Our Mission

Transform education for children and young people in Italy by raising awareness and support for Teach For Italy and its programs. We aim to catalyze a nationwide movement of impact-driven leaders committed to expanding educational opportunities for Italy's future generations. Our goal is to strengthen the public education system, allowing it to attract the best talent, and to bring innovation and energy to the schools that need it the most.

Italy’s Educational Crisis

Italy suffers from the most pronounced inequality in educational outcomes in the OECD and ranks lower than most OECD countries in reading and science.

In the last 20 years, Italy’s public school system has stopped being an effective vehicle for young Italians to climb the socioeconomic ladder and achieve their full potential.

Main challenges:

  • Highest rates of early school drop outs in the developed world;

  • 30% of young people are not in school/university, employed or training for employment compared to the 15% EU average;

  • Only 8% of Italian children whose parents do not have a degree will get one of their own, while 65% of students with at least one parent with a degree will get one.

Main Causes:

  • Lowest investment in education in the OECD (3.6% of GDP versus 5% average);

  • Oldest teachers in the EU who are also underpaid and undertrained;

  • Lack of teachers (125,000 empty teaching posts) in many school districts, especially in STEM;

  • Significant increase in socioeconomic inequality and poverty rates.

COVID-19 has resulted in the the longest school closure in the Western world, with schools closing nationally from February to September 2020. COVID’s second wave is forcing schools in most Italian regions to close again. These closures, and the inability of most schools to implement effective distant learning, have worsened existing inequities in society and within the school system, and will lead to a learning loss and lack of opportunities for the most disadvantaged children.