Skills such as empathy, stress management and creativity will be taught in school: on 20 November the Senate approved the bill law on non-cognitive skills presented on 20 October 2022 and already approved by the Chamber of Deputies on 3 August 2023.
What are non-cognitive skills
Culture is what remains in the memory when everything has been forgotten
said the psychologist of the last century Burrhus F. Skinner.
Education, in fact, is not only made up of notions, but also of connection and reasoning skills. And there’s even more: there is empathy, stress managementthis above all in a way that is increasingly under pressure and in the absolute search for performance, as well as creativity and self-awareness.
All skills which, at the moment, are not the subject of school teaching, despite the fact that the World Health Organization had already understood their importance in 1993, publishing the document ‘Life skills education for children and adolescents in schools’.
Studies on the subject have highlighted that non-cognitive skills represent a key factor for people’s success in the various dimensions of life – Senator Massimiliano Romeo reports in the Chamber – from scholastic success to professional fulfillment, to economic stability, up to physical and mental health. The maturation of non-cognitive skills, which begins in the first years of the child’s life, continues throughout the school career and continues without interruption throughout adult life, can be developed through appropriate educational programs
What the law provides
The proposed law AC 418bearing ‘Introduction of the development of non-cognitive and transversal skills in the courses of educational institutions and provincial centers for adult education as well as in professional education and training courses‘, already approved by the Chamber of Deputies on 3 August 2023, was approved by the Senate on November 20th with 80 votes in favour, none against and 47 abstentions.
The provision gives the green light to one three-year trialcurrently reserved for first and second level secondary schools, with which the so-called ‘soft and life skills‘ or ‘non-cognitive skills’, much sought after in the world of work, will be school subject. However, experimentation is voluntarythus leaving schools free, by virtue of school autonomy, to join the initiative or not.
However, having approved the Senate with modifications (AS 845-A), the bill then returns to the Chamber of Deputies for consideration (AC 418-B). The definitive green light is expected soon, for the start of the experimentation in the 2025/2026 school year.
However, they remain at least a couple of questions open. How will these subjects actually be taught in school? What skills will be required from teachers?
