Curriculum, subjects, number of hours

Technical and vocational upper secondary school education

Vocational upper secondary education is organised at technical institutes and at vocational institutes. Information contained in this chapter applies to both technical and vocational institutes, unless otherwise stated. A reform of technical institutes will gradually take effect, starting with the first grade in the 2026–2027 school year, and will be fully implemented by the 2030–2031 school year. Where necessary, the measures introduced with the reform will be outlined.

Technical institutes aim at providing students with a solid cultural foundation in science and technology, supplemented by a legal and economic dimension, focused on sustainable innovation and aligned with international contexts and European Union guidelines. Through technical education students acquire the skills (both specific and transferable) necessary for rapid entry into the workforce or for continuing their studies at the tertiary level. (Source: DPR 88/2010 and DL 144/2022, Annex 2-bis)

The programmes available at technical institutes are organised in two sectors:

1)    Economic sector:

• management, finance and marketing
• tourism (from school year 2026/2027 called ‘tourism, cultural and environmental heritage’)

2)    Technological sector (from school year 2026/2027 called ‘technological-environmental sector’):

• mechanics, mechatronics and energy
• transports and logistics
• electronics and electro-technics
• ICT and telecommunications
• graphics and communication
• chemistry, materials and biotechnologies
• fashion design
• agriculture, food and agriculture, agroindustry
• construction, environment and territory

The reform of technical institutes has defined the specialisations available to students for the final three years of study in each programme (for details on the specialisations, please refer to DM 29/2026, art. 2).

From school year 2024/2025, a new technological-vocational path has been introduced on an experimental basis. Trial programmes have an overall length of 4 years, instead of the ordinary five. They are based on projects submitted by networks made up of technical/vocational upper secondary institutions, training agencies operating in the regional vocational training system (Istruzione e formazione professionale – IeFP) and the Higher technological institutes (Istituti tecnologici superiori – ITS Academies), with the involvement of enterprises and professional activities. They guarantee the acquisition of the same competences as the ordinary five-year programmes. From school year 2026/2027 the technological-vocational paths will be part of the mainstream offer at upper secondary level (DM 221/2025, DL 127/2025).

Vocational education aims ‘to train students in arts, trades, and professions that are strategic to the country’s economy, fostering high-quality expertise commonly referred to as “Made in Italy,” as well as to ensure that the skills acquired through vocational education programs facilitate a smooth transition into the workforce and professional fields (…)’ (D.Lgs. 61/2017).

Vocational institutes offer the following programmes (D.Lgs. 61/2017):

• agriculture, rural development, promotion of local produce, and management of forest and mountain resources,
• commercial fishing and fish farming
• industry and crafts for ‘Made in Italy’ products
• maintenance and technical support
• water management and environmental remediation
• commercial services
• food and wine and hospitality
• cultural and entertainment services
• health and social care services
• auxiliary health professions: dental technician
• auxiliary health professions: optician.

Steering documents for the curriculum

At all school levels, the curriculum is based on guidelines that provide schools with a framework they must comply with when defining their own curriculum. To this end the guidelines describe the general and specific learning objectives referred to the level of education concerned and to the compulsory subjects, and, in some cases, they include the timetables. Guidelines are integrated by the ‘student’s educative, cultural and professional profile’ (Profilo educativo, culturale e professionale dello student – P.E.Cu.P), representing what a student should know and be able to do at the end of upper secondary education. 

Guidelines are drawn up by teams made up of experts of the Ministry and external experts, with the involvement of stakeholder. Schools adapt the guidelines to their educational and teaching needs and create their own curriculum that reflects the specific context where they operate. The school curriculum is included in the Three-year educational offer plan (Piano triennale dell’offerta formativa – PTOF), which is the document each school adopts to describe its cultural and planning identity as well as its curricular, extra-curricular, educational, and organisational projects.

The curriculum in technical education is defined by Guidelines (Linee guida) issued separately for the first two-year period (Direttiva Ministeriale 57/2010) and for the last three years of study (Direttiva Ministeriale 4/2012). Timetables are annexed to the DPR 88/2010. 

The reform of technical education will apply from school year 2026/2027 to the first grade. The Guidelines will gradually be replaced by the new curriculum for technical institutes, published with DM 29/2026 together with the timetables. The new curriculum will be fully applied in school year 2030/2031. The P.E.Cu.P for classes covered by the curriculum in force before and after the reform is annexed to DPR 88/2010 and to the DL 144/2022, respectively.

The curriculum, including the list of subjects and timetables, in vocational institutes is defined by the DM 92/2018, while the P.E.Cu.P is annexed to the D.Lgs 61/2017.

