Primary Teacher Education

Specific learning outcomes of the Programme

The degree programme in Science of PrimaryEducation is structured as a single curriculum without division into options.It aims to provide advanced theoretical and practical training in the subjects– psycho-pedagogy, teaching methodology, technology and research – that concernthe professional profile of a pre-school and primary school teacher. Thecurriculum contains prescribed course units covering theory and teachertraining for the levels of schooling mentioned. It also provides specifictraining in handling and integrating cases of special needs pupils.

The single-cycle degree programme in Scienceof Primary Education aims to produce all-round teachers who can combine thecreativity, flexibility and young-learner-motivating approach needed forpre-school, with the subject-by-subject approach typical of primary school. Thepurpose is to ensure greater continuity between the two school levels as theteachers are proficient in both settings.

Teachers trained by the single-cycle degreeprogramme will also be competent at including special needs children; they willlearn to make a positive feature of the difference, work to bring out thepersonal qualities and set up an enhanced climate of cooperation between theclass teacher and the teaching assistant. Teachers need to learn how to noteand cope with learning differences and obstacles by deliberate strategies basedon recent research in educational psychology. The class teacher will also needto know how to turn differences of cultural background to good effect.

The programme includes in-depth learning ofthe subjects to be taught, as well as the most effective teaching strategies toencourage genuine learning and keep school children motivated. The professionaltraining covers both cognitive learning and the relating-feeling side, with theteacher helping to mould the child as a whole in a positive atmosphereconducive to individual and group wellbeing.

The curriculum is made up of “basiceducational subjects” developing psycho-pedagogic, teaching-methodology,socio-anthropological and digital skills, and also a core area devoted to theteaching syllabus at both school levels (“school learning”) and the learning ofEnglish.

A third area concerns special needs pupils andhow to integrate them.

The tuition includes course work andlaboratories enabling students to apply what they have learned in class, forinstance by producing teaching materials, devising techniques and usinggroup-work and discussion to hone teamwork skills and critical thinking.

A) SPECIFIC LEARNING OUTCOMES AND DESCRIPTIONOF CURRICULUM AND BASIC TRAINING: PSYCHOPEDAGOGY AND TEACHING METHODOLOGY.

Specific learning outcomes

Graduates are expected to:

- master the rudiments of developmental andeducational psychology so as to understand the factors involved in educationand have an informed critical approach to the main teaching and pedagogicalmodels;

- know about child development with referenceto sensory input, attention, the language process, memory, thinking, reasoningand problem solving;

- learn about the emotional sphere and thesocialization process;

- hone the ability to observe child behaviour;

- possess teaching resources (ability toorganize the classroom as a setting for learning and group relating; mastery ofa range of teaching methods suitable for a constructive social approach tolearning; ability to use a combination of flexible teaching strategiesaccording to the real needs and learning processes at work among the pupils;ability to liaise with the other class teachers over teaching plans andprojects, adapting application and assessment of these in an open flexiblemanner tailored to different degrees of learning difficulty);

- build up professional receptivenessconcerning their own and colleagues' teaching experience, within a developingdynamic understanding of the teacher profile;

- recognise the didactic potential of newtechnology and integrate it into the learning environment they create;

- be familiar with the basic tenets ofeducational research and its strategies, and try these out or innovate withthem in educational practice;

- be able to conduct educational research inthe field, by a process of observation, documentation, innovation andassessment of their own teaching performance and its results;

- know about the historical and socialcontexts in which their profession has been practised;

- understand their own work in relation toeducation system rules, and compare it with developments in education policy inEurope and the wider world;

- cope with classroom differences and mixes,learning to include pupils from different origins or with special educationalneeds, in the name of equality and fairness at school.

Forms of teaching to achieve these goals

Teaching will consist of direct classroomwork, including multimedia technology (software, video recordings, films...);guided practical lessons; laboratory work and project analysis; educationalintervention; the production of group projects; methods of assessment; roleplay; review with experts; group work and discussion.

