High schools operating with joint-management. What is this and what was our contribution?

Co-management in 2020

In my days, students would organise sit-ins and engage in "self-management": people would sit around talking about Mao, knitting and holding meetings...

This was the 70s and I was in a state-run high school near the centre of Milan that was very left-wing …

I don’t have any kids so I only hear about schools indirectly through friends of mine who are mothers or teachers.

An example of joint-management: a lesson entitled "What is a CV and how to prepare one"

One Sunday afternoon a friend of mine called me and asked if I would give a lesson at a high school on a jointly managed basis. I accepted because I am curious and always open to new experiences. I had to replace a head hunter who cancelled his lesson at the last minute at the Liceo Manzoni in Milan, on the topic of CVs : "What is a CV and how to prepare one".

I have been successfully reading, correcting, revising, explaining CVs every day for 15 years so I was confident I would be up to the task.

I did have some doubts: youngsters nowadays are often described as lazy, unmotivated, unable to even write properly, etc.

Thankfully I went to one of the most prestigious high schools in Milan and was assisted by two teachers before a large audience of 30-35 boys and girls from the final three years who followed my lesson intently for two hours, without any breaks and without using their phones!

What more can I say?

I applaud the idea of this lesson and the youngsters involved - in this case a girl called Camilla from the final year who suggested this lesson. At last schools are teaching practical skills for the labour market. It reminds me of a poem I read (and noted down) from what is considered a Bible by people working in my sector "What color is your parachute?" by Richard N. Bolles:

The Three Essential Life Skills