At all levels of education, the curriculum is supplemented by the Guidelines for the teaching of civic education (Linee guida per l’insegnamento dell’educazione civica) of 2024 (DM 183/2024). 

In 2023, the Ministry of education and merit has published the Guidelines for STEM (Linee guida per le discipline STEM) that apply to all the levels of the education. As for the second cycle of education, given the variety of programmes and the existing guidelines for the relevant curricula, the Guidelines suggest that the teaching of STEM disciplines should favour group work, research and experimentation through teaching methodologies such as, for example, the promotion of hands-on activities, active and collaborative methodologies, the promotion of activities that address problems of an applied nature, inductive methodologies. 

Finally, the DM 139/2007 defines the knowledge and competences that all students are expected to have acquired on completion of compulsory education, i.e. at the end of the second year of upper secondary education. Knowledge and competences integrate the current upper secondary curricula, specific for each type of school, and refer to the eight key competences for lifelong learning defined at European level (2006/962/EC). 

Subjects 

The curriculum follows the same organisation in technical and vocational institutes:

• a set of compulsory subjects is common to all programmes
• a set of subjects is specific for each programme

At technical institutes, the compulsory subjects common to all programmes in the curriculum after the reform, are Italian, English, mathematics, history, geography (only the first year), law and economy (only the first and second year), motor sciences, Catholic religion/alternative subject (DM 29/2026). Compulsory common subjects in the curriculum that will still apply up to 2030/2031 slightly differ from the above and are listed in the annexes to the DPR 88/2010. 

At vocational institutes, the compulsory subjects common to all programmes are Italian, English, mathematics, history, geography, law and economy, motor sciences, Catholic religion/alternative subject. Geography and law and economy are in the compulsory curriculum only in the first two years (DM 92/2018).

As for the lists of subjects specific for each programme, please refer to the relevant mentioned steering documents.

In both technical and vocational institutes:

• English is a compulsory subject,
• civic education is compulsory,
• Catholic religious education is optional for students,
• in the last three years students carry out school-work training.

According to the steering documents for the curriculum in technical and vocational institutes, students are expected to finish this level of education with an English proficiency of B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Teachers are specialists. Some programmes also foresee the teaching of a second and a third foreign language. Moreover, in technical institutes CLIL is compulsory in the fifth year. After the reform that will gradually apply starting from the first grade in 2026/2027, CLIL will be introduced from the third year of study. In vocational institutes CLIL is not compulsory but can still be practiced by subject teachers.

In the areas of the twelve minority languages, schools autonomously establish how to teach the relevant language and culture, according to families' request. Schools can also use the minority language as a teaching language together with Italian (legge 482/1999).

Civic education was introduced in 2020/2021 (law 92/2019), replacing the former ‘Citizenship and Constitution’. Its contents refer to three main areas:

• Italian Constitution (general principles, the organisation of the State and of regional and local authorities, symbols of the Italian and EU institutions, study of general laws and meaning of legality, etc.);
• Economic development and sustainability (valuing work and entrepreneurship, protection of the environment and of heritage, health education, respect for animals, etc.);
• Digital citizenship (responsible use of technologies, awareness of risks, approaches to the use of technologies).

Civic education has a dual nature: while its teaching is cross-curricular, it has a dedicated timetable, and it is assessed separately. The ‘Guidelines for the teaching of civic education’ (Linee guida per l’insegnamento dell’educazione civica, annexed to the DM 183/2024) establish that civic education has a specific timetable of at least 33 hours/year and its teaching must involve all the other curricular subjects without increasing the overall weekly and annual timetable. Where applicable, the teaching of civic education is assigned to the teachers of the law/economy areas. 

Schools must include in the curriculum the teaching of Catholic religion that, on the contrary, is optional for students. Families make their choice at enrolment in the first grade for the whole cycle of education and are allowed to modify their choice at any time before starting a new school year. The specific learning objectives for Catholic religion are established by State regulations in agreement with the Italian Catholic Church. At present, the reference document are the National guidelines for the teaching of Catholic religion in the second cycle of education (Indicazioni didattiche per l'insegnamento della religione Cattolica nel secondo ciclo di istruzione e formazione annexed to DPR 176/2012) Teachers are specialists and need to pass a specific training according to both the State and the Church legislation. Students not attending Catholic religion can choose among carrying out activities linked to the values of citizenship with or without the support of teachers, carrying out in depth studies, or do not attend school. Schools include the alternative activities in their own curriculum. 

