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Academic guidance is a fundamental pillar in every student’s educational journey, a decision-making process that significantly influences their professional and personal future. In a constantly evolving job market, guiding young people toward informed choices has become a strategic priority. Italy, in line with European directives, has recently introduced major reforms to enhance this service. However, to ensure these efforts are truly effective, it is essential to have solid evaluation and monitoring systems capable of measuring the impact of the actions taken and guiding future improvements.
Evaluating the effectiveness of guidance is not just about analyzing statistics, but about deeply understanding how the proposed activities help students discover their talents, develop skills, and build a life plan. This article explores the methodologies, indicators, and challenges related to measuring the success of guidance in Italy, placing it within the broader European and Mediterranean context, where tradition and innovation meet to define new growth paths for the younger generations.
The Italian school system is undergoing a profound transformation, largely driven by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). One of the key reforms concerns guidance, with the goal of creating a structured and permanent system to support students throughout their journey. The Guidelines, approved by Ministerial Decree No. 328 of 2022, aim to combat school dropout rates, encourage well-considered choices, and strengthen the link between the world of education and the world of work. This reform aligns with European objectives, which call for a reduction in early school leaving and better alignment between training and market demands.
At the heart of this innovation are the introduction of mandatory guidance modules totaling 30 hours per year in secondary school and the creation of two new professional roles: the tutor teacher and the guidance teacher. The tutor is responsible for following a group of students in constant dialogue with their families, helping them to enhance their talents. The guidance teacher, on the other hand, coordinates activities at the school level, creating a bridge to universities and the job market. Another fundamental tool is the E-Portfolio, a digital portfolio that documents each student’s educational path and acquired skills.
Measuring the impact of guidance activities is crucial for several reasons. First, it allows for an effective fight against school dropouts, a phenomenon that still shows worrying data in Italy, with significant regional disparities. Ineffective guidance is among the main causes of poor choices, which lead to demotivation and dropping out. Data indicates that students who do not follow guidance recommendations are almost twice as likely to fail a grade. Careful monitoring allows for the early identification of at-risk students and targeted interventions.
Second, a rigorous evaluation helps reduce the mismatch between the skills acquired in school and those required by the job market. Guiding students toward educational paths aligned with their aptitudes and real employment opportunities is an investment in the country’s future. Finally, evaluation serves to improve the quality of the educational offerings themselves. By analyzing data, schools can understand what works and what doesn’t, optimizing resources and disseminating best practices. Monitoring thus becomes a strategic tool for a school that aims to be truly inclusive and supportive of each student’s life project.
Evaluating the effectiveness of guidance requires an integrated approach that combines quantitative and qualitative methodologies to obtain a complete picture. This process cannot be limited to measuring outcomes alone but must analyze the entire journey, involving students, teachers, and families. Self-evaluation by teachers themselves is considered particularly formative and effective. The interaction between evaluation and guidance is a central theme, as a well-designed evaluation can itself become a tool for promoting awareness and autonomous decision-making in students.
Quantitative indicators provide an objective measure of the impact of guidance actions. Among the most significant are:
This data, also collected through ministerial questionnaires sent to principals and teachers, allows for mapping activities nationwide and identifying priority intervention areas.
Qualitative tools are essential for capturing nuances and understanding the subjective experience of students. Direct observation of activities, focus groups, and individual interviews with students, families, and teachers offer valuable insights. These methods allow for investigating the level of perceived satisfaction, the increase in self-awareness and awareness of one’s abilities, and the perceived usefulness of the information received. More concrete experiences, such as workshops, visits to companies and universities, and the Pathways for Transversal Skills and Orientation (PCTO), are often perceived by students as the most helpful for guidance. The analysis of these qualitative aspects is crucial for personalizing interventions and making them more impactful.
Italy is not alone on this journey. The evaluation of school systems is a priority throughout Europe, albeit with different models. The Council of the European Union’s Recommendation on “pathways to school success” emphasizes the need for constant monitoring and continuous dialogue among all stakeholders. Countries like France use centralized systems with specific indicators that include student outcomes and the guidance offered. Comparing with these European best practices offers valuable insights for refining the Italian model, for example, by promoting international student mobility through programs like Erasmus+, which have a strong guidance impact.
