STEP THREE

STEP SIX

Comparing students

Engineer

Disk Jockey

Forensic Investigator

Student

Report on the students
Good morning,

Our group had the task of comparing the English and Italian education systems.

In Italy we started working searching for information concerning the organizations of the different schools and we interviewed of students between the ages of 15 and 19. The most difficult part of our work in Salerno was getting the contacts with the school in Torbay.

Here in Torquay we interviewed some students of the same age of their Italian colleagues. Comparing the interviews we saw that English and Italian students follow very different routes in their studies: English students are given the chance to choose the subjects they want to study while in Italy the students can only choose their particular course or some afternoon classes to get into what they are interested in.

An Italian school leaver has fewer opportunities to enter in the world of work than an English one who is in particular courses, Vocational Courses, which train students to work in a specialized field. There’s also a wide range of qualifications available to English students if they are aged between 14 and 19. These include qualifications in academic subjects as well as work related qualifications covering most industries and occupations.

Italy is not very open to young and part-time workers. Only here in England we’ve seen specialized centres, like Job Centres and Connexions, where students from 14 to 25 can find a regular job. Though English university students study for specific degrees, they have a great number of opportunities to enter every job they want to do. It’s different for Italian graduate who if are looking for a job have to show specific qualifications to start working.

There would be a lot of differences to talk about, but a particular aspect of English schools has impressed us: the uniforms. An Italian student would see it as an imposition, a too strict rule preventing his/her free expression. Our enquire isn’t over yet but staying here has been an important on-the-spot experience to add to our work.