Reading an Italian pagella: giudizi, voti out of 10, the condotta mark, the registro elettronico, and how to talk to an Italian teacher

Reading an Italian pagella for the first time, an Indian parent looks for the number and finds a word. Buono. Is that good? It is, and it is also where most of the class sits, and it says nothing about whether the child is at the top of buono or the bottom. This post explains the two kinds of Italian report, the primaria's six giudizi and the scuola media's marks out of 10, the behaviour mark that can fail a year, the online register that shows the real picture between reports, the meetings with teachers and how to get something out of them, and the phrases Italian teachers use, with what they mean.

The primaria report: six words

Since the 2024-25 school year the primaria report gives each subject one of six giudizi sintetici, each tied to a described level of learning.

There is no rank, no percentage and no class average. The report comes twice a year in most schools, at the end of the first quadrimestre in late January or February and at the end of the year in June, and the second one is the one that counts. Alongside the subjects there is a giudizio globale, a paragraph in the teacher's words about the child's progress, behaviour and attitude, which is the most informative thing on the page and the part Indian parents skip. Read it twice.

For a child from India the pattern in the first two years is predictable: buono or distinto in maths, ottimo in English, discreto or sufficiente in Italian and the subjects that are really Italian, history, geography and science. The maths word will be lower than the maths deserves, because the problemi are in Italian and the layout is graded; why, and what to do, is in Italian school maths against CBSE.

The scuola media report: marks out of 10

From prima media every subject gets a mark out of 10, the average of the written verifiche and the oral interrogazioni across the period, with 6 as the sufficienza. Italian teachers use the scale differently from Indian ones. A 10 is exceptional and a 9 is excellent; an 8 is a good student; a 7 is fine; a 6 is a warning delivered politely; below 6 is a debt to be recovered. A child with 9s across the board is a liceo classico or scientifico child in the teachers' eyes; a child at 7 and 8 is solid; a child at 6 is watched. What the marks lead to at 13 is in the esame di terza media and the consiglio orientativo.

Two things about the media marks catch Indian families. The oral counts as much as the written, so a child who knows the material and mumbles it sits a mark lower than they should. And presentation is part of the mark: the working laid out in the Italian way, the notebook neat, the dati and the domanda written before the sums. The right answer with Indian working earns a 7.

The condotta

The scuola media also gives a mark out of 10 for behaviour, condotta, and it is not decorative. A child below 6 in condotta is not admitted to the next year or to the exam. In practice the mark is 9 or 10 for a child who does the work, keeps the diario, arrives on time, has absences justified and is not written up in the register; it drops for repeated notes (note disciplinari), unjustified absences and rudeness. Indian children rarely have a condotta problem, and it is worth knowing that this is the easiest high mark in the school and that teachers notice it at the December orientation meeting.

The registro elettronico

Between reports, everything is in the online register: Argo, ClasseViva, Nuvola and Axios are the common ones, and the school gives each family a login in September. It shows every mark as it is given, written and oral, by date and subject; the homework set for each day; the topics covered; absences and late arrivals, which the parent must justify in the register within a day or two; notes from teachers; the timetable; circulars; and the report when it comes. It is the single most useful thing an Italian school gives a parent and the thing most newly arrived families do not open for a term. Open it every evening. A 5 in an interrogazione in October is a conversation in October, not a surprise in February.

Colloqui: meeting the teacher

In the primaria the class teachers hold colloqui individuali after each report, ten to fifteen minutes, booked through the register or the school. In the scuola media each teacher has a weekly ricevimento hour, booked through the register a few days ahead, and the school holds colloqui generali twice a year, evenings when every teacher is at a desk and parents queue. There is also a rappresentante di classe, a parent elected in October who sits in the class council and is the person to ask what the class is really like. Italian teachers expect parents to come, and a family that never books a ricevimento is noticed.

What to ask, in the order that gets answers: 1. Where is my child in the class in this subject, honestly? Italian teachers will tell you, unlike Dutch ones. 2. Is the lower mark the content, the Italian, or the presentation? 3. How does my child do in the interrogazioni, and what would raise that mark? 4. Is there anything in the condotta I should know about? 5. From seconda media: what would you need to see for a liceo recommendation?

A family that arrives from the Netherlands will find the contrast startling; the Dutch version of this meeting is in the tienminutengesprek. Italian teachers say more, say it directly, and expect you to act on it.

What Italian teachers say, and what they mean

What we do

We read the register and the pagella with families, sort the lower marks into content, Italian and presentation, and set the lesson accordingly: the Italian layouts and words so the maths mark matches the maths, the oral practised aloud so the interrogazioni stop costing a point, and English at a level that earns the 10 it should. Bring the register login and the last pagella to the free demo and we will tell you in thirty minutes what each word and number is really saying.

Questions parents ask

See how we teach this, 1-on-1 online →