The study of arts in schools focuses mainly on the discipline called “Art and Image”, established in 2003 following the reform adopted by Minister Moratti, and implemented with Law 53/80 combining a cycle-based system (1st cycle lasting 8 years and 2nd cycle lasting 5) with the right-duty to education and learning, while also establishing compulsory schooling for at least 12 years or, in any case, up to the age of 18.
Under said law, the teaching of “Art and Image” starts in primary school (where it has replaced the discipline of “image education”) and continues in 1st level secondary school where it is included in compulsory disciplines and has replaced the previous “artistic education” discipline.
The next Law 133/2008 called “Gelmini Reform” from the then-Minister of Education, has introduced further changes. The main innovation in arts education has been the creation of another type of 2nd level secondary school, specifically devoted to music and dance, the Liceo musicale e coreutico (Music and Dance High School”, while the previous Licei artistici (Fine Arts High Schools) were reorganised into six educational paths: visual arts, architecture and environment, audiovisual and multimedia; design, graphics, and set-design.
Now high schools and institutes providing fine art education are the following:
- Art High School (5 years)
- Humanities High School (3 or 5 years based on academic courses)
- Language High School (3 years)
- Scientific High School (5 years)
- Music and Dance High School (5 years)
- High School of Human Sciences (3 years)
- Technical Institute for Tourism (3 years)
- Training School in social-health care (1 year)
Those intending to pursue an academic education in the artistic field after the lower secondary school – even with professional aspirations – can follow courses pertaining to the System of Higher Professional Education in Art, Music and Dance (AFAM – Alta Formazione Professionale Artistica Musicale e Coreutica) – see chapter 5.3.
A subsequent relevant step in the system we are outlining is represented by Law 107/2015 known as “Buona Scuola” (Good School) and in particular by one of its related legislative decrees of 2017 called: Regulations on the promotion of humanistic culture, the enhancement of heritage and cultural productions and the support of creativity[1]. The decree identifies «guaranteeing humanistic culture and artistic knowledge for students» as a priority. It also states that «it is the task of the national education and training system to promote the study, knowledge and practice of the arts, as a fundamental requirement of the curriculum». It provides for the adoption, every three years, by decree of the President of the Council of Ministers, of a Plan for the Arts, and of a special fund called the “Fund for the promotion of humanistic culture, artistic heritage and creativity” with an endowment of 2 million euros per year, starting from 2017. A relevant feature of the provision is the introduction of the “themes of creativity” as components of the curriculum and the identification of four reference areas for educational institutions, for the purpose of implementing initiatives consistent with the contents of the legislative decree: musical-dance; theatrical-performance; artistic-visual; linguistic-creative. The implementation of the Plan of the Arts foresees the selection of projects by individual schools or networks of schools recruited through invitation calls issued by MIUR.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 marked a setback for face-to-face teaching as well as for all related projects. In any case, calls for the presentation of new projects were issued in 2021.
[1] https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2017/05/16/17G00068/sg
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