1. PIAZZA CADUTI DI PIAN D’ALBERO - 50063 FIGLINE VALDARNO
T E L . 0 5 5 . 9 5 2 0 8 7 - F A X 0 5 5 . 9 5 3 6 7 6
http://www.isisvasari.it ; e - m a i l : f i i s 0 11 0 0 b @ i s t r u z i o n e . i t
For many years Vasari Secondary School has been committed to promoting learning
activities dedicated to inclusion as well as the development of transversal skills for a
better employability of our students, complying to the policy of the School Reform that
fosters work-based learning. Our school is not merely a place where notions are learnt, but
rather where students are assisted in becoming independent and self-sufficient individuals,
each with his/her personality, formed around a solid cultural core. On the firm belief that
diversity strengthens individuals, and therefore the community, our school has always
promoted an understanding and appreciation of diversity in all forms as an integral and
vital part of school life. This is why Vasari School is proposing a complex education project
to form students globally as active citizens that can deal with diversity and disadvantages
also in a European dimension. The teachers too have empowered their competence by
participating in various projects and training courses both in Italy and abroad.
2. For all these reasons and to favour access to the world of work, it is essential to adopt
new active-learning methods and new technological tools, closer to the world of young
people and vital for the development of transversal skills, aligned to the requirements of
the European Key Skills. To share all this with European partners is crucial for the
development of this rationale.
Vasari School is a Secondary Institute
providing access to Higher Education and
to the world of work. It was founded as
Istituto Tecnico per Geometri (Technical
Institute for Surveyors) in 1967 and in time
other courses were added: IGEA
(Technical Institute for Accountants), Liceo
Scientifico (an academically oriented
secondary school), Professional Institute
for Catering and Reception, Technical
Institute for Agriculture and Evening
Courses for adults. There are currently more than 1,200 pupils enrolled and staff is of a
high professional level. All our courses are the outcome of careful local needs analysis and
a rewarding synergy with the surrounding territory. Due to its location, the Vasari Institute
has become the core of a network of schools in the Valdarno area, in the provinces of both
Florence and Arezzo.
In all its courses our school provides a range of projects and opportunities for students to
fulfil their potential and achieve their personal best, with support and follow-up activities as
well as the promotion of academic excellence and success. We have important projects
involving disadvantaged pupils, with disabilities and/or with special learning needs, as well
as for foreign students. The aim of these projects is to prevent early school-leaving and to
remove any obstacles that may hinder the full development of the individual.
In response to the educational needs of
our students, the Vasari Institute acts as
a “bridge” between Primary Education
and University, elaborating shared
vertical curricula to align curriculum
across different school grades. In 2011 a
Technical Scientific Committee was set
up to survey the educational needs of our
pupils. The main categories of the world
of labour and local entrepreneur groups
are represented, for example
Confindustria (Italian Confederation of
Industry), Confesercenti (ItalianConfederation of Traders and Hotel Owners) and Coldiretti
(Italian Association of Farmers). The University of Florence is also represented, thus
making the Committee a strategic observation point providing constant feedback on the
professional skills and knowledge required both by the labour market and by Higher
3. Education. In compliance to the guidelines of all these important partners the Assembly of
Teachers has modified teaching methods to align them to the requirements of the world of
work.
The use of innovative technology is an important aspect of our school policy and since
2011 the School Board has invested resources in new computers, software and
interactive white-boards to support active learning (or “in-laboratory learning”) and thereby
enhance the potential of each student.
The Vasari Institute:
- boosts linguistic competence to achieve certification in foreign languages and empowers
computing skills with the achievement of ECDL qualification;
- promotes work-based learning projects and programmes with professional internships in
Italy and abroad;
- has had since 2010 a consolidated experience in Mobility programmes in European
projects such as the six fluxes of LEONARDO, with which groups of pupils of the
Professional Course (including differently-abled students) attended language courses and
carried out professionalizing internships in Sweden, Spain and Northern Ireland;
- carried out IN.SU.PER. AB.I.L.E., a project funded by Camera di Commercio (Board of
Trade) which took students from the Technical Course and Liceo to England for summer
work-experience placements;
- completed similar activities in Malta, Spain and England in 2011/2012 and 2012/13;
- sent four classes of various courses on internships to Spain thanks to transnational
mobility promoted by the Tuscan Region in 2012/2013;
- took part in an exchange programme with a high school of Bastia, Corsica (Lycée
Giocante de Casablanca) last year;
- is currently partner in the 2-year
Comenius project “Democratic
Values and Linguistic Diversity”,
with 5 European partners;
- has won the Erasmus+ KA1-
Learning Mobility of Individuals with
the Project G.A.L.I.L.E.O. which
deals with work-based learning and
the prevention of early school-
leaving, providing training courses
and job-shadowing in partner
countries for 18 teachers in the
period 2014-2016;
4. - has been since 2014 the lead partner of the "Polo Tecnico Professionale Hotellerie Beni
Culturali e Turismo" (Technical Professional Centre for Hotel Industry, Historic and Artistic
Heritage and Tourism) which comprises 30 private and public stakeholders and is
committed to the experimentation promoted by the Tuscan Region on active and work-
based learning, complementary IeFP (Professional Education and Training System) and
apprenticeship.
