Conference on "Schools and Universities - A teacher training network"

Tresivio, January 28, 2003 - Over the past few months, 'Education and University' has been quite a topical subject in Valtellina. In fact, after distance learning was launched in autumn, 2002 with a course to prepare primary education teachers, thereby increasing the awareness of the need for qualified education programs to help our province's social, cultural and economic growth, Milan Università Cattolica, in association with the Credito Valtellinese Group Foundation and the Ministry of Education, are promoting another initiative aimed at setting up mutually supportive relationships between nursery schools, primary schools, professional associations of teachers and trainers and Università Cattolica. This will involve teacher training opportunities for students in the province of Sondrio.

The project guidelines were presented during a conference, which was held on January 28, 2003, at the Credito Valtellinese Training Center, in Tresivio. For the initiative to be fruitful, it should involve strict cooperation between University and School, as both would benefit from a mutual exchange of "knowledge".

Reports by Enrico M. Salati, Pietro Bosello, Sabrina Sironi and Raffaella Gavazzi from Milan Università Cattolica have focused on the various stages of the cooperation process, which won't go smoothly, as School and University have never been sharing common interests so far. Nevertheless, teachers having a degree in either nursery or primary education should now be able to combine the greater experience provided by University with a direct knowledge of their work environment. Local nursery and primary schools that are interested in the project can join the initiative by filling out the forms made available during the conference.

The conference in Tresivio was also an occasion to appreciate the positive results obtained by 40 students who have been attending the distance education course during the first half of the academic year, providing evidence for the effectiveness of these innovative teaching methods.

A speech by Professor Cesare Scurati, the chairman of CEPaD - a department of Università Cattolica that gets learning solutions from telecommunications - has closed the conference. Far from impoverishing the quality of education, distance learning, said Scurati, gives enhanced quality to our courses thanks to useful technical and professional instruments. Finally, professor Scurati addressed the Credito Valtellinese Group Foundation Chairman Francesco Guicciardi saying that everyone is firmly hoping the training center in Tresivio will become a reference for opening a cultural debate on School and University in the province of Sondrio.