The paper aims to show how and to what extent the system of compulsory education in Milan is affected by social and ethnic segregation. We argue that, despite being guided by the general criteria of universal access and equality of treatment, not only do Milan’s schools fail to counter socio-economic inequalities and differentiation along ethnic lines in an effective manner, but they actually tend to amplify and entrench them. We begin with a theoretical discussion of the main factors contributing to school segregation and a general overview of Italy’s compulsory education system. This is followed by a presentation of the empirical case of Milan, analysing social and ethnic segregation of children of primary school age (i.e. 6–10 years) by place of residence and school of enrolment. As a clear gap emerges between the ‘natural’ and the ‘actual’ school composition, our analytical focus then shifts to home-to-school mobility as an expression of parental choice. We show that 56% of all students in Milan do not enrol at local state schools and this is due to two main phenomena: families choosing private schools and families moving within the state school system. The analysis of these movements makes it possible to identify avoidance dynamics (i.e., in which disadvantaged or ethnic areas are avoided), as well as incoming mobility towards private schools and state schools located in affluent areas or with a lower intake of pupils of non-Italian ethnic backgrounds.

We show that every smooth, closed, orientable 4-manifold X admits a special kind of handlebody decomposition that we call horizontal. We classify the closed 4-manifolds with the simplest horizontal decompositions and we describe all such decompositions of CP 2 , showing that they give rise to infinitely many of the known embeddings of rational homology balls in the complex projective plane.

This paper investigates the potential trade‐offs between extension of coverage and adequate generosity in cash‐for‐care (CfC) programmes in six European countries (Austria, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Spain), which are characterised by different configurations of CfC programmes. Building on an empirical analysis of the eligibility rules, of the regulation applied to classify beneficiaries according to their level of dependency, and the ways CfC benefits are distributed among them, it becomes clear that these programmes differ substantially in terms of coverage and generosity. Such differences reflect the variety of ways by which universalism, selectivity, and adequacy are built up together throughout Europe.

Economic instability, social changes, and new social policies place economic insecurity high on the scholarly and political agenda. We contribute to these debates by proposing a new multidimensional, intertemporal measure of economic insecurity that accounts for both its multiplicity and its dynamism. First, we develop three theory-driven, multidimensional measures of economic insecurity. Principal Components Analysis validates the measure. Second, we develop a dynamic approach to insecurity, using longitudinal data and a newly revised headcount method. Third, we then use our new measures to analyze the distribution of insecurity in Europe. Our analysis shows that insecurity is widespread across Europe, even in low-inequality, encompassing welfare states. Moreover, it extends across income groups and occupational classes, reaching into the middle classes.

This article provides a detailed and robust estimate of the impact of three different digital technologies (interactive whiteboards, wireless connections, and mobile devices) on Italian language and mathematics performance in lower secondary schools in Italy. Our analysis of longitudinal data from 2010 to 2014 shows that no significant effects emerge at a national level from increased stocks of any of the three technologies, confirming the existing literature. However, when controlling for geographical area, we show that all three technologies had a positive effect on mathematics results in the north of Italy, with a detrimental effect in the south. We find that the positive effect in the north was driven by low-attaining schools, while the negative impact in the south was driven by higher attaining schools. No effects were found on Italian language performance, except for a slightly positive impact in the lowest-achieving schools in all geographical areas. The significance of these results is discussed with regards to future public intervention and research in this field.Este artículo provee un estimado detallado y robusto del impacto de tres diferentes tecnologías digitales (pizarras interactivas, conexiones inal ambricas y dispositivos m oviles) en el idioma italiano y el desempeño en matem aticas en las escuelas secundarias tempranas en Italia. Nuestro an alisis de datos longitudinales de 2010 a 2014 muestra que no hay efectos significativos a nivel nacional de una inversi on incrementada en cualquiera de las tres tecnologías, lo que confirma los resultados de la investigaci on existente. Sin embargo, cuando se hace el control para un area geogr afica, mostramos que las tres tecnologías tuvieron un efecto positivo en los resultados de matem aticas en el norte de Italia, con un efecto negativo en el sur. Encontramos que el efecto positivo en el norte estaba impulsado por escuelas de bajo rendimiento, mientras que el impacto negativo en el sur estaba impulsado por escuelas de alto rendimiento. No se encontraron efectos en el desempeño en la lengua italiana, excepto por un efecto ligeramente positivo en las escuelas de m as bajo desempeño en todas las areas geogr aficas. La importancia de estos resultados se discute en relaci on con la futura intervenci on p ublica e investigaci on en este campo.PALABRAS CLAVES: ICT, resultados acad emicos, pizarras interactivas, escuela secundaria, tecnología del aprendizaje