La questione del merito docente

Abstract

In determining pupils’ educational success, the teacher has increasingly taken on a key role by acting consciously his/her professionalism in terms of expertise that can be recognized and valued. With a view to improving educational systems quality, the Italian Law 107 in 2015 established the award of annual teacher bonuses for the recognition of their merit pay based on the Evaluation Committees’ criteria and set of indicators. Starting from the concept of merit (linked to meritocracy and worthiness) and how it has been implemented by recent legislation, the article shows the criteria for the assignment of bonuses a sample of teachers from Tuscan schools identified, which confirm the idea of merit conveyed by the school regulations and make it also possible to collect some traits of “worthy” teaching professionalism.