Conclusions of Part I

Abstract

Educational planning, the attempt to adapt the skill structure of the labor force to scientific and technical progress, has failed in Italy for two reasons. The poor political possibilities for implementing planning, including planning in education, have checked attempts to put ideas into practice. Instead, the uncontrolled demand for education has made possible the growth of institutions which planning regarded as being of less urgent importance. Second, the foundations of planning have proven to be unsound, because changes in the job structure have not generally been in the direction of higher qualification; rather, a dual tendency has existed with regard to the need for labor. The continued increase in the need for manpower without any prior specialized training, on the one hand, and the need for a higher level of specialization for a smaller, if increasing, segment of the labor force, on the other, have invalidated the assumption that a general rise in level of qualification would be necessary.