La formación del profesorado italiano de Educación Secundaria y Bachillerato en orientación formativo-profesional

The professional life project of Italian high school students is considered a cognitive and operational device in the construction of which various actors (students, teachers, parents, and territorial units in the network) are involved. The tutor-teacher plays a central role in the process of building this device. The fulfilment of the functions assigned to this institutional figure requires not only theoretical training, but also practical and operational training that enables him/her, on the one hand, to correctly select and use the tools for exploring the personal situation of each student and, on the other hand, to interpret with care the data on the family context and social life of each student with whom the teacher establishes a tutoring relationship. The construction of the professional life project foresees the elaboration of hypotheses about the possible choices that each student should make, the assumption of the commitments that these choices imply and the acceptance of the corresponding risks. This paper highlights some factors for the effectiveness of the training of high school teachers on guiding; these factors are supported by the results of some Italian educational research on the professional development of high school students carried out in Italy in the last twenty years.