20 gennaio 2023
Dr.Nappo in his article, taking his cue from the 'Saturday off' option, calls for a general rethinking of school organization starting from the real needs of young people in order to find 'the best recipe'.
Saturdays in school used to be the rule in middle and high school, and even in elementary school if full time was not taken. Most institutions have been implementing the short week for some time now: students in first-grade schools stay home on Saturdays; for second-grade institutions, however, the option is very subjective and is delegated to school autonomy, so it is up to the school to decide. The distribution of educational activity is feasible in five days a week and so the sixth day of attendance is increasingly rare, also for budget reasons: it is no coincidence that the Province of Milan invited the 160 schools in the area to close on Saturdays to save about two million euros. Reducing the school week to five days, from Monday to Friday, thus avoiding the presence of pupils on Saturdays, would, first and foremost, result in important energy savings. Going to school on Saturdays today seems anachronistic: in many European countries, but also in many Italian realities, it was decided long ago to give up the sixth day. Among the main reasons: the children would have an extra day to recover from the labors of the week. I would add that families could have more time to be together on the weekend. The short week would improve life in the school, the school model of 5 days out of 7 seems positive educationally and also for work-life balance. The best recipe, then, is based on autonomy and flexibility. In short, it takes a great deal of autonomy and understanding of all factors. Some parents may be comfortable with a more concentrated schedule-with weekends off-to others less so. When we talk about school organization we tend to forget the children: for some, six consecutive hours in the classroom is too much teaching. Perhaps the hours could be reduced to 50-55 minutes; there are those who think, instead, it is better to extend the time of attendance to the afternoon. The school should enthuse students to study and accompany them to the right choices, we would need uniformity between elementary middle and high school. We need to rethink the whole school organization starting from the real needs of young people.
