Started by
Ludovica
Member
Member
An interesting article in yesterday's La Stampa about the recruitment of teachers in Conservatories, in light of the new ranking system that does not evaluate artistic qualifications, excluding great musicians from teaching, even as substitutes.
Member
Affinché i giovani musicisti abbiano il miglior insegnamento possibile, rivedete i metodi di reclutamento dei docenti dei conservatori di musica? https://www.change.org/p/appello-affinch%C3%A9-i-giovani-musicisti-abbiano-il-miglior-insegnamento-possibile-rivedete-i-metodi-di-reclutamento-dei-docenti-dei-conservatori-di-musica?share_id=psxZpBYAEH&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition
A classic petition never hurts
Member
Conservatories off limits for music stars
Other testimonies
Member
Who the hell writes these ministerial circulars?
Administrator
The issue is complex. In reality, there were mistakes even before. Many conservatory teachers did not even have academic qualifications and entered teaching in the conservatory only thanks to artistic merits. This is also wrong. I think the reform should have been done by seeking a middle ground. I agree that artistic titles are important, but to teach one must also have an academic qualification; otherwise, just because I performed some mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, I cannot go to work in a hospital's resuscitation department without a medical degree. I mean, everything should be evaluated. Does he have academic qualifications? How many? A score is derived from those... Does he have artistic titles? How many? Another score is derived and the sum is made to see the total score that will place him in the ranking. One is not good without the other; this would be, in my opinion, the way to go.
Certainly, completely eliminating the importance of a teacher's artistic career implies that concerts will be halved. Many concert performers go to perform for free just to increase their artistic credentials; in this way, they would practically only move for payment, and since the money isn't there, no more concerts. It is like doing 1 + 1.
Member
Perhaps it is appropriate to say that there is another side to the coin regarding these national rankings: it is an aspect that the Corriere article, like many other similar articles, ignores (culpably).
These rankings were created to provide a sort of "stabilization" for precarious teachers who have completed at least three years of service in the last ten years. I use quotation marks because it is not a true hiring, but rather admission into a reserved ranking list. The requirement consists of service records: not academic qualifications nor artistic ones. Someone who has taught for 10 years has precedence over someone who has taught for 5 years, and anyone who has taught for less than 3 years is excluded.
So it is true: if, paradoxically, Pollini had applied for a Piano professorship, he would not have been admitted to the national ranking, since artistic qualifications are not evaluated. But there is precisely the other side of the coin: if Pollini (again, paradoxically) had participated in the institute rankings for Piano over the last ten years, he would have always come out first, precisely by virtue of his artistic qualifications; consequently, he would also have come out first in this new national ranking.
Therefore, it is not true, strictly speaking, that artistic qualifications are not evaluated in this new ranking: instead, they are the requirement that allowed for the accumulation of service records which then guaranteed admission to the ranking.
PS obviously the case of Pollini is paradoxical because if he, like all the other real VIPs, intended to teach in a Conservatory, he certainly would not be processed through the 128 [ranking].
