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• In Italy, recent regulation has updated the post-mortem body disposition. • Body donation is admitted for study, training and scientific research purposes. • Unsolved issues concern the grantees of teaching and training activities. • The Italian College of Anatomists has made constructive criticisms to the law. • Suggestions are provided to manage the donation process and use of the body. In Italy, recent legislation (Law No. 10/2020) has tuned regulations concerning the donation of one's postmortem body and tissues for study, training, and scientific research purposes. This study discusses several specific issues to optimise the applicability and effectiveness of such an important, novel regulatory setting. Critical issues arise concerning the learners, the type of training and teaching activities that can be planned, the position of academic anatomy institutes, the role of family members in the donation process, the time frame of the donation process, the eligibility of partial donation, or the simultaneous donation of organs and tissues to patients awaiting transplantation. In particular, a universal time limit for donations (i.e., one year) makes it impossible to plan the long-term use of specific body parts, which could be effectively preserved for the advanced teaching and training of medical students and surgeons. The abovementioned conditions lead to the limited use of corpses, thus resulting in the inefficiency of the whole system of body donation. Overall, the donors' scope for the donation of their body could be best honoured by a more flexible and tuneable approach that can be used on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, it is deemed necessary to closely monitor the events scheduled for corpses in public nonacademic institutions or private enterprises. This paper presents useful insights from Italian anatomists with the hope of providing inspiration for drafting the regulations. In conclusion, this paper focuses on the critical issues derived from the recently introduced Italian law on the donation and use of the body after death and provides suggestions to lawmakers for future implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss key aspects of knowledge management (KM) education in response to challenges posed by the necessity to improve KM as a discipline and an established professional field.Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a systematic review of the current literature. This review was used as input in a recent panel held at the 2016 International Conference on Knowledge Management (ICKM). The paper brings together current literature with thought-provoking panelists’ presentations and subsequent debates with the audience.Findings KM education from the “why, what, who, where and when” perspectives were first addressed and analyzed, and the end result was a reflection on “how” to approach KM education in the future.Research limitations/implications This paper effectively underlines that, KM being a relatively new phenomenon, there is no clear consensus about roles that KM employees should play in an organization, what KM competencies and skills are needed, and where and when these should be obtained. Broad guidelines on how to approach KM education in the future may serve as a basis for further research.Practical implications The study provides suggestions on how to place KM in adult education.Originality/value The paper tackles the research questions through an innovative combination of a systematic literature review and a panel discussion on the topic of KM and education. Overall, the paper provides a fresh view of the state of the art of knowledge and research on the topic and also shows the common vision of a group of KM researchers and educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Italy was unified in 1861. As part of the process of nation-building, a mandatory free-of-charge primary school system was established. Whereas the new school system greatly contributed to the modernization of the country, its initial design did not considerably reduce regional disparities in human capital, with Southern regions lagging behind. The paper studies the effects of the heterogeneous territorial diffusion of literacy during the post-unification period (1871–1911) on economic outcomes of Italian provinces 100 years later. We exploit the exogenous variations in the territorial spread in literacy rates arising from the gradual building and expansion of the railway network across provinces. We find evidence that provinces with a higher territorial diffusion of literacy in the post-unification period today have higher income per capita, lower unemployment and greater educational attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of assessing the extent of the differences in the context of Italian educational system, the paper applies multilevel modeling to a new administrative dataset, containing detailed information for more than 500,000 students at grade 6 in the year 2011/2012, provided by the Italian Institute for the Evaluation of Educational System. Data are grouped by classes, schools and geographical areas. Different models for each area are fitted, in order to properly address the heteroscedasticity of the phenomenon. The results show that it is possible to estimate statistically significant 'school effects', i.e., the positive/negative association of attending a specific school and the student's test score, after a case-mix adjustment. Therefore, the paper's most important message is that school effects are different in terms of magnitude and types in the three geographical macro areas (Northern, Central and Southern Italy) and are dependent on specific students' and schools' characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we adopt an ecological perspective to reflect on how a specific Italian school cluster adapted to the challenges of the COVID‐19 pandemic by focusing on how students experienced the interplay between continuity and change in school teaching and learning practices caused by the pandemic. Specifically, the study investigates how the school's physical/virtual learning system was (re)configured to provide new opportunities for learning to a thousand‐plus population of primary and secondary students, and how they reacted to the transition to distance learning in terms of participation, autonomy, motivation and engagement. The research adopts a mixed method approach, based on school management system data and a survey tool, and analyses the students' response to the emergency from the perspectives of the students themselves, their teachers and their parents. While these converged in positive evaluation of the experience, a number of lessons were learnt, such as the importance of building on favourable pre‐existing conditions and leveraging a solid shared school culture to promote a prompt reaction to the emergency. Significantly, students with an immigrant background displayed varying degrees of participation in online activities. Overall, for each of the three stakeholder groups surveyed, solid pre‐existing digital competence levels and close collaboration within the school community were the most important factors for non‐traumatic transition to distance learning. