Compulsory education lasts for 10 years and covers the first cycle of education (primary and lower secondary education) and the first two years of the second cycle of education.

The second cycle offers students two different paths:

• general and vocational upper secondary education (scuola secondaria di II grado);
• regional vocational education and training (Istruzione e formazione professionale - IeFP).

General upper secondary education lasts for five years and falls under the responsibility of the State. Vocational education and training courses are organised at regional level and have a duration of three or four years.

Types of institutions

General upper secondary education is offered by institutions called licei (sing. liceo), which can be both State institutions or State-equivalent schools (paritarie). These latter are independent schools, owned either by public bodies or by private subjects, that meet some specific requirements and release the official certifications. 

There are six types of liceo, each specializing in the following areas: arts (liceo artistico), classical studies (liceo classico), sciences (liceo scientifico), languages (liceo linguistico), music and dance (liceo musicale e coreutico), human sciences (liceo delle scienze umane).

The liceo artistico offers the following six options: figurative arts, architecture and environment, design, audiovisual and multimedia, graphics, set designing. The liceo scientifico offers the mainstream path and the option in applied sciences, while the liceo delle scienze umane offers, beside the mainstream path, an option in social and economic studies and the option ‘Made in Italy’. In all licei other experimental options may be available.

Geographical accessibility

The Constitution of the Italian Republic (art. 33 and 34) establishes that the State must provide access to education to all young people living in the country, regardless of the geographical area they live in and of their individual social and economic situation. 

The central and branch administrations of the State, as well as regional, provincial and local administrations (municipalities) are responsible for achieving this goal. For example, the Regions are responsible for the general planning of the educational offer and the school network, so that resources can be more rationally and efficiently used.

Admission requirements and choice of school

Compulsory education lasts ten years and covers the first cycle of education (primary and lower secondary levels), and the first two years of the second cycle of education. Thus, students who have successfully completed the first cycle of education must enrol in the second cycle that offers State-run upper secondary general and vocational education and the regional vocational education and training (IeFP).

Parents are free to choose which school to send their children. Each school establishes its own criteria for the enrolment of students in case applications exceed the number of places available. During the months of January and February each year, parents submit the enrolment request through an online platform of the Ministry (Unica). At the submission, they indicate a school as a first choice and up to two alternative options. Parents receive an official communication once the first school has received the request of admission. In case the school rejects the request, this is re-directed to the other schools indicated by parents.

At enrolment, students and their parents sign a 'Joint responsibility agreement'. This document details the rights and duties (e.g. use of mobile telephones and electronic devices at school) of all stakeholders in the school community, i.e. the school staff, the students and their parents.

Age levels and grouping of students

Courses of studies at general upper secondary schools (licei) are generally addressed to students aged 14 to 19. The overall duration of general upper secondary education is 5 years.

Classes at upper secondary level should generally have no fewer than 27 and no more than 30 students in the first grade. The minimum required number of students in the following grades of upper secondary school is 22. Usually, the maximum number of students per class lowers to 20, if there are students with disabilities.

These figures can increase or decrease depending on the availability of school staff, as established by the Regional School Office.
Class teachers are specialists in one or more subjects from the same subject area (e.g. maths and sciences).

Organisation of the school year

The Ministry is responsible for defining the dates for the first and the second cycle leaving examinations and the calendar of the national holidays (D.Lgs. 297/1994).

The Regions are responsible for defining the school calendar (start and end of school activities, length of breaks for national holidays, other holidays) to adapt it to the local needs (D.Lgs. 112/1998). Usually Christmas holidays last two weeks and Easter holidays one week in the majority of the regions. Every year, the Ministry publishes on its website a summary table with all regional school calendars.

The school year starts 1 September and finishes 31 August. Teaching activities, including periodic and final assessments and examinations, as well as in-service training activities, are carried out between 1 September and 30 June (final examinations at upper secondary level should end within July).

There are a minimum of 200 teaching days in a year, distributed over 33 weeks. For student evaluation purposes, the school year can be divided into two or three terms (periods of three or four months), as decided by the Teachers assembly of each school.
The compulsory annual and weekly teaching time for each type of liceo and for each subject is established by central regulations and varies according to the type of liceo (DPR 89/2010).

Organisation of the school day and week

The school is responsible for defining the weekly and daily organisation of lessons and distribution of activities across the days of the week. Lessons must be spread over no fewer than 5 days a week and are usually held on 6 days, including Saturday. Schools can set daily timetables autonomously.

The out-of-hours reception of pupils before or after school timetable is a service run by the municipalities and as such is subject to demand and the financial and staff resources available to local administrations. At this level of education, out-of-hours provision is not common.

The table below presents a sample school week for a liceo scientifico The timetable includes breaks between lessons and a mid-morning break of 15 minutes.