In the context of Mediterranean culture, guidance takes on particular nuances. Tradition and the role of the family are of central importance in the choices of young people. Effective guidance must be able to engage with this cultural background, valuing it while also opening up to innovative horizons. The figure of the tutor teacher, also conceived as a “family advisor,” responds precisely to this need to create a new alliance between the school and the family unit. The goal is to balance respect for tradition with the need to prepare young people for a global and rapidly changing job market, promoting technical-vocational paths and ITS Academies as valid alternatives to traditional high school tracks.
The evaluation and monitoring of the effectiveness of academic guidance are not mere bureaucratic formalities but represent the heart of an educational system that wants to put the student at the center. The recent reform introduced in Italy, supported by the PNRR, has laid the groundwork for structural change, introducing dedicated tools and professional roles. The challenge now is to make this system fully operational and measurable. Through a balanced mix of quantitative indicators and qualitative analysis, it is possible to get a real picture of the impact of guidance actions, in order to refine them and make them increasingly responsive to the needs of a complex society.
Investing in quality guidance, and in its evaluation, means investing in the country’s human capital, reducing inequalities, and offering every student the tools to consciously build their own future. The role of the school, supported by figures like the tutor and guidance teacher, thus becomes that of a facilitator of dreams and talents, in a constant dialogue between the tradition and innovation that characterizes our cultural context. Only through continuous and transparent monitoring will it be possible to ensure that the promises of the reform translate into concrete opportunities for the new generations.
The tutor teacher and the guidance teacher are two new professional roles introduced in Italian secondary schools starting from the 2023/2024 school year, as part of the PNRR reforms. The *tutor teacher* is tasked with supporting a group of students to help them develop self-awareness, enhance their talents, and assist them in completing the E-Portfolio, a digital document that collects their educational path and acquired skills. The *guidance teacher*, on the other hand, is responsible for providing an overview of educational paths (school, university) and job market opportunities, collaborating with families to facilitate informed choices. They work in synergy to combat school dropout rates and promote academic success.
The evaluation of guidance effectiveness is a complex process based on several elements. The Ministry of Education and Merit has initiated a national monitoring action through questionnaires aimed at school principals and tutor/guidance teachers. The main indicators include both *quantitative* data, such as the number of students involved and the hours dedicated, and *qualitative* data, such as the quality of the projects initiated and the level of family involvement. Other important evaluation parameters are the reduction of school dropout rates, the consistency between the chosen and recommended course of study, and the long-term outcomes of students in the job market or at university.
The guidance reform, provided for by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), has introduced several innovative tools. The main ones are: *guidance modules* of at least 30 hours per year for secondary school students; the roles of the *tutor teacher* and the *guidance teacher*; the *E-Portfolio*, a digital portfolio that documents the skills and personalized path of each student; and the *single digital platform* for guidance, which offers students and families access to information on educational offerings and the job market. These tools aim to make guidance a continuous and structured process.
Yes, effective guidance is considered a crucial tool for combating school dropout rates. A wrong choice of high school, often influenced more by socioeconomic context than by the student’s real aptitudes, is one of the main factors for dropping out or academic failure. Well-structured guidance helps students to better understand themselves, their inclinations, and existing opportunities, fostering more informed and motivated decisions. Indeed, the ministerial guidelines place the fight against school dropouts among the primary objectives of the guidance reform.
In the Italian system, guidance integrates tradition, represented by direct dialogue and the advisory counsel provided by teachers, with digital and methodological innovation. Tradition is found in the role of the *tutor teacher*, who acts as an advisor for students and families, an approach based on human relationships. Innovation emerges with the introduction of tools like the *E-Portfolio* and the *single digital platform*, which use technology to collect data and make information more accessible. This hybrid approach aims to enhance the human experience of the teacher by integrating it with the potential offered by new technologies for more personalized and effective guidance.