B) SPECIFIC LEARNING OUTCOMES AND DESCRIPTIONOF CURRICULUM CONCERNING CORE AREA TUITION

I. Area 1: school learning

1. Language and literature

Specific expected learning outcomes

The language syllabus to be covered includes:

- knowledge of how the Italian languagedeveloped and the varieties of it found throughout the country;

- awareness of the variety of linguistic andcultural forms generated in Italy by pressure from other tongues;

- clarity as to the essential structures ofthe Italian language, above all its morphology and syntax;

- distinction between different registers andunderstanding of the range of linguistic variables;

- knowledge of the phases at which language isacquired in the natural state and under tuition;

- developing an ability to talk about languageaccording to models of language teaching;

- creating an ability to manipulate language,and how this reflects on specific primary school teaching;

- knowledge of the processes underlyingreading and writing, towards the development of textual skills (from the firstlearning stages to sophisticated models);

- broadening lexis and use of modern tools tothis effect;

- developing an ability to choose teachingmaterials suited to the pupils' capacities, via objective criteria such aslegibility and comprehensibility.

In training future pre-school and primaryschool teachers, the literature syllabus is designed to:

- instil the habit of reading as a lifelonglearning mechanism, channelled through specific children's literature;

- teach how to interpret the literary message,picking up the ideas and feelings;

- provide criteria by which to judge theaesthetic qualities and values contained in texts and choose passages or worksfor the children to read, thus forming their taste;

- help students understand the narrative ideaand how it is structured;

- teach how to analyse and comment on a text;

- familiarise students with the Italian literarytradition and how it has come down to us.

The forms of teaching include:

- classroom teaching with auxiliary material;

- practical lessons and application in thelaboratory;

- use of electronic reference works forlanguage (linguistic corpora, e-dictionaries, tools of stylistic analysis,grammar tables) and for reading/analysing literary texts;

- use of hard-copy reference works (historicaland etymological dictionaries, dictionaries of usage, grammars, dictionaries ofidiom)

- use of specific aids for primary schoolteaching (children's dictionaries, legibility indexes, teaching software)

- analysing grammars (historical, normative,descriptive)

- reading and analysing literary texts.

2) Foreign language (English) Specificexpected learning outcomes

The English language goals are:

- a B2 knowledge of the language (in terms ofthe Common European Framework) by the end of the programme;

- glotto-didactic and practical know-how as toplanning and conducting English classes;

- ability to find professional update sourcesin L2 and to understand Council of Europe documents on recent language-learningpolicy tailored to young learners and to in-house training.

Forms of teaching to achieve these goals

- language laboratory work (with mother-tongueteachers and self-access facilities)

- communicative-style contact lessonspractising English language contents.

3) History and geography

Specific expected learning outcomes

To acquire a knowledge of basic history (atvarious epochs) and geography, including: characteristics of the landscape andland, and the natural, socio-cultural, economic and political systems thatunderpin organizations, relations, processes of transformation andidentity-building.

The focus will be on:

- developing methods of history research andinductive formation of historical knowledge via document search and analysis;verifying the authenticity of sources; collating sources in a process ofhistorical reconstruction;

- developing methods of forming historicalknowledge via direct observation, use of questionnaires, interviews and datacollection;

- practice with using the tools of geographyby analysis of general, theme-based and mental maps, statistical and ICTsources, subjective, literary and iconographic sources;

- devising educational projects connected withthe environment and sustainability, the landscape, the cultural heritage, humanrights, intercultural processes and globalisation.

Forms of teaching to achieve these goals

The methods of teaching include:

- classroom work with multimedia aids;

- supervised practical work;

- laboratory work to explore the subject moredeeply;

- use of software, video-recordings and films;

- outings to places of local interest.

4) Mathematics and science (ecology, biology,physics, chemistry) Specific expected learning outcomes

The specific aims behind the scientificsyllabus are:

- to acquire a selection of basic scientificnotions that are important and accessible to pre-school and primary schoolchildren, bearing in mind any specific regional relevance;

- to learn about the complex ecosystem ofnature, affected by the interdependency of living creatures and the chemicaland physical context;

- to learnabout and learn how to teach the interconnected scientific subject areas(learning how to: pick out the key scientific concepts and the tie-ups amongthem, cope with cognitive barriers, devise supplementary classroom activitiesto develop a systemic approach);

- to learnhow to arrange practical projects and the critical follow-up to them.

Thespecific aims behind the mathematics syllabus are:

- toacquire the rudiments of mathematics in its various domains (arithmetic,geometry, logic, probability calculus and statistics);

- to pickup teaching know-how on the subject;

- to becomeaware of problem solving as the all-important guiding thread of mathematicsrunning right through the school career;

- to learnhow to arrange practical projects and the critical follow-up to them, as wellas inventing suitable marking strategies.

Forms ofteaching to achieve these goals

Teachingwill consist of direct classroom work, follow-up laboratory sessions andoutings to local places of interest.

