UDS campaign: You are not a robot!

Not only OBESSU is working on a stronger representation of students in Vocational Education and Training (VET), several of our member organisations are also focussing on VET. Unione degli Studenti (UdS), OBESSU’s Italian member, claims  a Charter on Rights for Students in apprenticeships that aims at certifying their rights and duties.

Italian students are introduced to the labour market through youth apprenticeship programmes, also known as “stages” (from French),  which aims to train students and make them explore a particular kind of job, in order to provide them with the precise expertise in the field they’re specialising into. Although it is undoubtedly an effective method to acquire skills, it is nonetheless an obscure area not defined by accurate laws certifying rights and duties, of all parties involved: students in apprenticeships, the school and the company tutors.  As things stand now, students are “hybrids” with no guarantees, left at the mercy of the “partnership” of the apprenticeships: they could be exploited or neglected, or their work could be underestimated, denied the opportunity of having a valuable learning experience. That’s why UdS claims  a Charter on Rights for Students in apprenticeships, which you can read here.

Written by UDS representatives