Twenty-five years since School Autonomy, fifty years since the Delegated Decrees: premises fulfilled, broken promises and expected outcomes of rethinking schools today

Abstract

The year 2024, which has just begun, is a significant year for Italian schools: twenty-five years have passed since the Presidential Decree of 8 March 1999 No. 275, which regulated Law of 1997 No. 59 on school autonomy, and fifty years since the delegated decrees of 1974, which responded to the emerging demand for a democratic school. These anniversaries which cannot be relegated to the pedagogical sphere alone but involves political, social and cultural considerations. The questions that will serve as a backdrop to the contribution will be aimed at investigating the extent to which the principles underlying the enactment of the 1974 delegated decrees, which focused on a noble idea of school democracy centred on participation and on school-society connections, still have real significance today, and correspondingly whether the spirit of improvement still persists.