Giuseppe Valditara (born 12 January 1961 in Milan) is a
Italian politician and jurist, since 22 October 2022 Minister of Education and Merit in the Meloni government.
Graduated in law at the University of Milan, he embarked on an academic career and became a full professor of Roman law and ancient law at the Department of Law of the University of Turin.
In 1992, with the book Studi sul magister populi. From the military auxiliaries of the rex to the first republican magistrates, he won the International Prize for the History of Political and Legal Institutions conferred by the Presidency of the Constitutional Court.
He was scientific director of the legal journal Studi giuridiche europei published by the European University of Rome, as well as dean of the degree course in Law of the same university.
He also boasts the publication of various essays including “the school of talents” (Piemme editions, February 2024).
“I am deeply convinced that every young person is like a lamp full of oil that is just waiting for the fire to be lit. And the constitutional school, the school of talents, must be the fire.” Giuseppe Valditara, current Minister of Education and Merit, reflects on the role of schools in today’s society and on what should be the fundamental objectives of an a system that looks to the future, aware of our historical and cultural roots.
Person, Constitution, freedom, talent, knowledge, authority, merit, respect, commitment, responsibility, work are the key words on which the school must rest, the cornerstones of a collective educational effort and of a new didactics. The school must certainly be able to carry out a maieutic action, with the student, his inclinations and passions at the center, so that he can build himself as a person in the community, and at the same time reaffirm the authority of the teacher and his pedagous function.
With a very careful analysis of the available data, the minister analyzes the virtues of the Italian school, but also the many critical issues, the problems related to early school leaving, the lost social and economic prestige of the teaching staff, highlighting the reforms implemented and those to come. A necessary and useful book for everyone, teachers, students, citizens, because school gives a future to our young people, strength and prosperity to our country.
In recent years, reading data on Italy have often been very discouraging, especially when compared with other European countries.
Istat reports on reading data, in fact, often give a picture very far from the most important European cities, relegating our country almost always to the bottom of the ranking.
The solutions to this problem are certainly not easy or obvious: it has been pointed out several times that those who should act in this sense are first and foremost families, who should instruct their children to enjoy reading. Schools, however, can also do a lot in this regard, the Minister points out.
School, the family, the crisis, the technological progress that captures the interest of the little ones are possible co-responsible for the declining love for reading of the little ones. Beyond identifying who is to blame, it is necessary to adopt winning strategies to reverse the trend.
The painstaking work done by the Minister with this essay, which is concerned with accompanying, supporting and helping the person (child, young person, adult) in relationality and conflict management, through educational interventions aimed at recovery and expendable in educational practice.
Specifically, it supports children, parents and teachers, from a pedagogical point of view, promoting a synergy between pupil, school and family, offering a place to share on the difficulties that characterise the school or life path, creating a bridge with that submerged world of childhood, adolescence, family and social discomfort.
The need to write a book of true family pedagogy arises from the awareness that the crisis of values we are going through is the result, very often, of confused parents who have unlearned the art of a healthy and authoritative education of their children and prefer to assume a super indulgent attitude, which results in pedagogical laxity, which prevents children from developing those emotional and moral skills, necessary to grow serene, respectful, steadfast values and to be able to face the future that awaits them, responsibly.
Let us not forget that the family, even before school, is the first social institution where rights and duties are experienced; I believe that parents must take up the art of educating, courageously, without fearing those natural conflicts that are necessary for healthy growth. Children need to see their parents as a solid point of reference and not as a super-indulgent friend: education always requires clarity, perseverance and loving authority!
The purpose of the essay?
To raise awareness among families and schools on the issues and roots of the educational emergency that is affecting our society, through the constant presence of the pedagogue, the only expert in relational and educational issues; promoting meetings and seminars, with the collaboration of the headmasters, in schools of all levels…