Our institute has defined a plan of training activities for teachers with the aim of creating a system of continuous professional development with a view to lifelong learning. The specific objectives of the project were: - improve skills related to teaching in multicultural classes; - increase the ability to trigger and lead changes in terms of inclusiveness; - develop teachers' personal and professional skills in preventing school dropout; - guarantee a coherent, systemic and coordinated approach between the various grades and school levels, associations and local authorities; - contribute to the reduction of the average school dropout rate; - acquire greater understanding and responsiveness to social, linguistic and cultural diversity; - develop a sense of citizenship and European identity through the sharing of good educational practices and teaching between European teachers and trainers; - increase the linguistic communication skills of teachers in English in order to implement the internationalization process of the institute's educational mission.
The I.I.S. “Matteo Raeli” is located in Noto, the school population is very heterogeneous, the social reality of reference is marked by high unemployment rates. In Noto there is a community of nomadic origin, partially sedentary, still not very cohesive with the local social fabric. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of foreign students, many of whom come from disadvantaged social and family backgrounds. One of the priority points of the institute's educational mission is the promotion of an inclusive school based on combating school dropout and guaranteeing equal opportunities for the most vulnerable groups of students. The project was born from the analysis of the training needs of our institute, which is based on three constraints: the presence of students belonging to the community of nomadic origin; the growing presence of foreign students; the socio-economic-cultural context of the students, particularly disadvantaged in some areas. Over the years, the institute has given its contribution to promoting internationalization by activating Comenius, Grundtvig, eTwinning, Youth, Erasmus projects, encouraging a European dimension to teaching.