Liceo delle scienze umane (literally "Human and Social Sciences Lyceum") is a type ofsecondary school in Italy. It is designed to give students the skills to progress to anyuniversity orhigher educational institution, but specifically devoted tohuman sciences related topics.[1] Students can attend theliceo delle scienze umane after graduating fromscuola media (middle school).
The curriculum is devised by theMinistry of Education, and emphasises the link betweenpsychology,anthropology,sociology, andpedagogy.[1] It covers a complete and widespread range of disciplines.[2]
Students typically study for five years, and attend the school from the age of 14 to 19. At the end of the fifth year all students sit for theesame di Stato ("state exam"), a final examination which gave access to every university course.
A student attending aliceo is called "liceale", although the more generic termsstudente (male) andstudentessa (female) are also in common use. Teachers are known asprofessore (male) orprofessoressa (female).
The school was instituted by the 1923Gentile Reform undern the name ofIstituto Magistrale, whose purpose was to form teachers for the Italian primary school. With a four-years curriculum, theIstituto Magistrale and theliceo artistico were the unique Italian secondary schools to have a duration less than fived years. Under the Gentile Reform, the Italianliceo classico was the unique Italian school from which a student could register to the first year of theuniversity, after having passed a final exam called "matura".
In 1940, a member of theItalian Ministry of Education,Giuseppe Bottai, approved theCarta della Scuola, a reform which extended the duration of theIstituto Magistrale from four to five years. The latter year was mainly based on a mandatory teaching apprenticeship to be held in primary school classrooms under the tutorship of a senior and enrolled teacher. TheIstituto Magistrale students were enabled to enroll to the Faculty of Economy and Commerce (in Italian:Facoltà di economia e commercio) and to theMagistero, a faculty that was reserved to theIstituto Magistrale students.
TheIstituto Magistrale was organized as asingle-sex school. In 1951 female students were enabled by law to access the Magistero Faculty.
In 1969 theFiorentino Sullo reform opened the access to the Italian university, giving to the students of all the Italian secondary schools the right to enroll to any faculty. To get enrolled to the university, theIstituto Magistrale and theliceo artistico students were obliged to frequent an integrative year because the ordinary duration of their scholastic curriculums was of four years.[3]