MILAN (ITALPRESS) – 85% of the students who received the 12 thousand hours of free repeats from the 380 volunteers of Portofofranco of the only headquarters in Milan were promoted and the families saved 327 thousand euros of private lessons. Some of the results emerged from a research on the “method” Portofranco in the prevention of school dispersion and in the motivation to study, conducted by the Foundation for Sussidiality together with the University of Milano Bicocca and the University of Salento on two groups of attending students (2023-2024 and 2024-2025). Students, reveals research, are mainly Italian (70%) and Egyptian (20%), with an average age of 15-16 years and equally divided between boys and girls. They attend the first or second year mainly of high school (43%) or technical institutes (43%) but also professional institutes (14%). 14% of students have special educational needs; 26% is of foreign origin, with representation of over 15 nationalities. “Portofranco – explains Alberto Bonfanti, president of the association – is therefore a place of integration and equal opportunities. The volunteer body consists of university students, retired teachers, professionals and citizens, creating a rare space for intergenerational dialogue.” Thanks to the support of Portofranco at the end of the year 41% of students reach sufficiency in mathematics, 54% in physics, and over 50% in Italian and history. In English, 59% get grades from 7 up.
On average students received 20 hours of lessons but there are cases that reach up to 183 hours in a year. “The students perceived as more attentive to the volunteers – explains Professor Fulvia Pennoni, ordinary of Statistics, University of Milan-Bicocca – receive more hours of lesson, reporting a correlation between commitment and support received. The long tail of the distribution of repetition hours then shows intensive recovery cases, often associated with surprising improvements.” Marcello Tempesta, president of the Bachelor of Science in Primary Education, University of Salento, underlines: “Portofranco shows that personalized education, based on relationship and gratuitousness, can really make a difference. It is not just about promoting students, but promoting people who find here the strength to believe in themselves.” A lot of guys, in fact. they define Portofranco their “house”, attending the center every day and finding a support environment that goes beyond the study. A community that turns on motivation and builds future.
The research was illustrated during an event at Palazzo Lombardia where, in addition to the greetings of the president of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana, of the vicar Episcopale for Culture, Charity, Mission and Social Action in the Diocese of Milan, Monsignot Luigi Bressan, also intervened the deputy mayor of Milan, Anna Scavuzzo, the Director General Education, Formation and Work, Federegretaria Moraica The Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, also wanted to participate, albeit remotely. Moreover, the Portofranco method has quickly spread not only in Lombardy, but throughout Italy. Born in Milan 25 years, the association has in fact generated similar experiences in 40 Italian cities over the years, with 1,700 volunteers and 4,300 high school students. If we project the Milan data on the numbers of national reality, we could estimate a saving for Italian families of over two million euros.
The new Portofranco ETS National Foundation was presented on this occasion: “With the hiring of this new legal state – said President Emmanuele Forlani – we want to guarantee the originality of the Portofranco method in all the participating experiences and to dialogue with all the institutions the realities that work in the world of school and young people to help build models and positive spaces, able to counter the school dispersion and youth discomfort.” In 2019, the Association was awarded the Golden Ambrogino of the City of Milan, while in 2023 President Alberto Bonfanti was awarded the honor of Officer of the Merit of the Republic by President Sergio Mattarella, for “the commitment to accompany the students in the study”.
“We must have the courage to insist more and more on this new personalized teaching.” This was said by the Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, intervening in video connection with the conference. According to Valditara, this reality “gives a very strong support to the action of the school”. “The theme of the personalization of the teaching we launched when we launched the two figures of the tutor teacher and the guiding teacher – he continued -. There is the theme of a teaching that builds formation as a tailor-made dress of the individual student. And then a teaching that knows how to deal with fragility and delays.”.
– photo Portofranco Association –
(ITALPRESS).
