Introduction

Abstract

Modifications of the job structure made necessary by scientific and technical progress constitute an important question with regard to the reorganization of the school system; moreover, it is a question whose answers lie not only in the planning of the labor force, but to a far greater extent in economic planning for the country as a whole. Since Italian economic planning has placed its bet explicitly on the factor of "scientific and technical progress," it is evident that this problem cannot be limited to the question of skill requirements. Rather, it is generally assumed that, although a reduction of the problem to manpower and skill research and educational planning may indeed be expedient for methodological and systematic reasons, such an approach fails to deal with the most crucial issue: namely, how "active" economic planning can go beyond merely assessing the existing state of affairs to influencing directly the basic dynamics of the economy and, accordingly, redefining economic objectives as well. If the planning of vocational-technical training were seen primarily as adaptation to uncontrollable economic processes, the conclusion for Italy might well be that, given permanent unemployment (4), such planning need not be carried out, for enough labor of all categories is already on hand.