The support teacher in the Sammarinese school reality

Subject

For about fifty years, the Republic of San Marino has supported the inclusion of people with disabilities in its school system with various measures, but mainly by placing support teachers alongside the titular teachers of the classes involved. Over the years, this choice has meant having to deal with various problems, many of which are still unresolved. The main ones appear to concern:

• the identification of the types of inclusion to be supported (people with certified disabilities, with social hardship, with learning disabilities, etc.)
• the role of the support teacher compared to that of the "tenured" teachers
• the methods of building the skills and rankings of the support teacher
• the role of the Minors Service and of the specialists of the social-health system
• accompanying people with disabilities outside of school hours and the relationship with families.

The debate on the specialized teacher for support activities is more open than ever in the scientific literature of the Italian language in light of the progressive quantitative explosion of its presence: today one teacher in six, in Italy belongs to this category (within the vast bibliography on the subject, see: D. Ianes, The evolution of the support teacher, Erickson, Trento 2015; L. Cottini, Special teaching and school inclusion, Carocci, Rome, 2017; M. Muscarà, Inclusive school and support teacher, Pensa Multimedia, Lecce 2018; A. Canevaro, D. Ianes, Another support is possible. Sustainable and effective evolution practices, Erickson, Trento 2019.). As in Italy, in San Marino, apart from an important but now dated unpublished study carried out in the early 2000s by F. Berardi and M.D. Michelelotti, there is a lack of longitudinal studies that allow for the evaluation of the intervention in its consequences over time and that allow for choices to be made to strengthen or even modify the investment on the basis of a specific analysis of its results.

Learning outcomes

• Reconstructing the history of the specialized teacher for support activities in San Marino
• To analyse the role currently covered by support teachers in the Sammarinese school system on a formal and informal level with particular but not exclusive reference to:
  • to the work of the Minors Service and the Technical Commission;
  • to collegial relationships within the school;
  • to school/family mediation.
• To analyse the pedagogical implications of the support intervention at:
  • people with disabilities;
  • families;
  • the school system;
  • the health system;
  • the world of work.

Status of works

The field reconnaissance phase ended at the end of 2023. The main results obtained were presented during the Conference dedicated to Andrea Canevaro: “Reality and perspectives of inclusion in the training system of the Republic of San Marino” on 1 and 2 December 2023. Preparation of a publication for Franco Angeli is at an advanced stage, scheduled for summer 2024.