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic? Research on the relationship between the COVID‐19 pandemic and the effects on teaching and learning processes is constantly increasing.Most recently published studies focus on higher education, while very few investigate the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on K‐12 education.Very few papers have studied the interplay between change and continuity within an educational ecosystem in times of crisis.What this paper adds? This is one of the first studies to analyse the process of systematic transition from onsite learning to online learning within the Italian school system in response to the pandemic.This study employs a multiple perspective research approach to analyse Emergency Remote Education in a sizeable school cluster, with a specific focus on student response.Teachers, students and their families all saw solid pre‐existing digital competence and close school community collaboration as key factors facilitating rapid adjustment to the emergency.Implications for practice and policy Having a solid common school culture to rely on facilitates prompt emergency reaction.Encouraging the creation of professional communities of practice that comprise both expert and novice teachers can help prepare educators to deal with an educational emergency through adoption and appropriate use of technological solutions.Collaboration between school and families proves to be a key factor for dealing with emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prato, located in central Italy, is the most multi‐ethnic city in the country, hosting 20 per cent foreigner residents. It is home of one of the largest Chinese communities in Europe, specialising in the textile sector. Yet economic success does not translate into educational success for the first‐ and second‐generation Chinese students living in Prato. Early school leavings represent a pressing issue in Prato's educational system, with 16.2 per cent of all students leaving school before graduating from high school. Among foreigner students, the problem is even more alarming, reaching 50 per cent. The highest leaving rate is recorded among Chinese students. This paper examines the phenomenon of early school leavings within the Chinese community in Prato – a super‐diverse city with highly interrelated migrant dynamics. The article works to critically assess educational policies, local statistics, and ethnographic findings derived from participant observation and in‐depth interviews with headmasters, teachers, and students from one middle school (Scuola Mazzoni), three high schools (Liceo Copernico, Dagomari High School, Datini High School), and one Chinese school (Istituto Internazionale di Educazione e Mediazione Culturale) in Prato. The paper aims to explore and analyse causes for early school leaving within the Chinese community, such as flaws in the Italian legislation in conjunction with the chronic shortage of funds for schools, the clash of educational style, and the lack of parental involvement. Finally, the paper examines strategies implemented by schools in Prato in an effort to redress the phenomenon and how the low educational engagement affects the cultural, social, economic, and symbolic capital of Chinese students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Demográficos y Urbanos is the property of El Colegio de Mexico AC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Whilst the link between young people's well‐being and the creative arts is strengthening, there is a lack of research which focuses on the roles that artists play to help teachers and parents engage young people in the creative arts. This paper explores the benefits of and barriers to artists working in education in six European countries (England, Iceland, Germany, Greece, Italy and Austria). Using the '5A's model of creativity' and a view of professional development taking place within 'landscapes of practice', the data were analysed in order to explain how creativity is operationalised in the different contexts. Our study highlights the need for policy at a national and transnational level to value the creative arts in order to help teachers cross boundaries and utilise the full potential of the creative arts in schools. Our study also highlights that further research is needed into how artists shape teaching and curriculum and how schools engage parents in the creative arts in order to build an evidence‐base relating to young people's positive mental health that can affect policy at these levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a reflection on the evolution of educational technologies and on its impact on school education. Over time, even though with different approaches, methods and tools, educational technology as a field of research has followed substantially two main directions. The first direction has resulted in studies on the new technical and conceptual skills required by digital technologies, the second has focused on the use of ICT to change teaching and learning environments and the way in which curricular subjects are taught. In this paper the evolution of research in educational technology is briefly outlined considering these two orientations. The paper then considers how policy issues influence the large-scale implementation of plans for digital schools with a brief examination of the specific case of Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, the Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) discipline turned 70; to celebrate, an international group of academics and educators have reflected on the status of HFE tertiary education across the globe. This paper draws on presentations and discussions from the 20th Triennial International Ergonomics Association (IEA) conference and considers the implications for HFE education programmes. Past, current, and future challenges are outlined and discussed with examples from different countries and programmes. This paper builds on 2012 strategy proposed by Dul and colleagues, to strengthen the demand, and application, of the HFE discipline and profession. It provides a considered set of reflections, noting the range of structural issues and financial pressures within the tertiary education system that create challenges for the viability of specialist programmes such as HFE. A need exists for the broader profession to collaborate and share innovations in HFE programme development, to ensure sustainable HFE education programmes. Practitioner summary: A range of structural issues and financial pressures exist within the tertiary education system that creates challenges for the viability of specialist programmes such as HFE. A need exists for the broader profession to collaborate and share innovations in HFE programme development, to ensure sustainable HFE education programmes. Abbreviation: HFE: Human Factors and Ergonomics; IEA: International Ergonomics Association; CIEHF: Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors; UX: User Experience; CREE: Centre for Registration of European Ergonomist; BRICSplus: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa; MOOCS: Massive Open Online Courses; STST: socio technical systems theory; LMIC: low and middle-income countries [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how the foundation of the first universities in Italy affected the emergence of free city-states (the communes) in the period 1000–1300 CE. Exploiting a panel dataset of 121 cities, we show that the time variant distance of the sample cities to their closest university is inversely correlated with the probability of their transition to communal institutions. Our evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the medieval universities provided the useful juridical knowledge and skills for building legal capacity and developing communal institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to suggest a methodology to calculate efficiency scores for a sample of Italian primary and middle schools. The main aim is to relate these measures of efficiency to a set of “external” factors that can affect schools’ performance, such as the average socio-economic background of their students, their location in an urban/non urban setting, etc. After presenting this analysis, the paper proposes a procedure to calculate “adjusted” efficiency measures – which take in the role of external variables – in order to assess the “pure” management efficiency of each school, and so to avoid confusing the institution's performance with the aspects relating to its background. Design/methodology/approach – Efficiency is defined in its technical sense that is, the ability to transform inputs (financial and human resources) into outputs (results achieved by students in standardized test scores). A two-stage quantitative procedure was used to investigate “managerial” efficiency, so that the impact of external variables on educational efficiency could be suitably taken into account. Findings – The results show that the average efficiency score is quite high in the sample of schools considered, but potential savings can still be made: overall, with the schools’ available resources, achievement scores could be increased by about 20 percent. Efficiency and educational equity are complementary in primary public (state) schools, and the most efficient schools are those with the lowest internal variance between the students’ achievement scores; the same does not hold for middle school students’ results in mathematics. Lastly, several schools appeared to be efficient when the external variables were not taken into consideration, while their background actually favored them, and they are not efficient from a purely managerial perspective. Originality/value – The most important piece of innovation is the investigation of managerial efficiency and its implications on policies. This study confirms and suggests that there could be an inverse relationship between apparent (baseline) and true (managerial) efficiency, that is, between the efficiency scores achieved before and after the “correction” made for external variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration is a process and result of decision making. Literature on migration decision making tend to focus more on the migrant, thus undermining the decisions of those who remain behind. The paper addresses this gap by examining why certain family members (i.e. wives) remain behind when they have the option of migrating with the husband and the family. Based on a qualitative study with women whose husbands were working in Italy as low or semi-skilled workers, the study identifies that children's education is a primary reason for women to remain at the origin. Perception of these women with regard to the quality, structure and content of school education that they expect, and their values and views regarding the upbringing of children and teenagers justifies their reasons to stay behind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the employment of young people in Italy in a comparative perspective, starting with a survey of the policies adopted for addressing the chronic weakness of young people in the Italian labour market. It is argued that higher education can and should play a key role in improving the employability of those coming onto the labour market. The critical state of the Italian labour market is examined in relation to the proposals put forward in the White Paper on the Labour Market in October 2001, highlighting the importance of the links between secondary and higher education and the labour market, and the measures provided in the Biagi Law (Act no. 30/2003) and Legislative Decree no. 276/2003. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing shift from STEM to STEAM education, arts-based approaches to science teaching and learning are considered promising for aligning school science curricula with the development of twenty-first century skills, including creativity. Yet the impact of STEAM practices on student creativity and specifically on how the latter is associated with science learning outcomes have thus far received scarce empirical support. This paper contributes to this line of research by reporting on a two-wave quantitative study that examines the effect of a long-term STEAM intervention on two cognitive processes associated with creativity (act, flow) and their interrelationships with intrinsic and extrinsic components of science motivation. Using pre- and post-survey data from 175 high-school students in Italy, results show an overall positive effect of the intervention both on the act subscale of creativity and science career motivation, whereas a negative effect is found on self-efficacy. Gender differences in the above effects are also observed. Further, results provide support for the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between creativity and science career motivation. Implications for the design of STEAM learning environments are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the main findings of a national action-research project, promoted by Regional School Office of Campania (South of Italy), aimed at improving numeracy and mathematical literacy through supporting schools' activities. The main focus is on processes underlying the creation of capabilities in representation, reasoning and communication. They have been investigated through creation of appropriate activities on the management of different semiotic systems and argumentation. About 400 fifteen-years- old students have been involved in the experimentation, divided into 20 high schools classes, in the Campania Region (South of Italy). The activities were designed to improve students' capabilities to solve real world problems, according to the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) framework. We investigated if the experimental activities might influence the acquisition of representation and communication skills and improve the PISA levels. We showed the project's rationale, its methodological choices, and theoretical framework. A protocols' analysis on conversion between various semiotic systems is also shown, mainly in two different schools' types (a Professional Institute and a Scientific High School). Finally, a quantitative analysis of the improvement of the PISA levels has been carried out, together with a discussion about the connection between the improvement of the mathematical skills and the realized activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical examination of factors associated with over-education among PhD graduates in Italy. Design/methodology/approach - The investigation is based on recently released data collected by the Italian National Institute of Statistics by means of interviews with a large sample of PhD recipients, carried out a few years after they obtained their PhD degree. The author measured the mismatch between the current job and previous PhD studies using two direct subjective evaluations of over-education, which distinguish between the usefulness of the PhD title to get the current job position and to perform the current work activities. Even if the incidence of over-education varies according to the measurement applied, the author found that it is highly widespread among PhD recipients. The econometric analyses are aimed at identifying factors associated with over-education and are based on the standard probit model and the bivariate probit model with sample selection which allows to control for self selection into employment. Findings - The results show that over-education is significantly correlated with: first, a number of PhD-related variables, such as the scientific field of study, having attended courses or visiting periods abroad; second, some job-related characteristics, such as working in the academia or being mainly involved in research-related activities; third, the channel of access to the job; and fourth, residential location. Originality/value - This paper contributes to the literature focusing on job-education mismatch by providing, to the best of the author's knowledge, the first empirical analysis of over-education among PhD recipients in Italy; moreover, it provides some useful insights to evaluate the professional doctoral graduates in Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changes that the regulatory institutions have imposed on the Italian school system over the last decades may actually result in contradictory effects at the individual and organizational levels: resistance or indifference on the one hand and training or coping strategies on the other. The paper focuses on the impact of such changes on teachers, as professional workers within public schools and individual participants of change. The paper refers to psychosocial training as a coping strategy, analysing how school teachers deal with work-related stress, and what impact a training intervention might have on some individual dimensions. Subsequently, in the longitudinal study presented, we analysed whether the training intervention conducted was effective in terms of learning and change. The case under consideration is a primary school located in the South of Italy, and the participants in the training and research were 92 female teachers. