Conference Program

The paper discusses the implications of the model for evaluation and improvement policies, showing how support and documentation mechanisms do not merely perform a supportive function but can also act as tools capable of orienting system regulation and fostering continuous learning. From this perspective, the paper presents the INDIRE support project implemented within the Technological and Vocational Education and Training Pathways (4+2 model) during the 2024/2025 school year. The initiative involved 145 training pathways selected through a call issued by the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit (Circular no. 5299, 28 December 2023). The intervention took place during the transition from the pilot implementation of the 4+2 model to its system-wide institutionalization within the framework established by Law 121/2024 and Decree Law 127/2025, which integrated the model into the national education system and gave it a structural role within the technical and vocational education sector. The project was conceived as an action research process in which policy makers, expert trainers, teachers, ITS Academy staff, and labour market professionals collaborate in curriculum design and implementation within a multilevel governance framework. International literature highlights how action research can foster the transformation of teaching practices, support co-design processes, and strengthen organizational and professional capacity in real contexts (Dahal, 2023; Summak, 2022; Kemmis et al., 2014). It is also recognized as a tool for integrating individual learning and organizational development, enhancing the adaptive capacity of multilevel education systems (Brydon-Miller et al., 2021). The 4+2 model provides an integrated curriculum consisting of four years of upper secondary education (technical, vocational and regional vocational education and training – IeFP) followed by two years at an ITS Academy. The curriculum is developed in collaboration with ITS Academy instructors and labour market professionals and promotes a sector-based approach with strong laboratory-based learning, while maintaining the central role of core and general education subjects. It integrates formal knowledge, technical-professional competences, and situated practices, ensuring vertical continuity and shared responsibility among different education and training systems (Coffield, 2019; Eraut, 2004). The pilot involved policy makers, expert trainers, and training pathways in a process of co-construction and situated adaptation. Documentation produced at different system levels — including planning tools, reflective journals, and interim feedback supported monitoring, regulation, and continuous improvement. Documentation collected by individual pathways also constitutes a repository of practices useful for guiding future implementations. Within this perspective, cascade training is interpreted as a pedagogical and system-building architecture in which policy, curriculum, and professional development become integrated dimensions of a single intervention and research framework. The paper critically examines the potential and limits of this multilevel governance arrangement in supporting improvement, focusing on the organizational and professional conditions that enable — or hinder — the shift from a compliance-oriented logic to a system learning-oriented approach. The 4+2 pathway is therefore proposed as an empirical context for reflecting on the relationship between evaluation, governance, and change in contemporary education policies (OECD, 2022; Hargreaves & Shirley, 2009).