Figure 1.--This class photo was taken in San Pier Niceto, a Sicilian village in the hills near Messina. The photo is undated, but was probably taken in the 1960s, perhaps the late-60s. Most pupils are wearing black smocks with white collars and floppy bows. This is the classic clothing at Italian primary schools. Almost all the boys wear short pants. The collars of some boys are not made in cotton cloth, as usual, but rather knitted or made with lace. That was a little unusual for boys. A boy in the back wears a shirt and pullover without a smock. A boy in the front row wears a white shirt with short sleeves. Notice he is wearing flip flops, that was also somewhat unusual. During 1960s in some poorer Italian regions there were still some children attending school barefoot, but we have not seen other chioldren wearing flip-flops to school.

School Trends

Between the 1950s and early 1980s, Italian education expanded significantkly. This was possible because of the Italian Economic Miracle. Italy finally had the tax revenue to properly fund public education. There were major reforms beginning in the 1960s. Two stand out. First, the unified middle school was created and compulsory schooling was extended to the age of 14 years (1963). Until tyhis a large part of the Italian population obnly had basic primary education. Second, access to universities was progressively opened to awider range of students, includin the working-class. This meant that students in all the upper-secondary tracks, including the vocational colleges (istitutiprofessionali). This in particular lelped open up university to the working-class. They were allowed to sit for the matriculation (maturità) examinations and to continue to university. The reform was intnded to reduce social class inequality at university by opening it up working-class students. Educators vary on the actual impact. Also important was gender and regional issues concerning educational opportunity. Italy has made a major shift toward coeducation by the 1960s. We still see single gender schools, mostly in tradition areas during the 1960s.

School Uniforms

Few Italian children wore school nuniforms. School smocks were, howevr, still common in Italy during the 1960s. And that was a kind of schooluniform. Many Italian primary children in the 1960s wore school smocks,. often dark blue smcks. The boys mostly wore short pants. The girls wore dresses. The smocks commonly were worn with shite collars and small floppy bows. This varied somewhat from school to school. Most children came to school with shoes, but there were still some children in poorer areas who came barefoot. Often there were some children who did not wear smocks. We are not sure just why that was. The schools seemed to have tolerated some diversity. But not all schools required smocks, but it was very common. Apperently it was a matter of individual school policy. We note city boys, possibly in Rome, feeding pigeons in a piazza. The boys wear suit jackets rather than smocks. We are not sure what role the Minidtyry of Education played. A few boys wore long pants, but short pants were more common. We do not see a lot of children wearing knee socks, at least when the weather was warm. Here there was some seasonality.

Sources

Shavit, Yossi and Karin Westerbeek. Educational stratification in Italy: Reforms, expansion, and equality of opportunity," Journal Ruropean Sociological Review Vol. 14, No. 1 (1998), pp. 33-47.

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