An Italian teacher of English left this comment yesterday. It’s a sad story which paints a bleak picture of the teacher’s lot in Italy today.
Perhaps Italy was better when it had governments which lasted 6 months or so. At least the politicians never had time to really mess things up, even if Italy’s short term unstable governments seem to have done a pretty good at job at leaving Italy in the mess it is in now.
Read the copy of the comment to see just how down certain Italians are feeling about life in Italy.
BEING a teacher in Italy is a traumatic process: I started teaching as a native speaker when I was 19, graduated in English as a Foreign Language, passed a “Concorso pubblico” the national exam which qualifies teachers and gives access to a list (graduatoria) for supply teaching and a permanent post.
But all this wasn’t enough to get a permanent job so I had to attend a 2 year training course at University because in the meanwhile the system had changed … at the same time I’ve never stopped teaching English in nursery, primary and secondary schools (beside teaching in courses for adults, training primary teachers, writing and publishing educational materials etc. etc. ).
This year I’m travelling 3 h a day to reach my school and next year with the current reform I will have no job! We are the so called “precari” i.e. we don’t have a permanent contract: the state pays us from September to June and we have to change school every year. Some of my colleagues have been teaching at these conditions for 15, 20 and even 25 years!
I think people abroad should know about the condition of instability of life in which the Italian state keeps us teachers. I will probably go to live abroad as soon as possible, but many colleagues will lose their jobs and this is very sad.
Melanie Segal
Thanks for this sad story. It will be sad day for Italy when you do leave the country. Hopefully you will not and someone will see sense and offer you a good job, but I have my doubts.
And Italy’s politicians, such as Roberto Maroni, and so called impartial journalists, read Emilo Fede, still have the temerity to criticise people like Roberto Saviano for bring to the attention of the world the dire effects of Italy’s political mis-management over the years.
Stop reading, start speaking
Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
I’ve read 30 pages of Gomorah so far and it’s surreal. Roberto Maroni thinks that Saviano is merely interfering, and the job of dealing with Italy’s mafia should be left to the police and prosecutors. However the police and prosecutors have had plenty of time to mop up the mafia. But they have not cured the disease, as Saviano’s book crudly points out.
It’s wrong to point fingers at Italy’s law enforcement authorities – they are merely kept under resourced, most probably intentionally. And Italy’s police don’t seem to be able to count on protection from their political masters either, as the sad death of Giovanni Falcone would appear to attest.
Emilio Fede, a supposedly leading Italian journalist from Italy’s openly pro-Berlusconi Rete 4, also thinks Saviano is interfering and said as much on Italian TV news. It would be interesting to know who Fede’s friends are, and the sources of money which probably fill his likely overflowing overseas numbered bank accounts.
Certainly 60 years of political instability have made it much easier for Italy’s various mafias to spread their clever tentacles everywhere. And from the comments of Maroni and Fede it appears that these tentacles may well have reached pretty near to the top.
Melanie Segal and many other Italians could be seen to be a form of casualty in a war which was probably won many years ago by Italy’s criminal underworld.
I shall keep an eye on my post box for letters containing bullets.
