In-service training for multi-class teachers: the case of the 1958 National Conference

Abstract

In post-war Italy, the multi-class reality involved half a million students. Nevertheless, there was no specific training of the multi-class teacher who had to deal with various educational and organizational peculiarities. Due to a renewed interest in the subject – attested in the 1940s by the creation by Minister Gonella of a Commission for the study of multi-class school programs –, the National Educational Centre of primary school tried to contain the situation: in 1958 it organized a in-service training through a Conference able to touch multiple problems of multi-class reality and to combine conferences of experts with peer training.
After an overview of the problem, the article aims to reconstruct the contents of this training for the multi-class teacher in the 1950s, focusing on issues and indications.