PCTO: sinergy between school and company for young people

In the past we have already spoken about CSR and its applications in the sustainable development of companies environmentally, economically and socially speaking. Let’s focus on the latter: one of the most outstanding examples is the PCTO (Percorsi per le Competenze Trasversali e l’orientamento lit. Paths for Transversal Skills and Orientation) in order to explain the value practices which a company can implement for the present and future community. Let’s see more about it.

The school internship, which in Italy is also known as PCTO, is a learning journey through which students in the last two years of high school can work in a public or private entity: an important experience which needs schools, companies and students to collaborate to create a learning experience.

School and business: two sides of the same coin?

School and business seem far away from each other; as a matter of facts, due to some prejudices, schools seem only to teach theoretical issues, while entrepreneurs look for already experienced high school graduates. These stereotypes can be easily overcome by looking at the always greater collaboration between schools and businesses. Thanks to PCTO this gap is being filled: internships allow students to acquire competences which they cannot find at school. Thus, the role of the company tutor is crucial.

As illustrated by Stefania Bignotti - from Skill Risorse Umane - in the web event “120secondi” (lit. 120seconds), school and businesses can show flexibility and opening to change: only through listening and collaboration it is possible to plan project works which are efficient, even in such a critical situation as the one caused by Coronavirus.

PCTO in RMG: the role of the student

During the internship the cooperation between the school and the company aims at allowing the student to have a journey leading to:

1. Reinforce and put into practice the knowledge learned at school;
2. Know the world of work and develop work skills;
3. Grow personally;
4. Understand his attitudes and the world of work.

Therefore it is not just a spare time activity but it is an important experience during the study plan of a student. The pupil takes part to the routine of the company by actively participating to the activities and requests of the tutor.

At RMG we devote effort and time to this project not only to allow young people to get to know our industry but also to challenge themselves through on-site learning.

In the last few days, the PCTO project in RMG has just come to an end. In this journey the student both got to know our main processes in the administration and marketing departments and – after understanding along with the tutor the management of work tools- also carried out actual activities of reporting, filing and analysis of data. What about the results? The student was capable of creating a real and structured work project independently, by applying his skills and the knowledge acquired at school and at RMG. Moreover, the student was requested to evaluate his knowledge and competences in the different steps of the PCTO project in order to give him a better consciousness about his growth journey. Here below are his words:

At the end of this two-week journey, I could see an improvement of my administration and marketing as well as computer skills. I think I further developed my relationship skills and I was more independent and confident in the tasks I was assigned during this project.

This experience has yet again shown how important is to carry out projects of this kind which can support young students in the development of skills which can be helpful in the choices of their work in the future. Those growth journeys are made possible only thanks to a collaboration between school and business.