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Much has been written and much has been said about the support teacher, but inevitably we find that we still go so far as to give illegitimate interpretations of his role within the school context.
Main regulatory sources
It was DPR 970/1975 that legally included the support teacher as a “specialist”, differentiating him from other curricular teachers, precisely because he had a specialization degree, in fact this decree established the following:
“The personnel of the schools and state institutions that, making use of specialized interventions of a permanent nature, pursue particular ends” should “receive a special qualification that they must achieve at the end of a theoretical-practical course, lasting two years in schools or institutes recognized by the Ministry of Education “
LAW 104/92
Law 104/92 represents the framework law for assistance, social integration and the rights of people with disabilities. Among the articles, we mention:
Art. 12 paragraph 3: “The objective of school integration is to develop the potential of the disabled person in learning, communication, relationships and socialization”,
Art. 13 paragraph 2: “for the purposes mentioned in paragraph 1, local authorities and local health units may also provide for the adaptation of the organization and operation of day care centers to the needs of children with disabilities, in order to recover , socialization and integration, as well as the assignment of specialized teachers and specialized operators and assistants “
art.13 subsection 6: “The support teachers assume co-ownership of the sections and classes in which they operate, participate in educational and didactic planning and in the development and verification of the activities of competence of the interclass councils, class councils and teachers’ colleges.
The support teacher must be trained and specialized
In the above, the figure of the support teacher is outlined, who must be specialized, take care of the process of socialization and integration of the disabled student and who has the joint ownership of the sections and classes.
With the exception of the process of integration and socialization of the disabled student, in schools the guidelines of the reference legislation are often ignored.
Specialized teachers: The need for support teachers cannot be met. We can indicate as possible causes
- fails to transform chairs from de facto staff to legal staff (this year we proceeded with 1,000 seats, a drop in the bucket)
- high costs to achieve specialization qualification with a small number of places advertised by universities
- new entries always inadequate to the real national needs (1,657 chairs assigned to more than 21 thousand authorized)
Support teacher: has joint ownership of the sections and classes to which it is attached. The entire class council is involved in the process of integration and socialization of the disabled student, since the disabled student does not represent the student of the support teacher but of the entire class, just like their “normal” peers.
The concept of joint ownership, although it is very clear, is often forgotten or misinterpreted, so it is good to specify that the support teacher has a priority, follow the disabled student and make their contribution to the whole class, making it illegitimate Assign the teacher to support substitutions in your class or in other classes.
This principle is reaffirmed in the “Guidelines for the school integration of students with disabilities” and in MIUR circular nº 4274 of August 4, 2009 “in which the following is explicit:
“The teacher for support activities cannot be used to perform other types of functions. If not strictly linked to the integration project, if such a different use reduces even minimally the effectiveness of said project “
As well as ministerial note 9839 of November 8, 2010 that says “It seems appropriate to draw attention to the advisability of not resorting to the replacement of absent teachers with support staff. Except in exceptional cases that cannot be resolved in another way. “Cases that cannot be resolved in another way should be understood as exceptional cases.
Covid has not changed the role of the support teacher
Going from theory to practice is a very difficult task and then at the time of Covid it can happen that in a division phase of a class to allow the learning process of the students safely, a support teacher can be assigned to a group in which the disabled student is inserted and whose task becomes that of “supervision” of the small group, failing what is his role.
The normative references are explicit, since the support teacher would fail in the process of including the student even if he is a co-owner, the substitution in his own class is not legitimate, since it would violate the principle of co-presence with the curricular teacher.
In addition, its use in substitution hours would change the role for which it is designated, becoming for those hours a curricular teacher and therefore forced to interrupt the inclusion work.
The same occurs when the teacher is called to substitute in another class, effectively interrupting the public service for which he fulfills his function.
To make an additional contribution to what has been said, we also refer to the note of the USP of Como n. 7490 of 11-10-2017, which establishes that the role of the support teacher is that of “co-owner of the class in teaching activities, but whose typical function is to support the class of the disabled, having to continue this function even in case of absence “. of the curricular teacher. Therefore, the use of the support teacher to make substitutions, in addition to constituting a breach of contract, also entails the illegal execution of a constitutionally guaranteed right, to the detriment of the disabled student entrusted to him.
When to request a written service order
In the event that a Principal sends a teacher for support in another class to make substitutions, our advice is to request a written service order showing the change of role request, in the presence of the student in the classroom. with disabilities. This is both to show that you have not arbitrarily moved from your workplace and to be able to demonstrate the illegality of the provision.
As for liability, in fact, in the event that a student from the owning class suffers an injury during the hour the teacher was sent to replace him in another class, if the written service order was missing, the teacher would be formally present. in the property class.
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