INFO.PALLADIO

 

 

 INDEX

HOW TO GET TO PALLADIO

From the railway station by bus
 No.9 bus to San Paolo; get off at the second stop after the prison

By car
From the Treviso South motorway exit:
Go to Treviso, drive down the ring road until the traffic lights; turn right; go straight at the next traffic lights until you get to a second set of lights: take a left, go past the prison,  and take the first road on the left (Via Tronconi); ITG Palladio is on the right.

From the Treviso North motorway exit:
Carry on towards Treviso along the Conegliano-Treviso road, turn right into Strada Ovest (Viale  della Repubblica) towards Vicenza Padova; carry on, then turn right at the fifth set of traffic lights; go past the prison, take the first road on the left;  ITG Palladio is on the right.

From Castelfranco and Zero Branco
get to the Stiore traffic lights (Silos shopping centre), take Strada Ovest (Viale della Repubblica) towards ConeglianoUdine; turn left at the first traffic lights; go past the prison, take the first road on the left;  ITG Palladio is on the right.

 INDEX

 

General information

Tax and expenses

Starting from the second form, students must pay a  government school tax of Lit. 29,300 upon enrolling (students who have scored "excellent" at middle school leaving exams are exempted).

All enrolled students pay to "Palladio" a share in expenses of Lit. 120,000. The following services, set out by the Educational Offer Plan are free:

• teaching
• co-teaching when provided for (1500 hours)
• courses for recovering educational debts
•  Help desk (face2face and online)
• purchase of school reports and student's record books
• insurance premium comprising accident insurance and 'RCT' covering all school activities set forth by the School Plan, bar thefts, for which the policy is private
• materials and equipment to be used in workshops
• extra school activities including extra courses, such as Auto cad, English Conversation, Language courses (French - English - German - Spanish), Theatre, Audiovisuals, Music, etc.
• access to the Resource Centre
• help desks
• professional guidance activities, including work opportunities also in Britain  (3-week internship completely sponsored by the school with EEC funds)

 

 

School Timetable

The school timetable, which is set forth by the teachers' board and passed by the School Council, is drawn up to consider current regulations, educational needs and public transport. Lessons start at 8.10a.m.. and finish at 1.40p.m.. for a maximum 6 hours a day.

The school timetable also provides for a 15 min. break between the third and fourth hour.

 

 

 INDEX

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ORGANIZATIONAL CHOICES

ORGANIGRAM: FUNCTIONS AND FIGURES

 

Our School's organigram provides for tasks to be distributed at various levels; there are, in fact, bodies and figures with specific responsibilities:

·         The School Manager (Principal) organizes and assesses the whole educational/training process; he/she deals with the organization's efficiency, related to which he/she takes decisions; organizes and runs initiatives; networks with teachers, students, parents, administrative staff, external bodies with the aim of facilitating teaching-learning processes;

 

·         The Staff consists of: Supply Teachers, System Figures (teacher who have been exempted or partially exempted from teaching who are in charge of special Projects), Objective - Figures (teachers elected by the Teachers' Board who are responsible of special projects within specific competency areas), Principal's Collaborators. It has functions as a scientific – didactic Committee in terms of proposing, didactic and organizational planning, assessment and evaluation of processes, products and activities it devises and realizes; the Staff co-ordinates the management of the POF. Teachers responsible for the Teachers' Evaluation Committee are also appointed within the Staff.

 

 

·         Department Co-ordinators co-ordinate the group of teachers of the same subject or the same disciplinary area.

 

·         Class Co-ordinators co-ordinate Class Councils by authority of the Principal. Class Councils consist of all the class teachers, two students' representatives and two parents' representatives. Class Councils can also work on an extended basis to include all parents and all students.

