Il precariato degli insegnanti in Italia. Politiche di reclutamento e domande di rappresentanza

The working paper offers a historical and analytical frame to understand the complex phenomenon of teachers’ precarious work in the Italian public education system. The first section focuses on the mechanisms of Italian teachers recruitment. The analysis starts from the 1950s and identifies distinctive policy cycles, pointing out the origins and the historical dynamics of the recruitment of temporary teachers. The role of teachers trade unions and professional associations in such a historical process is addressed. The second section analyses the recent developments in teachers’ recruitment policies, highlighting the structural effects produced since 2008 by the new austerity regime. In doing so, the paper also outlines a provisional picture of the composite world of temporary teachers and the collective actors (unions, associations, movements, and so on) that represent them in the Italian scenario. The third section presents a set of specific traits of the Italian education system concerning labor relations, governance and teachers professionalism. The aim is to identify potential relations between these peculiar traits and the arising of new representation needs among temporary teachers. The impact of the entering of the NPM global recipes within the Italian field of education on these processes is discussed. The working paper ends with a provisional attempt to identify a set of analytical questions and dimensions to be addressed in order to further explore both the phenomenon of teachers’ precarious work in the Italian public education system and the relationship between temporary employment and the arising of new and unrecognised representation needs among teachers.