Day 17

Today I had a vocational visit in the morning then our group did a tour of the city center with a guide. Since the tour covered many of the same sights that we saw last night I don’t have many new photos. But nonetheless I'm going to mingle a few photos in with the information about the vocational visit.

Finding something job related- the first "bank" in Genova from the middle ages.

This is the first vocational visit that applied to my job. One of the team members on this trip is a culinary teacher and we have been paired together and although I do cook with my students a culinary school or four are not quite applicable to Special Education or Personal Finance (Transition Skills).

Back to the Cathedral of St. Lawrence- With a tour giude there were some other interesting facts.

Our visit was to the Regional Education Offices - the equivalent to the Virginia Department of Education. There are 19 regions in Italy, each one having some autonomy within the Italian Ministry of Education. The office we visited covers 214 schools.



A Bomb shot into the chapel by the English during the 1940's. It never went off.

Education is compulsory or required from the age of 6-16 after that “graduating” or getting a High School diploma is up to each individual student. There are pros and cons to this system of course, but on a national level only 8% of student continue the last 2 years of high school. A student does need to complete the last two years to go on to University.

Notice the Arch on the bottom having a gothic point and the top having the roman curve, there was a fire in the 12th century and bottom was re-built.

Italians go to school for 13 years just like us, but their high school is five years. During this time the students choose a course of study.  They can choose classical studying one of the following areas: history, science, languages, human science, music and dance or arts. Or students can go to a Technical or Vocational school, studying one of the following areas: business, hospitality, mechanics or craftsman. That means that once a student enters high school (age 14) they only study that specific area and no other.

An awesome column with the date on it.

I had some very specific questions, as a Virginia teacher the first related to assessments. The students in this region take an annual test covering the body of knowledge taught.  This test is developed and given by the teacher. At the end of elementary, middle, and secondary school (10th grade) students are given a state exam that covers Italian and Math. Passing this exam is necessary to go on to the next level of school.

Christopher Columbus' house!

For my other questions things were getting lost in translation, so I still have no answers.