 

 INDEX

THE CURRICULAR PROPOSAL

1.      Introduction

 

Palladio is characterised by the activation of experimental courses which have actually replaced the traditional surveyors’ schools curriculum, a choice which involves a whole set of innovations. The main ones are summarised below:

 

·         study of Information Technologies as early as the first form;

·         study of Law and Economics as early as the first form;

·         introduction, in the last three forms, of a project area including several subjects;

·         study of the English Language until the fifth form and possibility to study another foreign language within the integration area and/or afternoon activities;

·         career and university advising activities including, at the end of the fourth year, arrangement of internships with firms or public agencies;

·         participation in European Community projects (Socrates, Comenius, Leonardo) which enable students and teachers to take part in cultural exchanges and internships abroad;

·         modular curricular subjects planning with certification of the skills acquired in each module;

·         certification of activities done outside curricular hours;

·         learning assessment with tests whose criteria are agreed among teachers of the same subject;

·         student’s record book with a description of competence and educational levels reached.

 

2.  Subjects and Fundamental Activities

 

professional profile

The Technical School has a double purpose:

·         starting a valuable path in educating technicians to be inserted directly in the work world. The training path can be completed as needed with higher, non-university technical training courses;

·         supplying a well balanced education, which can be valid both as general education and in view of further, university-level studies (short degrees and doctoral degrees)

At the end of the five-year course, students can find work in different fields.

 

     

 

SUBJECTS

 

     

COMMON SUBJECTS	I	II	III	IV	V
Italian	3	3	4	4	4
Literature and history arts	2	1
History	2	2	2	2	2
Foreign language	2	3	3	3	3
Maths	4	4	4	3	3
Earth science and biology	2	2
Law & Economics	2	2
Information and Communication Technologies	2	2
Religion/ Alternative activities	1	1	1	1	1
Physical Education	2	2	2	2	2
STUDY AREA
Physics	3	3
Chemistry	3	3
Graphical representation and building technology	3	3
EXTRA OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES	2	2	6	3
OPERATIVE REFERENCE AREA
Law-Economics			2	2	2
Project engineering			2	2	4
Construction			3	3	3
Topography			2	3	3
Fixtures				2	3
Soil science, ecology, estimating			2	3	3
TOTAL	33	33	33	33	33

 

 INDEX

THE EDUCATIONAL ACTION

 

1.         Definition and purposes

The educational action forms, together with professional training, a fundamental School activity.

This student-centred action has the purpose of supplying significant contributions to the definition and achievements of students’ life projects and ambitions.

 

The School identifies the fundamental and characteristic elements of its action, continually and consistently seeking the application of the fundamental principles of pluralism, tolerance, peace, health and environment protection. Great care is given to two fundamental perspectives:

 

-          society, in continual transformation, at different levels (national, European, global).

 

-          the School’s field of work, with its specific aspects and issues

2.             Reception

Reception activities are carried out during the first School Year week with the purpose of fostering mutual understanding between new students and the School – in particular Class Board teachers.

Students are encouraged to familiarise with the School’s structure, organisation and rules through special events and activities.

Entry levels in subject and cross-subject skills are then assessed with suitable means in order to supply useful information for educational planning or allow any improvement in class formation.

 

3.         Educational Planning

Each Class Board annually works out its educational programme, defines specific and individually tailored objectives, operative modes for reaching them, and criteria to assess the results obtained.

To facilitate reaching these objectives and to help students in their choices, the School has designed suitable career advising, listening and dropout-fighting activities.

If necessary, the School enforces discipline with educational purposes, and guarantees fairness, transparency and timeliness, in compliance with School Regulations.

 

 INDEX

 

TRANSVERSAL SKILLS  –EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

 

Compliance with the Regulations	* Punctuality in carrying out tasks * Compliance with School hours * Regularly justified absences, delays, leaves * Observance of sector regulations and instruments * Respect of school furnishings and rooms
Correct relations with others	* Establishing formally correct relations with everyone * Behaving according to principles of respect and tolerance, both in words and actions
Operative independence	* Identifying work procedures and instruments suited to different situations * Ability to plan one’s work * Ability to evaluate one’s own performance * Ability to express and solve problems

 

 INDEX

 

DIDACTIC CHOICES

 

1.      Modularity

 

Our School is characterised by modularity as a didactic choice. This implies the following:

·         each subject’s path is planned by modules;

·         the objectives are set out clearly for each module;

·         each module is divided in didactic units;

·         a final test is planned at the end of each module, with make-good tests as and if needed (an intermediate test is also possible);

·         the result of each module weighs on each subject’s final assessment in a stated way;

·         the result of each module is certified and notified to families;

·         the subject’s proposed final mark is based on the well-reasoned average of the modules attended during the year.