Students attending the last three grades at technical and vocation institutes spend at least 150 and 210 hours respectively in work-related learning activities called school-work training (formazione scuola-lavoro, formerly known as ‘PCTO’). Such activities aim at deepening students’ knowledge and competences to increase their job opportunities and to facilitate their choice of further studies (law 107/2015). Students can experience traineeships during their holidays or during the school year, also abroad. Subjects involved in this type of training experience range from enterprises to public and private bodies, to professional associations, to public and private institutions operating in the artistic heritage, cultural and music sector to recognised sports societies. School managers choose the enterprises from the national register for traineeships that lists the subjects offering traineeships, the posts available and the periods when it is possible to carry out the activities. Schools organise courses on the protection of health and safety in the workplace for students engaged in traineeships. The participation in traineeship activities is one of the mandatory requirements for the admission to the final examination that students stand for at the end of the fifth year of study (D. Lgs. 62/2017).

Through their ‘Three-year educational offer plan’ (Piano triennale dell’offerta formativa - PTOF), technical and vocational schools may offer additional courses using a percentage of the annual timetable. These additional teaching activities must be consistent with the various study programmes, and the proportion of the annual timetable used must not exceed the percentages laid down by central legislation. These percentages vary between technical and vocational education and according to the year of study, ranging from 20% to 30–40% of the annual timetable. These activities are optional for students but, once a course has been chosen, attendance is compulsory and performance is assessed in the same way as for all compulsory subjects in the curriculum. Optional teaching activities are included in the student’s digital curriculum, which also contains all data relating to the student’s course of study, the skills acquired, work placement experiences and all extracurricular activities (culture, art, sport, volunteering).

Finally, to ensure equal education to all students, the Ministry has defined the knowledge and competences that all students are expected to have acquired on completion of compulsory education, thus integrating the current curricula at upper secondary level. Knowledge and competences are organised into 4 'cultural areas': languages, mathematics, science/technology and history/social studies. Key competences refer to the eight key competences for lifelong learning defined at European level: learning to learn, planning, communicating, collaborating and participating, acting autonomously, problem solving, creating connections and relations, acquiring and interpreting information (2006/962/EC and DM 139/2007).

Number of hours

In both technical and vocational institutes, the timetable consists of a portion common to all programmes and covering general activities and teaching related to the compulsory common subjects, and a portion that is specific to each programme of specialisation. The weekly timetable is calculated on an average of 33 weeks/year. Lessons last 60 minutes. Schools can decide to have shorter lessons, providing that the compulsory annual amount of teaching time for each subject is met.

In technical institutes, the total annual timetable – which includes compulsory core subjects and those specific to each specialisation – amounts to 1 056 hours per year, corresponding to 32 hours per week. This annual timetable applies to all years of the course and will not be altered by the reform, which will be phased in from the 2026/2027 school year, starting with the first year. The only exception is the future fifth-year classes, which will have an annual teaching time of 990 hours, corresponding to 30 hours per week. Furthermore, following the reform, there is a slight change in the distribution of hours between the set of subjects common to all programmes and the sets of specific subjects, with a slightly greater number of hours allocated to the latter in the early years of the course.

Timetables for each sector, programme and specialisation at technical institutes are published in the Annexes to the DPR 88/2010 (gradually phasing out) and to the DM 29/2026 (gradually applied from school year 2026/2027).

In the experimental technological-vocational path, introduced in school year 2024/2025, the overall timetable for the five years is distributed in four years and varies depending on the different paths and on the autonomy of schools. 

The annual timetable in vocational institutes is organised as follows:

a) in the first and second grades, the common activities amount at 594 hours/year, while the specific timetable is 462 hours, for a total of 1 056 annual timetable (corresponding to 32 hours/week);

b) in the third, fourth and fifth grades, the common annual timetable is 462 hours, and the specific timetable is 594 hours, for a total of 1 056 annual timetable (corresponding to 32 hours/week).

Timetables for each programme at vocational institutes are published in the Annexes 3A to 3M of the DM 92/2018.

Regional vocational education and training (IeFP)

The Regional vocational education and training system (Istruzione e formazione professionale - IeFP) offers three and four-year programmes corresponding to the III and IV EQF levels, respectively (Accordo 1° agosto 2019). 

At present, three-year programmes and the relevant qualifications are 26, while four-year programmes and qualifications are 29 (Source: Inapp [https://www.inapp.gov.it/iefp/le-qualifiche-e-i-diplomi])

There are no national curricula for the three-year and four-year vocational education and training programmes falling within the competence of the regions.

The purpose of the vocational training courses (IeFP) is to qualify 14–17-year-olds who wish to enter the labour market after a short period of training. However, these courses ensure that students acquire the key competencies and skills required on completion of compulsory education. 

