Applied project, financed on commission
Project promotion: the National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education and Training system (INVALSI), the Office for Slovene-language Schools at the Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional School Office and the Slovene Research Institute (SLORI)
Project management at SLORI: Dr Matejka Grgič
Project implementation period: 2018–2020
On 7 June 2018, the Italian National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education and Training system (INVALSI), the Office for Slovene-language schools at the Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional School Office and the Slovene Research Institute (SLORI) signed an agreement regarding the drafting of Slovene language exam papers and the translation of Maths exams papers from Italian into Slovene in the framework of the National quality evaluation system. To this end, the INVALSI Institute, in agreement with the Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional School Office, will avail itself of the services of an external provider, namely the Slovene Research Institute (SLORI), which has been granted the status of main research institute in the field of research projects regarding the Slovene ethnic minority. The Institute has been granted this status on a nationwide level by Regional Law 26/2007. Thus, SLORI has been entrusted with preparing exam papers for Slovene language exams and translating the contents of the national examinations in Mathematics into Slovene. These two examinations, along with an English language exam, are taken in Slovene-language schools in the Trieste and Gorizia areas, as well as in the bilingual school district in San Pietro al Natisone, during the first and second educational period, and before the final exams at the end of the aforementioned educational periods. The INVALSI examinations are required by the Italian legislation currently in force and will be carried out in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The agreement provides for close collaboration among all three signatories.
INVALSI examinations are nationwide examinations carried out in Italy in the following subjects: Italian, Mathematics and English. However, in Slovene-language schools in the Provinces of Trieste and Gorizia, as well as in the bilingual unified school district in San Pietro al Natisone, examinations are carried out in Slovene, Mathematics and English. Following the exam models used in other EU countries, INVALSI examinations aim to test to what extent the teaching methods currently in use help pupils and students to develop specific skills. While exam results do not have an impact on the students’ grades, they serve as a reference for headmasters and teachers, who can partially change their teaching methods and curricula, thus adjusting them to the students’ needs.
As part of this commissioned project, in 2018 SLORI was entrusted with preparing the exam papers aimed at testing the students’ competencies in the Slovene language, as well as with providing the Slovene translation of the Maths exam papers. To this end, SLORI has set up specific working groups consisting of teachers, proofreaders, translators and experts in Slovene language teaching.
In April 2020, all primary, lower and upper secondary schools received a report containing an analysis of the results by individual level and the results achieved by each school in the INVALSI testing in 2019.