Vasari School has always aimed at inclusion and intercultural integration and Staff
members have a solid understanding, knowledge and experience of the needs and
requirements of the disabled and disadvantaged. We have a high percentage of
differently-abled pupils, currently 65 out of 1,203 students, and lately there has been an
increase in the number of students with
DSA (105 with Learning Difficulties) and
with BES (48 with Special Learning Needs).
For this reason we have a strong team of
support teachers that cooperate constantly
with the class teachers to plan and carry out
Individualized Education Programmes.
Thanks to projects like A.bil.Mente, Disco
and PEZ, a number of students with
disabilities has achieved a Regional
Qualification as Catering Assistant, thus
enhancing their employability. These projects were accomplished in a network with other
secondary schools in the province of Florence and with the collaboration of the local
Authorities, the local Health Services (ASL10) and with various Associations dealing with
disadvantaged people, with the intent to favour the development of basic key skills and
increase the employability of these students.
Project activities for Foreigners: about 14% of our students are of foreign origin and our
school offers courses such as A.LI.S.E.I. and S.A.L.V.E. to provide linguistic support and
favour their social integration.
An important part of school activities are
dedicated to solidarity and volunteer work,
through projects such as “Waiting Time”,
promoted by the Town Hall of Figline and
Incisa Valdarno, the local Health Services of
Florence and the Association of Hospital
Volunteers (AVO), to help patients at
Serristori Hospital in Figline read books and
consult multimedia materials. The teachers
and students involved in this project have
published ”Gocce di memorie”, memoirs of
patients in hospital and in the Old Age Home “Martelli” of Figline. Every year the Vasari
5. Institute takes part in the activities of “Dynamo Camp” in Pistoia, promoted by Unicoop,
where methods, instruments and ideas to help children with serious and/or chronic
illnesses are experimented. On 4/5 March 2015 our school organized a convention,
“Education Paths in Catering Schools for the Integration of Differently-Abled Pupils”, in
collaboration with the National Network of Catering Schools (RE.NA.I.A.), of which the
Institute is member. For many years differently-abled pupils of our school have entered
regional competitions for Waiters, Cooks and
Tourist Reception personnel, for instance the
competition “Around the Same Table " (
"Insieme a tavola”, Castefiorentino, 27
November 2014). During the “Tirreno CT
Fair” (Carrara, 26 February 2015) our
differently-abled students had the chance to
run the restaurant inside the fair. With the
development of work-based learning paths,
we now have a group of teachers dealing
with the work placement of disadvantaged
pupils in various enterprises.
There is a strong bond with the local territory, which Vasari School knows well and
promotes through the following activities: the official travel Guidebook of Figline written in
Italian and English by our students and published with the cooperation of the Town Hall;
“Indò Valdarno”, guided tours of the historic centres of the Valdarno area conducted by
pupils in Italian, English, French and German; “Walking Around Figline”, guided tours in
the historic centre of Figline conducted by
our students in Italian, English, French
and German; "Young Travellers – Your
Idea of Business”, work-based learning
activity to create e portal promoting
sustainable and responsible tourism for
young people. These last two projects are
renewed every year and approved in the
Vasari P.O.F. (the Educational Policy and
Planning of our school), like the projects
that led to the following publications: "The
Squares of the Valdarno" and "The
Romanique Parishes of the Valdarno". In these projects the pupils of the Technical
Course survey the local heritage to prepare themselves as future operators of the local
territory that appreciate and defend their past. Currently they are working on the survey of
historical buildings. Other publications include the two volumes on the names of streets in
Figline written by students of the Liceo: "Una via, un nome, un perché", the result of a
collection of testimonials by the citizens of Figline.