The IeFP system offers courses organised and run by training agencies accredited by the Regions and courses/activities organised and run by upper secondary vocational institutes in partnership with training agencies. In the latter case, schools follow the guidelines of the Regions.

Training providers prepare teaching projects based on the tasks and skills that are specific to the relevant professional profiles. Usually, teaching projects are modular and cover basic, transversal and technical or vocational skills.

Learning and training objectives refer to the technical and professional standards set for the three-year vocational qualifications. These standards are organised into work processes/activity and the acquisition of the competencies that are typical of the professional qualification. Competencies are described in terms of skills and knowledge.

In courses organised by vocational upper secondary institutes, teachers usually teach general subjects and technical and vocational subjects are usually taught by trainers from partner training agencies. On the contrary, in courses organised by training agencies, trainers, including those specialising in key competences, are mainly recruited by the training agencies themselves, according to the criteria established for their accreditation.

In most Regions, courses integrate guidance activities across all years of study, with a concentration of career guidance in the third and last year. In other Regions, individual courses include an additional block of time for guidance and teachers decide how to tailor this time to the specific needs of learners.

The overall number of teaching hours at courses organised by training agencies ranges between 2 900 and 3 600 hours for the entire three-year period. A similar degree of variability characterizes the allocation of class hours dedicated to cultural and vocational subjects, as well as to internships and supplementary activities focused on personalization, remedial instruction, and career guidance. The average proportion of total teaching hours allocated to cultural competencies ranges from 35 to 45 percent; 45–50 percent is dedicated to technical and vocational competencies, with the remainder allocated to internships and activities related to curricular flexibility (orientation, support, remedial instruction, etc.).

Courses organised by vocational upper secondary institutes generally follow the specialist branch structure of vocational institutes, devoting 15-30% of the technical-vocational portion of the timetable to integrated activities.

Teaching methods and materials

Technical and vocational upper secondary school education 

The Constitution of the Italian Republic establishes the principle of freedom of teaching. The choice and use of teaching methods and materials must be consistent with each school's educational offer plan (PTOF), which, in turn, must be consistent with the general and educational objectives of the different branches and levels of study established at national level.

Schools generally plan their teaching activities at two different levels: at department level for the objectives of each subject and each grade and at class level for cross-curricular objectives. Schools are usually equipped with a gym, library, science and computer laboratories and laboratories for the specific courses offered by individual schools.

Teachers choose the textbooks, as well as other teaching materials, for their classes and submit their choice to the teachers’ assembly that formally approves the textbooks. This formal procedure is not mandatory for schools and teachers. Textbooks can be in digital or mixed version (mixed version is meant as either paper version or paper and digital version), all with integrative digital contents. The Ministry has also described the technical and technological characteristics for all the different versions of textbooks (DM 781/2013). In any case, textbooks and other teaching tools must be consistent with the curriculum and with the three-year educational offer plan of the school (PTOF). In addition, for specific subjects, schools can create their own digital teaching tools that students will use as textbooks. Teachers develop such tools in class during the teaching hours and in collaboration with the other class teachers and students. Schools are required to register their products in case they are willing to share them with other State schools (legge 128/2013). 

Textbooks are not free for parents. Every year, the Ministry sets the total spending limit of textbooks (as for 2025/2026, DM 58/2025, Annex II). Teachers should choose the textbooks within this total spending limit. Measures introduced to help parents deal with the cost of textbooks also include rental and the free loan of textbooks, as well as the partial reimbursement of costs.

Regional vocational education and training (IeFP)

The main teaching aspect of IeFP courses, especially in courses organised by upper secondary vocational institutes, is the use of guidance-centred teaching methods. This teaching approach makes it possible to: a) link training to the future profession more clearly and emphatically; b) rethink students’ choices, if they do not correspond to their training needs and their initial training path.

In addition to this aspect, the Regions also provide training agencies with methodological guidance on approaches and techniques based on active teaching, particularly through projects, simulated business experiences and other simulation techniques (e.g. role play and case studies). They also strongly recommend the use of problem-solving methods.

Hence, in addition to traditional active teaching methods, training institutions are often open to local opportunities and participate in extracurricular initiatives such as study visits, competitions and twinning experiences. These methods aim to facilitate the learning process and meet the needs of learners to acquire cultural and technical/professional competences through practice. 

The Regions establish the length of work placements, considering individual qualifications. However, in the first year, placements are guidance-oriented and take place through visits to local enterprises. In subsequent years, placements have a practical and training focus. Learners work within the company and their training is organised and coordinated by the placement tutor in the training institution and the tutor at the host company.