Schools and more. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation helps encourage people to study Italian by supporting promotion initiatives dedicated to education/schools, such as:
- disbursing grants to support promoters, non-profit organisations established under local legislation, which arrange or promote Italian language courses;
- sending state teachers from Italy to the education departments of diplomatic-consular representations to teach in foreign schools.
Educational activities are coordinated and supervised by School Directors sent from Italy, present in 38 locations for the 2020/2021 academic year. These Directors locally organise teachers’ work, taking care of logistical aspects as well as fostering synergies between all those involved in the education system, ensuring that all interventions are coherent.
All initiatives form part of the overall strategy to promote Italian culture, the aim of which is to increasingly involve foreign nationals, replacing the traditional role of providing school assistance to Italian communities abroad.
Promoters and state teachers
There were 79 Promoters recipient of government grants in 2020, spread throughout Europe, North America, Latin America, South Africa, Australia and the Middle East. Over 18,000 courses were provided in 2019, involving around 350,000 students worldwide.
The teachers sent from Italy work in Europe, specifically Belgium, France, Germany, United Kingdom and Switzerland. There were 133 of them for the 2020-2021 academic year, of which 102 primary school teachers and 31 lower secondary school teachers. Teachers’ activities are managed in such a way as to gain a widespread geographical coverage and complete the educational offert of promoters through coordinated interventions in European countries.
Additional information and details on courses and activities can be found on the education department websites of the diplomatic-consular network.