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the designed and applied training programme, we measured how some important psychological dimensions have changed over time: self-efficacy, job satisfaction and interpersonal strain. According to a sociological learning approach, the results suggest the effectiveness of training programmes as enablers of change and solutions to some change paradoxes; when they respond to the identified needs, they are based on practical activities that require a collective participation, they focus on social relationships and processes and the knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. In the school context, the psychosocial training might represent a solution, if not a prevention strategy, for change management. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the potential impact of the reform designed to decentralise public education in Italy, currently under discussion, on interregional redistribution. The central government has always played a prominent financial and administrative role in the provision of compulsory education in Italy. This has had a strong redistributive effect on per-capita GDP across the regions of the country. The current fiscal decentralisation reform may well involve the education sector, as regional and local authorities are granted greater autonomy with regard to the provision and funding of educational services. Starting from certain plausible assumptions regarding the forthcoming fiscal powers, decentralisation and the expenditure levels set by the central government, this paper evaluates how these changes may affect the degree of interregional redistribution accomplished by the education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to present three different models of integration in schools for immigrant pupils. These models are: the intercultural mediator, the intercultural school, and all-day schools. Two countries served as cases studies for the presentation of the aforementioned models: Greece and Italy. The intercultural mediator (IM) model is implemented widely in Italy as an educational provision for children who come from migrant families with language and cultural differences. The second educational model, called intercultural schools (IS) is implemented at 26 public schools in Greece. The third model, an all-day school, is implemented both in Greece and in Italy as an additional support measure to working migrant families. In this paper, the structure of the three educational models is presented first. From the research surrounding these models, conclusions, which focus on the feasibility of the implementation of these educational provisions, are drawn. Parameters are taken into consideration, such as the general educational frame of the two countries and their cost and acceptance from the school community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a part of the international debate on Beyond the GDP, this paper describes the temporal trend of the multidimensional well-being of the Italians from 1861 to 2011. Building on the CNEL and ISTAT's Equitable and Sustainable Well-being ( Benessere Equo e Sostenibile, BES) project, the paper selects 41 indicators that are grouped into eight dimensions characterizing the most important aspects of everyday life: health, education, work, economic well-being, political participation, security, environment and research and development. In order to synthesize the information provided by this large set of indicators, a composite index for each dimension is tracked over the time span of 150 years. The main contributions of this paper consist in providing an analysis of the Italian BES over such a long period. As a result, the eight domains exhibit temporal tendencies that are different from the one of economic well-being. In particular, health, education, work and political participation show a pattern increasing over time (analogously to economic well-being), although at different growth rates, while an overall declining path emerges for the domains of security, environment and research and development. Moreover, we identify four main periods of the Italian history (before WWI, the Fascist period, the years from 1950 to 1990 and the most recent period) each characterized by different relations among the well-being domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the quality of experience in the Italian art museum context and to understand the mediating role of satisfaction between museum experiences and visitors' word-of-mouth (WOM) behavioural intentions. Design/methodology/approach: This exploratory study adopted a quantitative methodology. Visitors to Italian art museums were interviewed, and the results were examined using exploratory factor analysis and regression analysis. Findings: The analysis shows that the following museum experience dimensions were present in the Italian art museum context: aesthetics, escapism and "edumotion". Further, these dimensions positively affected visitors' overall satisfaction which mediates on WOM behavioural intentions. Research limitations/implications: The small sample limits the generalisability of findings, and further research on the topic is recommended. Practical implications: Museums should allocate resources to improve visitor experience, visitor satisfaction and museum attractions. Specifically, museum managers should invest in the three dimensions that emerged from this study. Originality/value: This study enriches the empirical evidence on experiential marketing in the museum context by focussing on the mediating role of overall satisfaction in the relationship between museum experience and WOM behaviours. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study investigating this phenomenon in Italian museums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated socio-economic crisis are posing unprecedented challenges both globally and locally, raising many unknowns and imposing difficult trade-offs. One of the side effects of this pandemic, with the ensuing physical distancing rules and quarantine, has been the condition of isolation that is affecting vulnerable populations disproportionately across the world. Against this background, one of the major tasks for social work is to keep up connections, find new ways to sustain relations and networks, and mitigate against inescapable feelings of loneliness and their consequences. Social workers themselves are affected personally and professionally by this crisis, facing new living and working conditions. They experience feelings of uncertainty, fear, and the risk of isolation. The aim of this paper is to present examples of practices intended to promote a sense of community, as such a shared emotion can support present and future social workers. These examples serve to underline how, now more than ever, a central challenge for social work is to strengthen the professional community, find ways to overcome isolation and 'to take care of those who care'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cracow Review of Economics & Management / Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Krakowie is the property of Cracow University of Economics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the evolution and use of the school desk in unified Italy as a multifunctional and highly efficient tool, which was required not only to efficiently support in-class activities, to facilitate the classroom management and finally to maintain a correct body posture in order to preserve pupils’ health, but also to accomplish the additional task of working as real “gymnastic equipment”, i.e. suitable for performing various gymnastic exercises inside the classroom. Design/methodology/approach – The assumption upon which this paper rests is that school desks have always been signifiers charged with multiple meanings related to the evolution of curriculum, pedagogic ideas and daily school practices, which have often been forgotten, abandoned or, for some reasons, underrepresented in the official history of education as well as in the collective memory of school. In order to rebuild this forgotten history, and retrace the possible theoretical-pedagogical basis underlying such practice, the authors have systematically reviewed the Italian manuals on gymnastics between desks from the 1870s to the 1970s, retraced sources documenting this practice in the daily school life (government rules, school programmes, school hygiene prescriptions, iconographic sources, teachers and school managers’ testimonies) and finally, compared with other foreign practices (such as “calisthenics”). Findings – The convergence between many differentiated sources has demonstrated the longevity of this school practice, which was not only the fruit of educational theories of gymnastic teachers but was also determined by the backwardness and logistic inadequacies of many Italian schools. The paper reveals how this gymnastic practice, after establishing itself in the post-Unification Italian schools, continued almost uninterrupted until the Second World War and even until the 1970s, evidencing how gymnastic teachers, hygienists, educationalists and lawmakers continued, over almost a century, to scientifically legitimise ( from the top downwards) an educational practice that was actually driven from the bottom upwards, i.e. determined by an endemic lack of adequate spaces and tools for physical education in Italian schools. Originality/value – For the very first time, the special source of Italian manuals and booklets on gymnastics between desks has been located, analysed and systematically reviewed for the period 1870s-1970s, and then cross-checked against differentiated sources. This study actually represents the first step of a research which must be still further developed. Undoubtedly, the “new” source represented by the manuals of “gymnastics between school desks” offered a first original perspective from which to explore the use of this furniture in the school of the past, thereby enabling historians of education to shed the first light on a school practice that has been overlooked or forgotten, and still hidden within the “black box of schooling”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Taking the Spanish case as a departure point, this paper explores a variety of causes for the slowdown in female employment growth in Italy over recent years. The paper analyses the peculiarities of the Italian labour market, with a higher propensity to inactivity than in other countries, as well as the generally low educational levels among the Italian population and the pervasive presence of the black economy. It goes on to examine institutional and political features, such as the organisation of social policies, the political weakness of feminism, the role of the Catholic Church, family networks and the North–South duality (which is particularly extreme with regard to gender equality). The features studied relate to each other in a logic which could account for the divergent paths of the social position of women in Italy and Spain. The article is based in Labour Force and Multiscopo surveys, as well as on interviews with Italian social policy experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to offer an Italian point of view about the theme of public accounting teachings. We focused our attention on the Italian case during the 19th century because this period was very significant for our purpose. In particular, we considered the teachings that were held in Pavia and Padua and the eminent figures of the correspondent professors: Villa and Tonzig. In this sense, the aims of this paper are: To analyze the characteristics of the Italian context at the time; To describe the contents of the mentioned teachings in consideration of the different Professors' backgrounds and ideas; To make a comparison between the contents of the two considered courses in relation also of the different influences of Villa and Tonzig. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the correlation between the educational level and the number of children in Italy, where a very low fertility rate may be observed. Design/methodology/approach – Since the number of children ever born is a count variable, Poisson regression is the suitable statistical procedure used to conduct the empirical analysis. First, the authors estimate the correlation between the female's education and her number of children, and then the authors use also partner's education to take into account the family dimension. Furthermore, in the context of fertility, zero observations might be due either to the choice not to have children, or to the impossibility of becoming a mother. For this reason, the authors adopt also a more appropriate tool, that is a zero-inflated Poisson regression. Findings – From the empirical results, a significant negative correlation may be observed between the level of education and the number of children. Originality/value – There are other studies in the literature focusing on the correlation between female participation rate and her fertility rate in the Italian case. In those frameworks, the education variable is usually considered as a control variable. The paper's contribution to the literature is twofold: on one hand the authors develop a theoretical model giving an intuition reason of mechanism underlying the fertility behaviour of families; on the other hand, the authors implement more appropriate empirical models to test for this hypothesis, taking education as the main variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to estimate the incidence of educational mismatch in Italy and the return to investment in education, controlling for employees' ability. Contrary to most existing studies, the heterogeneity of individual performance is measured directly through the assessment of required and provided skills. Design/methodology/approach – Based on original data including over 3,600 face-to-face interviews, this paper appraises the incidence of self-assessed educational mismatch in the Italian private sector and estimates wage models of the economic returns to educational mismatch, skill requirements and provided skills. Findings – In Italy, under-educated employees outnumber over-educated ones and returns to required education and over-education are lower than in other industrialised countries. Individual heterogeneous ability, as captured by individual skills, is a significant determinant of wage, although the inclusion of direct measures of required and provided skills does not substantially affect the estimated coefficients of the return to investment in education. Practical implications – The omission of controls for the heterogeneous ability of employees biases the results of traditional ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates of wage models. However, the bias may be small enough to make simple OLS estimates on existing cross-sectional data an acceptable compromise to provide policy makers with reasonably accurate and up-to-date information. Originality/value – The paper provides a direct appreciation of individual heterogeneity that other studies can capture only through sophisticated indirect econometric techniques. In addition, the paper extends the set of available cross-country comparisons by estimating the educational mismatch and the returns to educational and skill mismatches in the overall Italian private labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose |!|#8211; The purpose of this paper is to verify whether higher education increases the likelihood of young Italian workers moving from non-standard to standard wage contracts. Design/methodology/approach |!|#8211; The authors exploit a data set on labour market flows, produced by the Italian National Statistical Office, by interviewing about 85,000 graduate and non-graduate individuals aged 15-29 in transition between five labour market states: standard wage employment; non-standard wage employment; self-employment; unemployment; inactivity. From these data, an average six-year transition matrix was constructed whose coefficients can be interpreted as probabilities of moving from one state to another over time. Findings |!|#8211; As the authors find evidence for the so-called stepping stone hypothesis (that is, a higher probability of moving to a permanent job for individuals starting from a temporary job), the authors expect graduates to be more likely to pass from non-standard to standard wage contracts than non-graduates, because the signalling effect of education is enhanced by the stepping stone effect of non-standard wage contracts. Nevertheless, the authors find that non-standard wage contracts of graduates are more likely to be terminated as bad job/worker matches. Originality/value |!|#8211; This paper adds to the empirical literature on the probability of young workers moving from non-standard wage contracts to a permanent job. By separating graduates from non-graduates, it was found that education reduces the likelihood of passing from non-standard to standard wage contracts. The authors interpret this result as evidence of the changing labour market that makes it more difficult to infer the productivity of graduates as opposed to non-graduates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to point to the inefficiency of the Italian educational system as a key factor of persistent differences between the distribution of incomes (skewed) and that of talents (normal), stated in the Pigou paradox. In fact, against the intention assigned to it by the Italian constitution, the educational system is designed in such a way to reinforce, rather than weaken, the current unequal distribution of incomes. Design/methodology/approach – The authors study the socio-educational background of AlmaLaurea graduates by way of correlation and regression analysis. The AlmaLaurea databank is the most important source of statistical information of its type in the country. The authors, consider several indicators of performance, such as the probability of getting a degree, the final grade achieved and the length of studies. Findings – Parents' educational level appears to be the main determinant of the grade achieved at secondary high school and at the university. The effect of family background on children's success at the university is not direct, but through the high school track. In fact, although any secondary high school gives access to the university, nonetheless lyceums provide students with far higher quality of education than technical and professional schools. Parental background affects also the length of studies, which suggests that the indirect cost of tertiary education is much higher for those with a poorer educational background and limited means. Practical implications – Increasing the average educational level was one of the promises of the "3+2" university reform implemented in 2001. This objective has been achieved only in part, due to the continuing high indirect cost of tertiary education, which particularly affects individuals with limited means. More coordination in the interpretation and implementation of the aims of the reform would have prevented the main actors of the reform from failing it. School tracking should be reformed so as to allow more consideration for low school grades in the choice of parents and provide more on-the-job training to students in the professional/technical schools. Originality/value – The paper proposes an interpretation of the Pigou paradox in Italy, based on the inefficiency of the university system, due to the peculiar school tracking and the ensuing high indirect cost of education. On this, the paper provides new circumstantial evidence based on the AlmaLaurea database almost ten years after the "3+2" reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the revived literature on the subjective dimension of ageing, this paper investigates whether people aged 65+, usually defined as old, do actually feel old and which events they associate with feeling old. Logistic models are used on unique data from the 2013 survey called 'I Do Not Want to Be Inactive', conducted on individuals aged 65–74 in Italy (N = 828). It is found that a large proportion of respondents do not feel old at all. The analyses show that women are more likely than men to feel old and to think that society considers them old. While men feel old mainly when they retire, women associate this feeling with loneliness, loss of independence and death of loved ones. Higher-educated people are less likely to associate feeling old with loneliness and boredom than their lower-educated counterparts. The findings have important implications for the conceptualisation of ageing. Most people who are old according to the standard threshold of 65 do not consider reaching this age as a distinctive marker of old age in their lifecourse. This suggests that absolute thresholds for setting the start of old age are questionable. Feeling old seems to be mainly influenced by events, such as retirement and death of loved ones, hinting to the importance of the social construction of ageing in addition to its biological dimension. Researchers and policy makers are encouraged to give more attention to layperson views on ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: No papers have examined the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and cognitive performance in oldest old subjects (i.e, > = 80 years old) asking for driving license renewal. We hypothesize that, even in this highly functioning population, age, sex, and education influence cognitive performance, expressed as total or single domain (raw) test scores. This research question allows to describe, identify, and preserve independence of subjects still able to drive safely.Methods: We examined cross-sectionally a cohort of > = 80 years old subjects (at enrollment) asking for driving license renewal in the Milan area, Italy, 2011-2017. The analysis was restricted to 3378 first and 863 second visits where individual's cognitive performance was evaluated. According to the study protocol, the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) test was administered at the first visit for driving license renewal and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test at the second visit, following an additional renewal request. Ordinary least squares regression models were fitted at either time points. In each model, we included age, sex, and education as independent variables, whereas