Outstanding
Fuoriclasse
Save the Children Italy & Bolton Hope Foundation
Evidence of results
Purpose related to Let's Care
Level of Education
Pillars
Brief description of the Project
Duration
Scope
Funds
Objectives
To contribute, from a concrete experience, to the renewal of the methodologies and tools with which we deal with the phenomenon of early school leaving in Italy, in the most disadvantaged areas.
Methodology
Fuoriclasse (Italy) is a comprehensive intervention model against early school dropout aimed at students, teachers and families. It offers activities to support motivation towards study and learning, in order to ensure the full implementation of the right to education, as envisaged in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Fuoriclasse's educational interventions, inside and outside schools, are proposed for grades 4-5 of primary school and 2-3 of secondary school, to support the transition between school levels. The project works in four complementary and multidimensional areas of intervention:
- Reinforcing and recovering the skills and knowledge of the educational centers.
- Cultural and recreational workshops.
- System-level measures to update teachers' knowledge and to raise awareness
among families. - Effective and informal support for learning in non-school environments
Fuoriclasse's actions include, for example, motivational workshops during school hours, school camps as non-formal education, study support for students with learning difficulties, advice on how to increase well-being at school and meetings to facilitate school-family dialogue.
The evaluation shows that the number of students arriving late to class has been reduced by half, school absenteeism has decreased and families have increased their interest in their children's school performance.
Type of Action
Target Group and Determinants attended
Professionals involved
Networking - Actors and Institutions mobilised by the Project
Enablers
The measures and actions that have contributed to the success of Fuoriclasse concern the children’s rights to participate and to make a positive change through the “school councils” then called “Fuoriclasse councils”. Another action is the “student support service” offered in close synergy with the schools, for those who are reported by the teachers. Last important element concerns the opportunity offered to the students through free "school camps", 2 nights, 3 days in the middle of nature with their teachers and professional educators.
Barriers
The main obstacles concerned the accreditation in schools and the full involvement of the teaching staff.
Grade of linkage with the Safe Education Model
The distinctive feature of the programme is the protagonist of children, with explicit reference to the principle of participation developed by Save the Children and inspired by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, applied according to well-defined standards.
A student who has the opportunity to express his or her opinion on issues related to daily school life with the certainty that their ideas will be taken seriously and that he or she can make a concrete change to make the school a student-friendly place, will be an individual who will develop a natural sense of belonging and confidence in the context he or she is helping to shape. Therefore, this bond and sense of belonging of students is worked through the motivation and participation of the same.
Grade of linkage with the purpose of Let's Care
The primary objective of the Fuoriclasse programme is to combat early school leaving. To do this, they rely on a preventive approach, intervening in the causes that can produce it. Fuoriclasse accompanies for a complete period of two years and until the delicate transition to the next level of education, pupils in the fourth grade of primary and the second grade of lower secondary education. Each of the two years of the Fuoriclasse path has its own well-defined logic, but both contribute to form a coherent intervention method from the beginning of the project to its conclusion.
Grade of evidence about impact and political relevance
The advantage of Fuoriclasse is that it not only provides an impact assessment, but has even been born contemplating an evaluative system. For this purpose, an external research body has been entrusted with identifying the most scientifically valid ways of implementing the programme. This evaluation has been conducted for two years in each city where the project has been implemented, resulting in evidence that the program is a success in the fight against early school leaving.
Grade of evidence about impact - Project deliverables
Reproducibility
The pilot project was launched in the 2012/13 school year in the cities of Naples, Crotone and Scalea (CS). Given its success, the following year the cities of Milan and Bari (2013/14) and Turin were added in the academic year 2014/15. The implementation plan in all cases was a success. Likewise, the fact of presenting an ex post evaluation of the programme allows identifying areas of improvement and minimising possible implementation problems in other contexts.
Outcomes
Early school leaving, motivation, ex post evaluation