This could
change the face of home education, home schooling, unschooling (delete as
personally applicable) as we know it….in Italy.
The exams
are NOT a legal requirement.
Can I repeat
that for effect…with drum roll please.
The exams
are NOT a legal requirement.
However we
are in Italy, so expecting something simple, tidy and automatic in terms of
bring reality and on paper requirements into line is not that reasonable ( :
Basically
there is a ministry circular that states home schoolers must sit an annual
exam. It does not cite a law, just baldly states the obligation exists.
There is a
relevant law, but guess what!
It says our kids have a *right* to take the
exam.
No mention of our kids *having* to do it, a case rather of the school having to provide the exam should we desire
it.
How cheeky
is that LOL.
(that is an ironic LOL by the way, I don’t thinking it is haha
funny at all. The jammy baskets pulled a fast one on me. I find that not gigglesome
at all. But it is ironic LOL as a response to the discovery of slight legal
fudging, or a month long chunter…and I’m too busy for an extended chunter at
the moment).
A right becomes an
obligation with slight of hand with a side serving of innocent, wide eyed blinking in place of citing an actural real live law to back up their commandment from on high.
Jammy gits got away with it as well.
I have to
admit, even after I read the relevant law and circular about a 100 times thinking “there
must a be a tiny clause somewhere that contradicts the letter and spirit of the law and supports the circular”…but
no. It really is that bald faced.
I even tortured
entertained one of my students (who happens to be a lawyer) by making him read
it all a million times to confirm that, no I’m not mad. The ministry is making
up obligations they can’t enforce because there are no legal teeth to add bite to this regulation based woof.
So watch this
space, cos I am about to inform my school
director (in the nicest possible terms) that we do not wish to exercise
our right to an exam and we do not accept said exam is obligatory.
Being in Italy,
even with my personal "legal eagle" giving me the go ahead, this could turn into
a tussle. Don’t forget I’m dealing with the same director who told me (what
feels like a half a bleeding century ago) that homeschooling was totally
illegal here and I would end up in handcuffs if I tried to do it. So I’m pretty
sure he won’t just take my word for it.
I've found bureaucracy here can get a bit
shouty and “do as you are told plebe! How very, very dare you argue and demand
fact checking!!!”, before gracelessly conceding
some 6 weeks later “oh actually, as you were, seems you weren’t wrong, never
mind, don’t hold your breath for an apology for the initial misinformation or you’ll
end up turning blue and your head will explode” .
I’ll blog
it as it happens.
(chanels
Katie Adie like mad)
(imagines self
in flak jacket with microphone outside of school breathlessly reporting that we
have permission to meet the dictator director)
If it all
goes well and research thus far translates into practical application,
everything changes.
You want to
come here and unschool your kid, follow your own country's curriculum, or
just not replicate the Italian ministerial curriculum in terms of great gobs of
grammar and text analysis...... all without fear of exam performance hanging over
your head, you’ll be able to.
So wish me luck.
Cos I’m
going over the top chaps.
(end hyperbole)