the dependent variable was total or single domain score for either test. In total, we fitted 15 regression models to assess our research hypothesis.Results: The median subject in our sample reached the maximum scores on domains targeting operational and tactical abilities implied in safe driving, but had sub-optimal scores in the long-term memory domain included among the strategic abilities. In multiple models, being > = 87 (versus 80- < 86 years old) significantly decreased the mean total and memory scores of MMSE, but not those of the MoCA. Females (versus males) had significantly higher mean total and long-term memory scores of either tests, but not other domains. Mean total and single domain scores increased for increasing education levels for either tests, with increments for high school graduates being ~ 2 of those with (at most) a junior high school diploma.Conclusions: Sex and education, as well as age to a lesser extent, predict cognitive functioning in our oldest old population, thus confirming that concepts like cognitive reserve and successful ageing are valuable constructs in the identification of older subjects still able to drive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population aging is exacerbating the loss of competences in the workforce and simultaneously young people neither in employment nor in education and training (NEETs) are struggling to be reengaged in employment. These issues, which are deemed priorities for the European policy agenda, could be addressed by triggering active aging dimensions, valuing and exploiting older adult entrepreneurs' knowledge for enhancing youngsters' entrepreneurial attitudes, through mentoring. This paper reports the results of a study based on an intergenerational learning program, carried out in 2018 in Germany, Italy and Slovenia. The study was aimed at developing and testing one training on mentoring addressing 41 older adult entrepreneurs (55 and over), and two intergenerational learning trainings aiming at boosting entrepreneurial competences of 33 NEETs (aged 18–29). The impact of the program on older adult entrepreneurs and NEETs was assessed through a pre and post-evaluation using qualitative and quantitative tools. Findings at country level were treated as national case-studies and then the latter were compared by considering them as a multiple embedded case-study. Results indicated that, to different extent in the study countries, mentors learned and enhanced mentoring competences, e.g. active listening and the capability of orienting, improved well-being and self-esteem, social inclusion and active aging attitude. Moreover, NEETs acquired entrepreneurial and socio-relational competences by benefiting from the full exploitation of mentors' know-how and the trust relationship with them. Companies, trade unions, educational and voluntary organizations should cooperate to adopt intergenerational learning programs as good practices for older adults and NEETs' lifelong learning promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel approach to investigating the determinants of academic performance: GPA and time to degree. We match administrative records with questionnaire responses for a large set of undergraduate students from one Italian public university. By exploiting reforms implemented by the University, we estimate the effect of the excess time to degree on GPA and find a strong negative relationship. Our results shed light on two crucial outcomes of academic performance, which may also determine the students' bargaining power in the labor market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of school principals is an evolving one, calling them to become agents of change, focusing on educational leadership as they take the schools forward. All this is happening in a context that is becoming more challenging and stressful as school leaders try to juggle the state-mandated accountability devices. In relation to the Italian context, this paper analyses the growing penetration of accountability systems in school management and the implications for leadership practices. The results of a research project conducted with school leaders show that accountability systems can provide an opportunity for school improvement if school leaders defuse their potential bureaucracy, consistently integrating them into their practices of leadership, respecting the organisational idea of the school as professional learning community. An authentic educational leadership is a fundamental condition for governing the risks and contradictions that accountability systems bring with them in the complex reality of schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Through a cross-culture study, the purpose of this paper is to understand about how entrepreneurial universities can foster entrepreneurship in women by attending to psychological and environmental factors and personality traits that encourage women to form entrepreneurial intent. Design/methodology/approach: The authors test the proposed conceptual model on a cross-cultural sample comprising 350 students from Italy, a developed country, and from Albania, an emerging country. Structural equation modeling is used to validate the proposed model and test the hypothesized relationships. Findings: In both Italy and Albania, entrepreneurial universities significantly impact entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions in women. The major differences relate to psychological factors that predict self-employment attitudes and intentions. Specifically, risk-taking propensity and locus of control are important antecedents of attitudes in both samples; the need for independence is a significant predictor only in the Italian sample; need for achievement has significant influence only in the Albanian sample. Originality/value: To better understand and interpret the phenomenon of female entrepreneurship, the authors use the theory of planned behavior to investigate entrepreneurial universities located in Italy, a developed country, and Albania, an emerging country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to draw a few guidelines for the evaluation of the accessibility and usability of educational software programs from the point of view of low vision students. The presented findings are based on the results of a long term research project carried out by the Italian National Research Council’s Institute for Educational Technology (ITD-CNR) and the David Chiossone Institute for the Blind, both based in Genoa, Italy. The educational project, whose general aims and results are not a matter of discussion here, involves a significant number of visually impaired students from primary to upper secondary school; in such a context, the researchers have the opportunity to assess and evaluate whether, and to what extent, the selected educational software products meet the needs of low vision students. In this perspective, the paper takes into account the features which can be considered significant from an educational point of view: general readability, working field extension and position, menu location and coherence, character dimension, colour brightness, etc. Bearing in mind the ultimate goal of providing children with appropriate, effective educational tools, an educational software accessibility checklist is proposed which is meant to be used by teachers with no, or scarce, experience of low vision, and not by professionals; it has already proved to be an effective tool for helping teachers select suitable educational software products “usable” by low vision students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate issues and concerns associated with sustainable development (SD) in Italy for different stakeholders, with a focus on the role of education. Cognitive maps for 49 individuals living in Italy have been