 

As regards the implementation of modular didactics, in some subjects the modules might be studied intensively and concentrated in one four-month term in order to facilitate learning (this has been done over the past few years, for example, for scientific subjects in the first two terms); this implies weekly timetable diversification, both for teachers and classes, on a four-month basis.

 

 

2.      Cross-subject projects

 

Cross-subject projects are mainly implemented in the third, fourth and fifth forms through the Project Area module according to the following phases:

·         The Class Board identifies the project topic (fourth and fifth forms might continue working on previous years’ projects);

·         subjects to be involved in the project are identified;

·         objectives and the ways and times to achieve them are defined;

·         assessment ways and criteria are defined.

 

Besides project areas, it is possible to program interdisciplinary modules between related subjects with the two teachers’ co-presence in the classroom (e.g. Law and Estimating).

 

 

3.      Flexible organization of the class group- co- teaching

 

Aims:

·         diversifying teaching modes;

·         supporting the development of metaknowledge and student-teacher relationship;

·         remedying lacks;

·         valorizing excellence;

·         using new didactic technologies to support the student's cognitive development and autonomy;

·         diversifying the educational plan of the integration area set by the specific guidance biennium;

 

Operation:

 

·         Co-teaching with division of the class group in 2/3 levels aimed at remedying lacks and valorizing excellence

·         Co-teaching for realizing multimedia packages

·         Co-teaching for carrying out workshop activities

·         Co-teaching with redistribution of all students of same-level classes for teaching integrative obligatory subjects, but at choice (integration area)

·         Co-teaching for realizing multidisciplinary modules

 

 

4.  Certifications

Certification is the assessment operation which certifies the level reached by the student in specific competencies set by module, the subject, and in general by the activity carried out by the student.

 

·         In our school all the activities, both curricular and non curricular, carried out by students are certified

·         Certification is done by the teacher and shared by the student as competencies and relevant evaluation criteria are stated

·         Certification is drawn with a mark referred to the competencies described in order to make them univocally interpretable and comparable

·         Each acquired and certified skills represents an educational credit and is stated in the student's curriculum

 

 

5.      Instruments adopted to support didactics

 

Use of information and multimedia technologies

 

Over the last few years, in particular following the Multilab experience,  the School has significantly stepped up use of information and multimedia technologies in its didactic charter.

This is done within the curriculum, which sets forth two hours a week for the first two forms as part of the new grammar school subject, TIC (information and communication technology). The students’ preparation at the end of the two years allows them to pass the ECDL European Computer Driving Licence exam, which they can sit at our School.

The competencies cover information management through word processing, hypertext communication, multimedia presentations, spreadsheet processing and simple data bases, e-mail and internet.

In the first two forms some skills are also ‘reinforced’ by some integration area modules (in particular as regards image management and editing and publishing documents with internet technologies).

 

In the last three forms a specific CAD (computer aided design) activity is introduced, and certain operative activities are supported - both with the use of professional or application software for different subject fields and with final multimedia presentations of individual and group essays, in particular in project areas.

Please check our School’s website  http://www.palladio-tv.it for an overview of what has been achieved so far in this field.

 

Resource Centre 

 

The School’s Resource Centre offers the students special rooms subject to regulations and with a teacher’s or technician’s assistance: a reading room within the library, a reading and conversation room, a video room, two projection rooms, a Public Informative Space, a Students’ Computer Point and an On-line Space.

 

The Resource Centre’s fundamental function is to offer students further learning opportunities through individual and group use of didactic materials and equipment for research, in-depth study, self-learning and remedial activities.

