Teacher training reform: more subjects, more classroom practice

Last year's case of thirteen newly qualified Italian teachers, with no open competitions in upper secondary schools, had reignited the debate over job insecurity in teacher training in Ticino. That debate gave rise to the work of a group chaired by the director of the Department of Education, Culture and Sport (DECS), Marina Carobbio Guscetti, which spent almost a year and a half drawing up proposals to improve training at the DFA, the SUPSI's Department of Teacher Education and Learning.

Among the main proposals is combined training, which would qualify teachers simultaneously for lower and upper secondary schools. The group is also pushing for multidisciplinary teachers. According to Emanuele Berger, DECS coordinator and member of the working group, teaching the same student two subjects strengthens the educational relationship and reduces teachers' workload, a frequent demand from teaching staff. Berger also points to a benefit for job stability: a teacher qualified in three subjects is less likely to be left without hours if demand drops in one subject, as long as it holds up in another.

Consultations with school principals, teachers and unions also revealed a need for more practical training. Daniela Willi-Piezzi, director of the DFA/ASP and member of the working group, explains that the goal is classroom practice integrated with theoretical concepts and with moments of discussion and reflection on classroom experience, to improve day-to-day teaching.

Employment and demographic decline

The group's work also produced a snapshot of teachers' employment situation. In lower secondary schools, 19 out of 20 teachers earned their diploma in Ticino; in upper secondary schools, the ratio is 16 out of 20. Almost all DFA graduates work within Ticino's school system. Of the thirteen Italian teachers qualified in 2025, most have now found work, either in teaching or in other fields.

For Carobbio Guscetti, the question of career prospects for those training to become teachers is central, because Ticino is facing a major demographic shift: the number of students and classes is falling, requiring a balance that guarantees job opportunities for those who choose to train as teachers.

Coordination between DECS and the DFA also needs improvement, against a backdrop of cuts to school funding. Some measures could be introduced as early as the new service agreement starting in 2029, to be developed further in the next legislature.