Italy's Education Minister cites OECD success and proposes new school labor contracts

Italian Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara has highlighted positive findings from the OECD ‘Education at a Glance 2026’ report, stating that the data confirms the effectiveness of recent national educational decisions. According to the report, Italian students scored 474 points in Italian language proficiency, surpassing the OECD average and outperforming students in France, Germany, and Spain. Italy also showed strong results in mathematics, ahead of Sweden and the United States.

Valditara emphasized the critical role of family involvement in language acquisition, noting that parental proficiency is essential for a student’s academic success. He also addressed the growing importance of technical education in the era of artificial intelligence, aiming to bridge the gap between high school and technical-professional training.

In a separate development regarding labor relations, Valditara announced a move toward separate collective bargaining for the school sector, distinct from the broader public administration. This proposal, supported by the Gilda degli Insegnanti union, seeks to address the widening salary gap between school personnel and other public employees by establishing specific contracts for teachers and administrative staff.