Access to the Resource Centre is allowed for individual research and study activities, for whole class alternative activities during any class teacher’s short absence; for research activities for small groups.

 

available documentation

The Centre’s resources consist of printed material (approximately 4500 books, newspapers, magazines, Official Gazette, School documentation), audio-visual material (approximately 850 videocassettes), electronic material (approximately  200 CD-ROMs).   All the material  is filed on computer, which can be consulted online  http://www.palladio-tv.it/Biblio/index.htm.

 

 

 

Internet and Intranet

Internet and e-mail access is possible in the Resource Centre. The Resource Centre’s computers are also connected to the School’s internal network; it is therefore possible to exploit resources shared by the other School’s computers (laboratories, students’ room, computer rooms, etc.)

 

The Online Resource Centre

The Resource Centre also offers the Palladio on line service, addressed to both students with special skills, and students with learning difficulties, who are offered specific remedial activities instruments and systems. The service includes the following areas:

Forum Help for distance advice and didactic assistance; Didactic materials archives aimed at self-learning;  Forum Biblio where students can write comments and reviews of films they have seen and books they have read; Forum Palladio or Forum CIC Telematico , which is also open to parents, through which all the School can exchange ideas and interact on issues connected with school life, cultural aspects and events, youth and social issues; Palladionet, the students’ network: an online space managed by the students themselves.

 

 

Laboratories

 

The School offers ample spaces for normal and specialised didactic activities.

 

Normal classrooms are equipped with traditional blackboards and OHPs and if needed TV sets, VCRs and computers can be  brought in on trolleys.

 

For special activities, besides the equipment offered by the resource Centre we mentioned before, the School also has a conference room (with 100 seats) equipped with wide-screen projection facilities,  computer and video camera for video conferences and a meeting room (with 25 seats ) equipped with computer and DVD, VCR, video camera, high-quality audio system and system to transmit the video signal onto the students’ monitors.

 

The laboratories comprise :

 

6 drafting rooms

4 computer rooms (with  81 personal computers connected to the local network and with broad band internet access).

2 chemistry rooms

1 physics room

1 science-biology

1 topography laboratory (with main equipment consisting of 6 total stations)

1 cartography laboratory (with surface photogrammetry equipment)

1 construction laboratory (equipped with concrete testing instruments and a large collection of models and materials)

 

Information system 

The School is interconnected with a network structure that covers all the floors, which will be completed with one point of access in each classroom. The internal network is managed for diverse didactic,  administrative - management and internet  publishing services by 5 servers (with standard or open source O. S.). The network is connected to the internet with two Adsl broad-band accesses, which means all stations can access the internet. On average the School offers one computer every 6 students.

The fastest laser printers, the laser colour printer and the colour plotter for large format prints are also connected to the network.

 

For the near future, the School has chosen to outfit new electronics laboratories (for computer science) and to upgrade the chemistry and biology – hygiene laboratories (for environment and health sciences).

 

School Trips

 

School trips are organised  with the aim of offering formative experiences to supplement the students’ general education, cultural enrichment, and personal growth.

Students participate at their own expenses, teachers’ expenses are covered by the School.

In compliance with current regulations and with the Teachers’ Board decision of 20.09.2001, the minimal percentage of the class - group participating to the school trip must be of at least 2/3. In case the participants are less than that, it is possible for them to join other class - groups, subject to prior consent of accompanying teachers and respective Class Boards, in order not to deny any student the opportunity for cultural enrichment.

For first and second forms school trips are mainly within national borders.

 

Help

 

The School organises three types of learning support activities:

·         Support on demand (face2face Help), individual or for small groups, in all subjects, for all courses and forms, aimed at solving limited and localised difficulties.

·         On-line support (On-line Help), with the same characteristics.

·         Basic Skill Remedial Courses, for small groups, aimed at biennium students. 

 

Warm-up Courses

 

 

Warm-up courses are in reception of law 9/99 and M. D.323/99, in order to support from a didactic point of view students who have the intention to move to another secondary field of study, including career paths offered by vocational training. Moreover, specially tailored courses will be offered to students who have the intention of leaving school after reaching compulsory education levels.

