Report based on a two-week experience at the Istituto Sacro Cuore, Liceo Sperimentale Classico, Scientifico, Linguistico, Firenze : 1st - 15th November, 1997

Abstract

This brief Report is intended to give a short overview of the Liceo Sperimentale at the lstituto del Sacro Cuore, lying at the side of the hill, between Piazzale Michaelangelo and the River Arno, in Firenze, Italy, which I visited during the first fortnight of November, in 1997. It is called Liceo Sperimentale, because on the 24 of March, 1992, the Minister of Public Instruction at the time, authorised a timetable tailor-made for this particular school, which now could offer three options - Linguistic, Classic & Scientific - thus giving a certain amount of autonomy to this Catholic School which was already operating in Firenze in 1881. (See Appendix 5.) But, according to Italian Law, this Liceo had to lead all its students to sit for the Esame di maturita', like all other Licei in Italy. The school was spotlessly clean, and rather too quiet for a school of that size. It was housed in a villa which primarily was never intended to house a school, and therefore, its shortcomings were easily noticeable - long wide corridors usually rather dark, split levels everywhere, walls painted in dull cream or green, difficult access from the road, high ceilings and strangely shaped rooms. (See Appendix 1.) Students were very well behaved, smartly groomed, with hardly anyone not being punctual. The teachers were all professionally trained and committed to their jobs. The Preside impressed me by her determination to continue fulfilling her life-long dream, that of offering the best kind of education to her students. I hope that anyone going through this report gets a good idea of what this Liceo Sperimentale in Firenze is all about.