Studentswill also be expected to do lesson plans and experiment with simple naturalmaterials such as can be used in class, to help the children grasp scientificlaws and check the correspondence with phenomena they have observed forthemselves.

5) Music,art, motor education and law

Theteaching plan is designed to develop skills in art, music, motor education, anda basic grounding in law.

Specificlearning objectives

- to learnhow to plan teaching programmes for art, music and motor education according tocurrent national guidelines;

- to get toknow the main educational models in the three spheres of art, music and motoreducation/sport;

- to learnthe basic concepts and techniques used in practising art, music andsport/exercise;

- to learnabout development of movement (motor control, movement in play, educationtowards sport);

- to learnthe rudiments of school legislation and constitutional law.

Forms ofteaching to achieve these goals

Classroomwork, video projection, analysing documents, dispensing bibliographic material,lessons with artists, musicians and motor science experts

II. Area 2:Tuition in coping with special needs students

In generalthe specific educational aims and teaching activities scheduled will tend toproduce teachers who can combine their basic training with more in-depthknowledge of the special pedagogic, psychological and legal framework requiredfor teaching pupils with special educational needs, and in particular specialneeds pupils mixed in with ordinary classes. This calls for extraspecialization in the science of special needs teaching combined with therelevant health & safety disciplines.

Building onthis common educational bedrock, future classroom teachers will have to learnawareness of the special learning needs of the most vulnerable pupils; how tointerpret these in an educational framework and with a capacity for cognitivemediation; appropriate handling of the activity programme, exploiting theindividual student personality and resources, and using specific monitoringsystems as well as documentation of the processes being stimulated and theresults achieved.

Thisacademic curriculum draws on diverse specialist experience and trainingactivities, which give students a chance to develop the socio-relating skillsneeded for team work, primarily with colleagues, but also with families andother health professionals. The challenge is to cultivate a propensity forbuilding meaningful educational relationships in classes including specialneeds pupils; the job calls for self-assessment monitoring one's own ethicalattitude in relation to the canons of professional practice. One's professionaldecisions will have to be clearly reasoned and socially legitimated; theoverall personality of all the children has to be fostered, and specialattention paid to the most vulnerable.

Specificlearning outcomes

To acquireknowledge and skills serving to:

- make useof the resources offered by the legal framework and the past practice ofintegrated schooling in Italy and abroad;

- interactwith health specialists and families to learn the diagnosis and functionprofile of the special needs pupil, so that a joint personalized education plancan be worked out, applied and assessed, and tailored to the projected lifeplan;

- liaiseactively with the teaching assistant over the design, execution andmonitoring/assessment of the personalized education plan, integrating it fullywith the class programme so as to achieve continuity of education extending toteachers of other grades and types of schooling;

- adoptspecialised strategies in the various subject matters, tailored to the specialneeds pupil; integrate verbal and non-verbal language; know and use multimediaand ICT technology, specific aids and structured material;

- keepconstantly updated, reading up and critically applying research developments inspecial needs teaching, psychology, health and law;

- be familiarwith theoretical, diagnostic and intervention models in the special needs area,and the strategies to include the special needs pupil;

- know howto respond to the originality of each pupil, especially their learning andthinking patterns, relational and emotional traits, and any specific learningor behavioural problems, or disabilities;

- cope withand exploit the differences within the class where some pupils have specialeducational needs;

- recognisesuch needs and offset them by specially planned intervention and modes ofassessment.

Forms ofteaching

Classroomwork will be supported by multimedia products (images, films), practicallessons, open-door lessons (combined with group discussion, dialogue withexperts and families); seminars on specific topics; laboratory work (casestudy, supervised teaching; role play; creation of individual and groupprojects and materials to focus classroom intervention in a specialised andpersonalized way; analysis and critical assessment of devices, techniques,methods, specialist intervention); oral and written presentation of trainingexperience (reports on laboratory work participation; internship; documentationof episodes from teaching experience).

Some of theactivities proposed will be largely based on simulation and dramatization, todevelop and refine the handling of non-verbal language, enhancingcommunication, self-expression and learning. There will be practice inaccessing and using the sources of information and professional updating,including special needs teaching and the main ICT resources. Observation oflessons, analysis of technique, self-analysis based on experience in the field,and reports drawn up during internship are fundamental training ingredientsrounding out the classwork.

