Towards better Schools and more Equal Opportunities for Learning in Italy

Abstract

Compulsory school education in Italy produces poor results in terms of 15-year olds' performance on PISA tests, compared with other OECD countries, despite a relatively high level of expenditure. While the influence of social background is smaller than in many OECD countries, it is largely transmitted through a kind of self-segregation resulting from family choices among the different types of upper secondary school. Large differences in pupils' performance between regions cannot be explained by the quantity of resources available; separating the influence of socio-economic conditions from school efficiency is difficult and must be treated carefully in plans for extending fiscal federalism. The Italian government is rightly concerned to get better value for money and this chapter argues that policies to improve the information available to schools and teachers on the results they are achieving, while giving them appropriate incentives, responsibility and power to respond to such information, are necessary accompaniments to expenditure-saving policies. An improved focus on good quality training, both for new recruits and experienced teachers, and recruitment procedures themselves, should also pay dividends on efficiency. This Working Paper relates to the 2009 Economic Survey of Italy. (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Italy)JEL classification :I21; I28 Key words : education; school outcomes; Italy; PISA data; fiscal federalism ***************************************************** Améliorer l'école et l'égalité d'accès à l'éducation en ItaliePar rapport aux autres pays de l'OCDE, les résultats des tests PISA des élèves italiens de 15 ans sont médiocres, et ce, malgré des dépenses d'éducation relativement élevées. Si l'incidence du milieu social est moindre que dans de nombreux autres pays membres, elle passe essentiellement par une sorte d'autodiscrimination résultant du choix des familles entre les différents types d'établissements secondaires du deuxième cycle. L'importance des écarts de résultats scolaires entre les régions ne peut s'expliquer par le volume des ressources disponibles. Il est difficile de faire la distinction entre l'impact des conditions socioéconomiques et l'efficience des établissements, et cela doit être étudié avec soin dans le cadre des projets d'extension du fédéralisme fiscal. Le gouvernement italien souhaite, à juste titre, optimiser les dépenses publiques et le présent chapitre défend l'idée selon laquelle des mesures visant à améliorer les informations à disposition des établissements scolaires et des enseignants concernant leurs résultats -tout en leur apportant les incitations, les responsabilités et les pouvoirs nécessaires pour agir en fonction de ces résultats -doivent accompagner les mesures d'économies budgétaires. Une attention plus grande accordée à une formation de qualité pour les enseignants, qu'il s'agisse des nouvelles recrues comme des enseignants chevronnés, ainsi qu'aux procédures de recrutement elles-mêmes, devrait également favoriser l'efficience.Ce document de travail se r...

A new macroeconomic measure of human capital exploiting PISA and PIAAC: linking education policies to productivity

“…Adult skill surveys have been limited in their country and time coverage, but have experienced a surge in interest recently that extended data coverage considerably and made it possible to use them in cross-country regression analysis. In parallel to countrylevel studies, research has been also looking at student achievements and human capital at more disaggregated levels, typically for individual students or schools (see for example Boarini, 2009;Fuchs and Woessmann, 2007;Schütz, 2009;and Hanushek and Woessmann, 2011;and Barro and Lee, 2015).…”

Quantifying the effect of policies to promote educational performance on macroeconomic productivity

“…To quantify the link between education policies and student test scores, this paper follows the approach of Boarini (2009), Boarini and Lüdemann (2009), and Fuchs and Woessmann (2018) and estimates an education production function, which connects educational outcomes, measured by the OECD's PISA test scores, to inputs including educational policies measured at the individual and school levels, and a range of student and school characteristics, as follows:…”

“…Many studies conclude that leaving more room to schools to decide on budgetary and curricular issues is often related to lower student performances (Boarini and Lüdemann, 2009;Schuetz et al, 2007;Woesmann et al, 2008;Jurges and Schneider, 2004;Hanushek et al, 2013;Hong, 2015). Evidence is more supportive of greater school responsibility for selecting teachers at the school level going along with somewhat improved PISA test scores (OECD, 2018c), though some research reports that this relationship is not a robust one either (Fuchs and Woessmann, 2007;Boarini, 2009;Boarini and Lüdemann, 2009;Hanushek et al, 2019).…”

“…Empirical research supports the positive link between accountability and student test scores, especially when combined with autonomy. Boarini (2009) and Boarini and Lüdemann (2009) report that the publication of students' results within schools and that posting achievement data publicly are associated with better PISA test scores in sciences, though Torres (2021) cannot establish a correlation between the share of students attending schools declaring to post results publicly and PISA scores in mathematics.…”

A new macroeconomic measure of human capital exploiting PISA and PIAAC: Linking education policies to productivity

“…Adult skill surveys have been limited in their country and time coverage, but have experienced a surge in interest recently that extended data coverage considerably and made it possible to use them in cross-country regression analysis. In parallel to countrylevel studies, research has been also looking at student achievements and human capital at more disaggregated levels, typically for individual students or schools (see for example Boarini, 2009;Fuchs and Woessmann, 2007;Schütz, 2009;and Hanushek and Woessmann, 2011;and Barro and Lee, 2015).…”