Conference Program

Starting in the 2025/26 school year, the programs for transversal skills and orientation (PCTO), established by Law 145/2018, have been reformulated as “School-to-Work Training” (Decree No. 127 of September 9, 2025). According to the technical report of the Ministry of Education, the reform aims to strengthen the connection between school-to-work experiences, educational processes, and students’ concrete needs. The new framework refers to a perspective centred on students’ personal and social development and encourages forms of self-assessment accompanied by verification and documentation.Between the previous regulatory framework and the new configuration—on which public policy debate remains limited—lies the broader perspective of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). Within Mission 4, Component 1(Strengthening the Offering of Educational Services),six reforms are envisaged. Two of them are particularly relevant to the reconfiguration of the school–work relationship: the reform of Technical and Vocational Institutes and the Orientation Reform(Ministerial Decree No. 328/2022). Law 22/2025 further emphasizes the development of non-cognitive and transversal skills as key outcomes to be fostered through school-to-work training.Overall, this policy framework aims to promote equity, social cohesion, and students’ capacity for self-orientation(Life Design), fostering interaction between learning processes and socio-relational development across upper secondary education, with particular attention to technical institutes currently undergoing reform.

Within this scenario, the introduction of Educational Agreements 4.0—conceived as a support structure for designing and implementing school-to-work programs—suggests possible connections between democratic forms of student development and work environments characterized by participatory organizational cultures, on-the-job learning, and shared responsibility. However, beyond policy expectations, a gap emerges between legislative objectives and stakeholders’ perceptions. Exploratory work conducted by several Regional School Offices, including Liguria, indicates that many internal tutor teachers and school principals do not always demonstrate a clear understanding of the systemic links among the different regulatory components. Some stakeholders call for stronger central coordination to clarify the relationship between regulatory innovation and implementation contexts.Only a limited number of schools—mainly technical institutes, sometimes connected to ITS foundations—show more integrated practices, including international mobility experiences linked to STEM and multilingualism and collaboration between orientation tutors, counsellors, and teachers responsible for school-to-work programs.More encouraging insights emerge from focus groups conducted with students from technical and vocational institutes and from an art high school in Western Liguria. Students highlight the role of host organizations in shaping their life projects, the importance of supportive workplace teams, the learning value of mistakes and unexpected situations, and the development of relational competences. Keywords used to describe these experiences include awareness, change, immersion, group, growth, and effectiveness.

A shared critical issue concerns the Student Digital Portfolio (e-Portfolio) on the Unica ministerial platform, designed to support orientation and collaboration among school stakeholders. At present, the platform does not allow students to carry out structured self-assessment of their school-to-work experiences. Finally, international mobility programs raise additional concerns: participants are often selected based on high academic achievement, limiting wider access, while the mediation of private agencies can reduce the educational value of these experiences and weaken the role of school communities.