Contact lessonsare also supplemented by e-learning platforms serving both for documentation oflesson contents and for individual homework or small group revision.

c)Internship

Followingthe experience they gain in their intern ship, students in class need to develop:a capacity for critical analysis of their own and others' teaching experience;an ability to plan their lessons and gauge the results; an ability to measuretheir own performance against a teaching yardstick measuring classroommanagement, target level awareness when planning and assessing, and one's ownprofessional role; an ability to handle teaching technology in a way thatenhances the teaching performance and educational purpose; an ability tocriticise their own performance especially with reference to integratingspecial needs pupils and those with learning difficulties and disability.

d)Assessment

Progress in the various subjects will be tested byfinal oral and/or written exams (structured, semi-structured, open-ended).Special projects and original student work will be appreciated (deepening ofissues, written reports, continuous assessment -from a training perspective -and final summing up on training projects, or work-up of teaching materials),including how these are proposed, analysed and discussed. How students performin group work may also be assessed.

Admission requirements

Access requirements to the Programme

Access requirements and assessment thereof

1. Admission to the degree programme, as perart. 6, para. 2, of Decree 10 September 2010, n. 249, is subject to possessionof a five-year secondary school diploma or suitable equivalent qualificationobtained abroad, or a four-year secondary school diploma and diploma for therelative supplementary year, or where this is no longer active, studentsadmitted will be assigned additional learning requirements.

2. Another knowledge requirement is thatstudents should have skills in language and communication, logic both inductiveand deductive, and basic mathematics and science.

a) Concerning the language, communication andinductive/deductive logical background, there will be a test of the following:

- command of grammar and syntax in written andspoken Italian;

- the ability to grasp the central import of aspoken or written message;

- the ability to argue one's own case on asubject one knows;

- the ability to pick out the main differencesbetween different theories regarding one and the same topic.

b) Concerning the scientific and mathematicalgrounding, there will be a test of the following:

- understanding of the properties of basicalgebraic operations and notions; use of the tools, techniques and strategiesfor performing mathematical calculations;

- analysis of objects in 2-D and 3-D and agrasp of basic geometry;

- use of suitable mathematical strategies tosolve problems of daily life;

- knowledge of basic biology, chemistry,physics and Earth Science

3. The degree programme restricts the numberof students nationwide (art. 1 L. 264/99) according to the resources available.The number of students who may enrol and the process of selection will bepublished every year by a special Call for applications. There must be studentselection by a knowledge test even where the degree programme isundersubscribed. The admission test aims to select candidates according to thenumber of places allotted each year by the MIUR, and also according to theirgrasp of essentials, as outlined in point 2. In compliance with the yearlyMinisterial Decree defining the form and content of the admission test, thislast shall ascertain, firstly, that all the requirements set by the MinisterialDecree are possessed, and secondly, shall contain groups of questionsspecifically designed to cover essential points of basiclogic-communications-language and mathematical-science. According to theoutcome of the test, candidates enrolling on the Degree Programme will be setadditional learning requirements (known as OFAs) where they fail to reach thepass-mark stated in the Call for applications, in either of the two essentialareas of knowledge mentioned in point 2.

4. International students will undergo thesame procedure, outlined in points 2 and 3.

5. Likewise, the procedure outlined in points2 and 3 will apply to those who apply to register or enrol on the single-cyclejoint Bachelors and Masters degree programme ion Science of Primary Educationfollowing: withdrawal, loss of student status, periods of education at foreignuniversities, switching from any other Bologna University degree programme,transfer from another degree programme at another university, or gaining of anyother academic qualification.

6. The Degree Programme Board will vetapplications for exemption from the admission test where students claim theoption of the old-system Science of Primary Education at Bologna University, orare transferring from the same degree programme (old system) at anotheruniversity.

Additional learning requirements (OFAs) andassessment thereof

7. If the test outcome is unsatisfactory, i.e.admission test candidates score below the pass-mark set by the Call concerningessential skills as per point 2, the School will set a maximum of two OFAs: thefirst on language, communication and inductive/deductive logic; the second onbasic mathematics and science.

8. For both catch-up areas, the School willactivate a specific 30-hour course, to be held at a period suitable for allstudents to attend.

9. For each OFA there will be a test tomeasure the students' progress. The procedure and details of the OFA tests willbe decided by the Degree Programme Board and published on the School website.

10. The OFA is deemed to have been fulfilledwhen all the first-year activities have been completed, with the exception ofany elective course units.

11. Failure to pass one of these activities bythe deadline set by the academic authorities and published on the UniversityPortal entails the student's having to re-enrol and repeat the same year.