What will change in elementary and middle schools with Minister Valditara’s new introductions? The teacher

Elementary schools and middle schools will not be exempt from changes in their study plans, after the statements that the Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara made in an interview with the news “The Newspaper” and on the pages ofAnsaon the New National Indications, i.e. the new programs for primary and secondary schools that will come into force in the 2026-2027 school year.

“We have designed the journey of children and adolescents aged 3 to 14“ the Minister stated in listing the introduction of music and its understanding, but also classical epics and Greek mythology from the first grade. He then doesn’t fail to underline the importance of Latin in middle school and the development of mnemonic skills by children and young people, which will lead them to appreciate reading, writing and understanding texts, subjects in which Italians, according to the latest OECD report, do not seem very knowledgeable.

We asked the teacher Ernestina Morello, professor of literary subjects and Latin at the IIS Copernico-Luxemburg institute in Turin and engaged together with Professor Roberto Trinchero of the University of Turin in ever-new studies of evaluation and teaching methods, to explain to us point by point what will change for primary schools.

Ernestina Morello (Teacher of literary subjects and Latin at the IIS Copernico-Luxemburg educational institute in Turin)

Epics, literature and classic texts from elementary school

As can be read from the text of the interview published on “the Day“Minister Valditara first of all hopes for a return to reading by children, not just any texts, but rather epic passages, texts coming from Greek mythology or Nordic sagas. According to the Minister, the reading-literature connection is essential for forming people of tomorrow, who will learn to write, read and approach texts written by others. The teacher Ernestina Morello tells us it is not a real introduction: “Everything that can arouse curiosity and reading and writing skills and encouraging students to continue reading is positive, starting from primary school, of course readings must be calibrated in order to be close to the world of children, able to translate and express their moods, they must not appear obsolete, boring and didactic. Myths lend themselves to this, in fact the reading of Aesopian fables is already part of the school traditionin which children recognize themselves and rediscover relationships with others“.

According to the teacher, in fact, one of the great themes of today is the difficulty of recognizing students’ own emotions even as children, who thus end up feeling alone. Reading in classical myths, adapted to their age, life experiences that they themselves have, in addition to making them good writers, will succeed in the mission of making them feel less alone.

“The ultimate objective of what in my opinion should be reading aloud sessions of one hour a day at least in class, must not be to learn a cultural heritage, but to draw information and tools from narration that can help you live“.

Classical myths, according to Valditara, in fact, would be able to amaze and stimulate the imagination of children, but according to teacher Morello, what needs to be stimulated is their creativity, the ability to give an interpretation to events: “Students arrive at high school and do not know how to express a personal opinion because they have been pigeonholed into patterns, reading texts and sharing meanings can help them learn to read and write creatively“ concluded Morello.

The study of music and poems by heart

“We must resume this great school of memory” says Valditara, hoping for the mnemonic study of poems and texts from the first grade, the teacher Morello agrees but up to a certain point: “Mnemonic exercise as an end in itself has no use for children, it means assigning a text that the children don’t understand and the parents with their hands in their hair try to fix it in their memory”. SAccording to Ernestina Morello, in fact, poetry learned by heart can make sense if the child is helped first to decode the texthelping him to understand, through images projected on the IM, words that are too complex for him. “If memorization becomes a tool for forming a study method and strategies is very usefulwill teach the child when he has difficulty remembering a concept to associate images with it”.

Poetry, according to teacher Morello, lends itself well to being learned to the rhythm of music, an instrument that allows the child not to repeat the text in a monotonous manner, which is often very frustrating. Minister Valditara promises to introduce music since elementary school, so that children can understand the language from an early age: “If the Minister intends to introduce music as a school discipline, we are talking about a real innovation and I think it is an excellent learning tool for children, there are songs about the multiplication tables, the days of the week and the months that can be helpful in not learning in a boring and sterile way but having fun and assimilating this rhythm which becomes enthralling and encourages you to learn“.

Bible study in elementary school

In elementary school, Valditara also introduces the Bible among the textbooks “understood as a text of our tradition, also for having inspired numerous works of literature, music, painting and influencing the cultural heritage of many civilizations” explains at Ansa.

The teacher Ernestina Morello has a very clear idea on the topic, the Bible, like all textbooks, can be known and studied without, however, the text claiming the right to become a founding text of the students’ civic morality, since this is personal. “If it fits the Bible in cultural programming must not be understood as the only religious text. The Bible can be studied scientifically, like any literary text, by children, analyzing the steps and the figures within it“.

Latin in middle school

Among the innovations proposed by the Minister there is also the introduction of the study of the Latin language in middle schools. Teacher Morello said she agreed if the subject is optional, given that it can help strengthening the basics of the Italian language but for those who are lucky enough to already be knowledgeable about the subject. “If the students have a good foundation of Italianor, Latin can help to strengthen the language and better understand its structures, but first of all we must start from the consolidation of the Italian language. But the situation at lower secondary school is also heterogeneous because some students start from a level of socio-cultural disadvantage, since they belong to different cultures and ethnic groups. If Latin is inserted after a good and solid learning of the fundamentals, especially for high school-oriented students who foresee the study of Latin in their future, it is useful, otherwise not“.

Synthetic assessments in elementary school

Minister Valditara also introduced a change regarding assessments with a reintroduction of synthetic assessments for primary school children, teacher Morello: “I agree with the need for transparency from families and teachers, but for me it is inconceivable that the school, which should be a cultural bridge and a push for innovation, regresses to put themselves at the level of the average society that asks for more transparency in evaluations. The school must encourage, if these traditional assessments are to be maintained, it is important that these grades appear on the report card at the end of a process and that in the ongoing assessment the descriptive assessment is instead adopted which truly has a formative role because it reasons on the why and how of learning elements to work on to provide students with a versatile structure in every field, if we return to “good” “excellent” and “sufficient” as with labels in progress or in progress, we return to a simplification that does not help the students” concluded the teacher.