Overcoming Fragmented Professionalism? Accountability for Improvement in Teacher Preparation in Italy

Abstract

This paper proposes the idea of ‘fragmented professionalism’ in order to understand how Italian teachers learn to teach throughout their careers and how this aspect of the profession has changed in recent decades. Drawing on a concept of ‘externally driven professionalism’, in which behaviours are stimulated by regulations and other institutional influences, I will trace the recent political orientation in this field. Fragmentation can be understood either in terms of a lack of specific initial preparation or of diversity in this provision, as well as a lack of or inconsistency in the continuous professional development of teachers in schools. This analysis will consider policy trends emerging from two key policy documents issued by the Ministry of Instruction, Education and Univeristies (MIUR): Plan for Teacher Training 2016–2019 and Law 377 on reordering, adapting and simplifying ITT and access to secondary school teaching positions to place greater social and professional value on the teaching profession. I aim to investigate how externally driven professionalism may be oriented either towards coherence or fragmentation, and how accountability may act as a major contextual force. The research question is twofold: Which institutional patterns, structures and processes are the major determinants of externally driven professionalism in Italy, and how can these be assessed?