The Aim of the DALG School
The college Duca degli Abruzzi -Libero Grassi is a Secondary Public High School. The training consists of High School courses in "Applied Science", Administration, Finance and Marketing (AFM), Tourism, Construction, Land and Environment (CAT).
It is located in the north-western part of the city of Palermo and welcomes students from both the city and the hinterland. It welcomes about 800 students, 130 teachers and about 20 administration human resources staff. Each educational path has a 2-year common part, the other 3 years allow students to specialize on specific topics.
The school year is divided into 2 terms. Our school has 4 computer labs: a linguistic one so as to improve foreign languages skills, a Chemistry one, a Physics and a Topography one, a library, a large auditorium, an outdoor area and a gym. The school arranges many extracurricular activities:
European projects, Legacy awareness activities, Saving natural environment elements, Evaluation and protection of historical and cultural heritage, Charity activities, Sports games, Job shadowing simulation, Theatre performances. The Institute is also accredited as a test centre AICA for the achievement of the basic and advanced European Licence. In Palermo the drop-out rate is of 22.5%.
Since one of the goals of the Europe 2020 strategy is to reduce school drop-out rates below 10%, our school has been a partner within a project aiming at tackling early school leaving. The project lasted two years and engaged students in non-formal activities. The project has promoted cooperation among different actors: teachers, headmasters, students’ families, tutors and policy makers and nonprofit organizations. Each of them had a specific role and responsibility in fighting school dropout.
This network operated with the aim to strengthen the values of cooperation, solidarity, legality and social and individual responsibility. Our school has also signed numerous agreements with public institutions, local University and trading companies, which allow students to experience a period of internship. Erasmus staff teachers, guided by the head teacher and by the Erasmus coordinator, has already run European projects and is able to manage all activities related to them. The staff is composed by 14 teachers, and number can increase since the motivation to participate is actually high. As future members of the workforce our students learn to develop the so called “soft skills,” such as creative problem solving, conflict resolution, communication, and teamwork. In addition, the acquisition of positive social skills such as self-respect and reliability are promoted as an opportunity
for students to develop the skills that will be highly valued in future careers. On the other hand, teachers participate to this process by playing the role of tutors, acting as an ideal bridge between the school and the labour market; they also develop the assessment forms for the evaluation.
