STEM disciplines teaching in Italy

Abstract

This study aims to summarize and expand the results of the most recent national and international surveys on teachers of STEM disciplines in Italy, regarding to the following aspects: 1) personal profile, 2) initial and in-service training, 3) didactic practices adopted, 4) school environment. By comparing and elaborating the data collected on samples of Italian teachers from the 2016/17 National Surveys of INVALSI, from PISA 2015, from TIMSS and TIMSS Advanced 2015, from TALIS 2018, and comparing STEM teachers with teachers of humanities, we highlight that: a), among the first, the feminization of the Italian teaching staff is less marked; b) in the primary school the percentage of graduates is lower; c) in the middle school, science teachers update less than mathematics ones; d) in the high school the percentage of those who have received specific training for teaching is lower; e) the frequency of inquiry-based teaching practices, among other practices, is the one that most negatively departs from the average frequency of the OECD countries; f) there are no statistically significant differences between STEM teachers and the other teachers regarding their relationship with the school environment. This analysis suggests the adoption of policies for the insertion in the primary school of graduates teachers, especially in the scientific field, the promotion of a wider initial and in-service training, which includes and incentives a more solid pedagogical preparation also for teachers of the STEM disciplines.