developed and their differences analyzed and discussed with the aim of designing a seminar to foster mental and natural ecology and create awareness for SD ethics and values. Design/methodology/approach - Cognitive maps are used to delve into the concept of SD in Italy and to investigate what actions are needed to implement it. Respondents were asked separately to talk about their idea of SD. Findings - The 49 interviews showed that all the actors consider fundamental the role of education, culture and way of thinking for the implementation of SD. An appropriate seminar has been designed as an educational process that completes the formal knowledge provided at school. Practical implications - Actions for future actions are indicated, i.e. to undertake the designed seminar in a local community in Italy as a pilot study and to promote it to administrations, companies, and groups. Originality/value - The majority of the interviews express an explicit sense of resignation and cynicism as regards SD in action, but 41 out of 49 when showed the designed seminar declared the intention to attend it. This paper fulfils the need to have practical tools to reframe the way we think about the world and SD and act for it. Also, it gives a look at the concerns associated to SD and barriers to action in Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of overeducation on wages in the Italian graduate labour market. Design/methodology/approach - The relationship between overeducation and wages is analysed using a double selection approach. Two basic individuals' decisions are explicitly considered in the analysis: the decision to work and the choice of occupation. The first one could create a problem of sample selection bias, whereas the second one could generate an endogeneity bias. Findings - Although in line with previous studies it was found that overeducated workers earn less than their appropriately educated peers, the results suggest also that this pay gap is significantly higher when a double selectivity approach is used than when an OLS approach is employed. The main reason why OLS techniques significantly underestimate the wage penalty associated with overeducation appears to be the bias introduced by the endogeneity of overeducation. Originality/value - Recent studies have examined the impact of overeducation on earnings using a single selection framework. This paper extends previous work by analysing the relationship between overeducation and wages using a double selection approach. Additionally, little research has focused on overeducation in Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of a research project that allowed children to define their capabilities as the basis of a bottom-up strategy for understanding the relevant dimensions of children's well-being. The subjects of this research were children participating in the ‘Children's World Congress on Child Labour’ held in Florence in May 2004, organized by the Global March against Child Labour and other associations. Children were invited to interact and express their opinions on the most relevant issues related to their childhood and adolescence. The paper has three main aims. The first is to propose and legitimate a view that considers children not simply as recipients of freedoms, but also as participants in the process of delineating a set of core capabilities. The second is to propose a methodological approach to the conceptualization of a list of relevant capabilities. The third is to identify a tentative list of relevant capabilities for children through a participatory bottom-up approach. One of the key findings of the research is that, among the capabilities conceptualized, education, love and care are primary in terms of relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: A key concept for general practice nowadays is that of patient-centred medicine. In this model the physician's aim is to integrate the patient's experience of illness with the conventional understanding of disease, trying to reconcile the patient's agenda with his/her own. This paper describes a preliminary experience of a CME course on patient-centred medicine in Italy. Aim and Methods: The article focuses on a 7 hour course for teaching patient-centred medicine to Italian general practitioners. Assessment of the course was done both in terms of learner satisfaction and efficacy. Learner satisfaction was evaluated by a questionnaire with a 6-point Likert scale and course efficacy by a pre/post-paper-and-pencil test. Findings and Discussion: The pilot course on patient-centred medicine seems to obtain high satisfaction in participants. Furthermore, an increase in competence with regards to patient-centredness resulted after the course. The pilot study represents the first Italian CME seminar on patient-centred medicine. Results obtained both in terms of satisfaction and efficacy suggest that the CME course is a valid educational tool. The opportunity to extend the experience to a higher number of participants is therefore recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at class inequality in the probability of enrolling in university in Italy from a long-term perspective. Given that Italian higher secondary education is tracked, it studies how tracking interacts over time with class origin in the production of inequality of educational opportunities, thus contributing to the growing literature on the inequality effects of the qualitative, or horizontal, stratification of educational systems. The paper has thus two research questions. First, it asks whether class inequality in participation in higher education has changed over time; second, whether and how this change was influenced by the tracked structure of upper secondary school. Empirical analyses are based on data from the Italian Longitudinal Household Survey, a retrospective panel survey including detailed life-course information about a representative sample of the Italian population. In an educational transition framework, we analyse the association between social class, tracking and university enrolment, applying the Karlson/Holm/Breen decomposition method for logistic regression coefficients. We find increasing inequality in accessing university, and a change in the role of upper secondary track, whose mediating role between family background and university choice appears to have weakened over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceptions of risk are a key issue when seeking to develop systems, practices and policies to protect local populations. This is particularly evident when risk mitigation strategies involve non-structural measures such as relocation and warning systems which presuppose the active involvement of the communities in question. This study adopts an interdisciplinary approach to studying the perceptions, knowledge and opinions on landslide risk amongst residents in Sarno, a small town in Southern Italy which was hit by disastrous landslides on 5-6 May 1998. The paper presents the results of a survey conducted in the months of March, April and May 2013 using a purpose-designed questionnaire. The survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews with 100 residents, 60 of whom live inside the so-called 'red zone', a territory declared at high residual risk soon after the events of 1998. The questionnaire included questions relating to perceived risk exposure, trust in institutions responsible for risk management, evaluations of risk mitigation measures and the early-warning strategy. The results of the study clearly emerges, amongst other issues, that the organisms which are responsible for risk management in Sarno need to develop more effective communication strategies in order to transmit knowledge about the actions implemented to reduce landslide risk in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]