they learn to understand the source of their any fragility, confronting the reference adults; If the boys feel they have made a mistake, it is right to recognize them the Possibility to change your mind.
However, a choice must be made, and a advice to follow is certainly to take into account the way the students feel more comfortable in expanding.
For example, for a student who shows to express himself a lot through Manual or/and artistic skillsit would be good to orient yourself towards a context capable of enhancing this specific competence (an artistic/choreutic/musical high school, a technical institute, a professional school …). In this way, a simpler road will be built for him, since it will not be forced in a context where the expression of the self takes place in particular through written and oral subjects.
Looking for an “easy” school for students who don’t like studying is a false advice. Those who don’t like spending a lot of time on books probably need to be first accompanied by the pleasure of the study. So better to look for one School with classes not too crowded In the two -year period – to encourage the exchange and relationship with the teacher body – rather than orient themselves towards an “easy” school but overcrowded, then risking to encounter any difficulties that would appear particularly difficult to overcome.
School is a complex place where the Student well -being It contributes to the success of the cycle of study. There are students who feel more comfortable and give their best within classic school contexts, and others who find lifeblood instead in experimental schools (thanks to which, perhaps, they manage to take the opportunity to build a relationship with the territory, with the communities, with other educational contexts). However, it is difficult to find these Differences during the Open Day and the online presentations of individual schools.
Another important element to help the boys and girls find their own way – combined with the feedback of the teachers of middle school and the characteristics of high schools – could be A comparison with slightly larger students. Exchange ideas on the strengths and weaknesses of schools can certainly be an excellent help.
But ultimately, who chooses high school?
When, in 1963, the unified middle school was started, which moved to fourteen years the moment when you decide whether to continue her studies or start at work, it will also be considered the fact that Eleven could be in eleven able to decide for itself.
But, now that sixty years have passed, we can really say that the choice between high school, technical or professional institute it is made freelyconsciously and autonomously by students? How much do the desires of the boys weigh, and how much the experiences, expectations and financial availability of families, at the time of choice? The only sincere answer is that they are still very often today parents to decide in the name of the children.
To make the guys decisive in this choice, a profound and structural reform would be needed not only of the school, but also of the labor market. A wide and complex speech, on which, however, it is possible to record at least in part by starting to pig Questions as parents.
If from a fourteen -year -old boy, objectively we cannot expect an overall analysis like the one within the reach of adults, on the other hand we can tell us that i Wish people of children They should find an important space in the decisions that concern them.
A boy or girl who want to try to get involved in study paths that could more easily ferry them to the university, should be able to find the space to be able to test.
Likewise, teenagers who wish to experiment with more practical schools should be listened to by their families without feeling judged for their choice. If, as parents, we want to act on the sense of responsibility of our children, the fundamental step is precisely theI listen and theaccompanying to the elaboration of a complex thought.
Of course, as adults we have a duty to help children decipher the consequences of their choices, but also understand that our children are not the direct emanation of our desires. Helping children in choosing high school, therefore it should not mean decide in their place.
Because the school is not only the place where you learn, but also the space within which our children become adults: choosing high school, therefore, for children also means finding a place where feel welcomed While growing.
Give space to desiresto the expectations and also to the fears of the children – possibly finding, when necessary, mediations with the road that seems to us more just and far -sighted – it is the only possible way to do shared A fundamental choice, which affects their future in any case.
