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Many social issues are brought to children’s attention during
preschool. Typical Italian speech tends to be full of emotion in
order to emphasize points . By nature, children are bound to have
disputes with each other. These argumentative interactions are
not stopped, but rather encouraged by the teachers. The children
were allowed to demonstrate their agency, and act in a way they
perceive to be fit. By definition, agency is when a child
processes information and then makes his or her own decision.
This characteristic is encouraged in Italian school systems, because of
the way that teachers allow the children to resolve their
conflicts. The children would process the situation and then make
their own decision based on how they interpret the problem. These
discussions are believed to lay the foundation for basic communication
skills. The children talking out their problems, with minimal
teacher involvement, the students learn basic problem solving
skills. This stage in preschool is considered imperative to a
child’s social, affection, and cognitive development.
One of the main social problems with children is bullying in their
schools. Bullying is when one child intentionally physically or
verbally harasses another. Approximately 42% of 1,379 pupils in
primary school indicate that they have been bullied. A great deal
of parental involvement allowed the schools to recognize this as a
problem, and began to develop ways to solve it. The three primary
approaches to preventing bullying are institutional, class group level,
and peer support intervention groups. Institutional methods
include having teachers specially trained to deal with bullying
situations, having parent/teacher meetings to discuss the main issues,
and to have each school develop policies on the situation. Class
group awareness is when the teacher brings in bullying situations to
the curriculum to directly make the children aware of the
problem. The last method, peer support intervention groups, is
creating an environment for the children to interact with each other in
through peer counseling and meditation. After implementing any of
these methods, a significant decrease in bullying occurred in the
schools. This shows that Italians stay aware of issues in the
schools, and make a clear effort to improve any problems their children
might have. The educational
system can attribute a great part of its success due to the great
amount of parental involvement. There are frequent parental
assemblies, where parents are given the opportunity to make proposals
to improve various aspects of the school. Through these school
councils, parents are able to suggest new educational activities, and
have input on regulations and supervision that occurs. All
parents take an active interest in making sure the communal schools are
kept up to high standards, even if their own children attend private
school.
References:
Gini, Gianluca. 2004. "Bullying in Italian Schools." School Psychology International
25: 106-116