 

Students from other fields of study who wish to move to our School will be helped to acquire useful skills for successful entry by means of suitable individually tailored didactic paths.

 

6.      Other formative offers

 

During the school year students can participate to different courses, which take

place in the afternoon, based on requests expressed by the students themselves at the beginning of the school year. Each course will be activated only with a minimum number of participants and in accordance to resources to be used (normally at the School’s expenses).

Participation in extracurricular activities is covered by specific certification.

 

Over the last few years the following activities have been organised:

    

·         Theatre Workshop (with final performance in the town’s theatre)

·         Sports (mini-football, rugby, beach-volley, participation in students’ championships)

·         Foreign language courses (German, Spanish, French)

·         Computer courses (CAD specialisation, ECDL exam preparation, etc.)

 

 INDEX

 

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS

Networks which are already active:

• Co-operation with the Lower Secondary Schools of Paese and Mogliano Veneto (scuola Media Casteller and scuole Medie Rossi and Saba).

?  Provincial school network (elementary, lower secondary, secondary)

• Co-operation with similar schools and/or with different orientation (Surveyors' Schools or Licei).

•  Sirio Project carried out at the School with the co-ordinating school network.

• FIS Project (integrated upper education)

• Comenius Project,

• Leonardo Project, students' internships in Hastings and Brighton.

• Leonardo Pilot Project, co-operation with schools from La Spezia and Rome, with Germany, Finland and Holland.

• Socrates Project, cultural exchanges, in co-operation with Great Britain, Norway, Greece, Germany, Denmark.

• Vives Project, (co-ordinated by CEDE), experimental evaluation of the quality of the school staff's performance, activity in co-operation with 30 networked schools with specific monitoring.

• Multilab Network, a pilot project which started in 1996 within the Didactic Technologies development programme. The projects provides for the involvement of 141 schools nation-wide, at all levels, from Nursery Schools to Secondary Schools, grouped around 20 poles represented by 20 cities.

• ENIS Network, (European Network of Innovative Schools) which operates within EUN (European School Net) and consists of European schools (about 30 for each country) interested in improving innovative processes by using New Information and Communication Technologies

 INDEX

 

ASSESSMENT MODES

AND EVALUATION CRITERIA

Testing

Two Types of Test are set out for each module in Technical School classes

Educational Test – oral and/or written, it is appraised and used with the only aim of identifying the situation of the learning/teaching process. It is useful for the student to verify what stage his/her training is with respect to the work that has been carried out, and for the teacher to better adjust his/her action.

Add-up Test – written, it is appraised and used with the aim of evaluating the overall level of competence reached in the specific module (the module mark corresponds to the mark obtained in the Module-End Add-up Test). The number of Add-up tests will depend on the number of modules in which the subject is organized.

Oral Tests and their relative assessment, expressed by the teacher with a mark, will be done during the didactic activity and will have educational purposes.

Assessment

The course of action followed by the school as regards assessment has the objective of guaranteeing maximum transparency of the assessment process in all its phases, in order to allow students and their families to know, if they want to, their position in the learning path at any time.

The fundamental lines of the path are as follows:

The Teachers' Board decrees:

·         The agreement between marks and learning levels for final assessment

·         The criteria for passing and failing

The Department:

·         Translates the descriptions of levels using the subject's terms

·         Produces a grid of marks-levels agreement for each add-up tests that will be done during the year

·         Establishes how the result of add-up tests will lead to the proposed final mark, which is understood as collocation of the student at an established level of learning.

The Teacher:

·         Applies the decisions taken by the Teachers' Board and by their Department for each test to every student, and will therefore get to a consistent proposal of final mark which will reach the Class Council for the end-of-term assessment of progress.

The student and the family are aware of:

·         The mark-level agreement, as approved by the Teachers' Board

·         The specific mark-level agreement for each subject

·         The assessment criteria used in each test

·         The criteria according to which test results in each subject will lead to the proposed final mark for end-of-term assessment

·         The established criteria for passing or failing.