Not much attention was dedicated to the problem of child labour in Italy until the Nineties, probably because child labour was a marginal phenomenon and had almost disappeared following promulgation in 1967 of a law that prohibited any type of work until school leaving age had been reached ( or until fourteen years of age) and the introduction of sanctions to protect children’s rights to health and education. Since the end of the Nineties attention to the subject has progressively grown and, partially through studies and research projects, greater understanding of the problem has been promoted – but the extreme difficulty of investigating the phenomenon has also emerged quite markedly, along with the general confusion about the subject and the fragmentary results of research. As a demonstration of this, it should suffice to analyse the estimates made by scholars, research institutes, institutions and labour unions in recent years, which differ from each other by hundreds of thousands of units, with oscillations between 50 thousand and 500 thousand working minors. Although there is still open debate on child work today in Italy, it is possible to outline some recurrent characteristics that contribute to defining the phenomenon in Italy from the various research projects that have been conducted, especially those conducted in specific territorial contexts that are of a qualitative nature, as well as the only investigation conducted on the national level on a representative sample of the population, commissioned by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy from ISTAT (Italian National Statistical Institute), which was published in 2002. Not all research projects took into consideration the point of view of children in the objectives pursued but almost two research projects take children’s point of view into consideration, from which some useful information may be gleaned: the ISTAT research, and a qualitative research performed by the author (Tagliaventi M.T., Lavoro minorile e percorsi formativi in una società industriale avanzata, Morlacchi editore, Perugia, 2002). These researches, albeit with all due caution in dealing with a problem-fraught phenomenon such as child work, underline that what children think of their work differs a great deal from what many adults think, who are responsible for their education, especially educators, teachers, pedagogues and the parents of minors who do not work, who generally demand that minors under fifteen years of age be removed from actual working situations. But if adults do not consider or ask themselves why working activities not only are requested by children but also judged as quite positive experiences, they will not be able to look at premature work in the right way or to provide alternatives to these satisfying activities. All of this obviously forces to reconsider the conceptual paradigms on childhood and calls upon all the agencies concerning the socialization of children.

Child Work and Child Labour in Italy: The Point of View of the Children / M. T. Tagliaventi. - STAMPA. - (2007), pp. 161-166. (Intervento presentato al convegno Symposium „What does work mean to children? Theoretical approaches and international empirical reports” - „Die Bedeutung von Arbeit aus der Sicht der Kinder – theoretische Ansätze und empirische Forschungsergebnisse aus internationaler Perspektive“ tenutosi a Berlino nel 12-17 aprile 2004).

Child Work and Child Labour in Italy: The Point of View of the Children

TAGLIAVENTI, MARIA TERESA
2007

Abstract

Not much attention was dedicated to the problem of child labour in Italy until the Nineties, probably because child labour was a marginal phenomenon and had almost disappeared following promulgation in 1967 of a law that prohibited any type of work until school leaving age had been reached ( or until fourteen years of age) and the introduction of sanctions to protect children’s rights to health and education. Since the end of the Nineties attention to the subject has progressively grown and, partially through studies and research projects, greater understanding of the problem has been promoted – but the extreme difficulty of investigating the phenomenon has also emerged quite markedly, along with the general confusion about the subject and the fragmentary results of research. As a demonstration of this, it should suffice to analyse the estimates made by scholars, research institutes, institutions and labour unions in recent years, which differ from each other by hundreds of thousands of units, with oscillations between 50 thousand and 500 thousand working minors. Although there is still open debate on child work today in Italy, it is possible to outline some recurrent characteristics that contribute to defining the phenomenon in Italy from the various research projects that have been conducted, especially those conducted in specific territorial contexts that are of a qualitative nature, as well as the only investigation conducted on the national level on a representative sample of the population, commissioned by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy from ISTAT (Italian National Statistical Institute), which was published in 2002. Not all research projects took into consideration the point of view of children in the objectives pursued but almost two research projects take children’s point of view into consideration, from which some useful information may be gleaned: the ISTAT research, and a qualitative research performed by the author (Tagliaventi M.T., Lavoro minorile e percorsi formativi in una società industriale avanzata, Morlacchi editore, Perugia, 2002). These researches, albeit with all due caution in dealing with a problem-fraught phenomenon such as child work, underline that what children think of their work differs a great deal from what many adults think, who are responsible for their education, especially educators, teachers, pedagogues and the parents of minors who do not work, who generally demand that minors under fifteen years of age be removed from actual working situations. But if adults do not consider or ask themselves why working activities not only are requested by children but also judged as quite positive experiences, they will not be able to look at premature work in the right way or to provide alternatives to these satisfying activities. All of this obviously forces to reconsider the conceptual paradigms on childhood and calls upon all the agencies concerning the socialization of children.
2007
Working to be Someone. Child Focused Research and Practice with Working Children
161
166
Child Work and Child Labour in Italy: The Point of View of the Children / M. T. Tagliaventi. - STAMPA. - (2007), pp. 161-166. (Intervento presentato al convegno Symposium „What does work mean to children? Theoretical approaches and international empirical reports” - „Die Bedeutung von Arbeit aus der Sicht der Kinder – theoretische Ansätze und empirische Forschungsergebnisse aus internationaler Perspektive“ tenutosi a Berlino nel 12-17 aprile 2004).
M. T. Tagliaventi
File in questo prodotto:
Eventuali allegati, non sono esposti

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/43947
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact