Algorithm that sent substitutes at school into a tailspin, what do we know

Not even the Ministry of Education answered the questions of Wired. Despite the media clamor of the declarations of the current head of the dicastery, Giuseppe Valditara, who amidst praise of the humiliation and claims on available funds, never misses an opportunity to appear in the press. Although the choice of algorithm was decided by Valditara’s predecessors, as one could argue, it is up to him to handle the hot potato. However, no signals have arrived from viale Trastevere to reply to the questions that arose after having had access to the documents on the functioning of the algorithm.

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Heavy inheritance

Yet it would have been useful, for example, to explain why, net of a positive test, the computer system failed. And whether there will be a version two of the algorithm, given that one of the previous undersecretaries of Education, Rossano Sasso, in the Lega share like the current minister Valditara, had expressed doubts about using software to assign substitutes. Or again, how the ministry intends to remedy all the problems that this algorithm has created. Especially in big cities, like Milan, Rome, Bologna, Turin and Naples. They are not few. “There are errors that cannot be explained except by errors in the algorithm”, sinks Jessica Merli, general secretary of Flc Cgil Milan. “Those who found themselves substituting for the support, rather than the subject, ended up in an error also admitted by the ministry but the situation has not been resolved – sinks Merli -. We talk to hundreds of people and there is resistance to solving the problem”. Because in the end the school has the substitutes it was entitled to, albeit with wrong assignments.

Or again, in the case of segments of motor education in elementary school“some substitute teachers ended up with two hours short due to an algorithm error”, says Merli. And, consequently, with a lower salary. If there are any part-time jobs, the teacher has a right to completion. Skipped by algorithm. With practical impacts. Teachers at home. Reduced payroll. “These errors produce insecurity”, insists Merli. The one who saves is the State, which by not solving the errors of its program does not have to pay substitutes and staff that the schools would need.

Coke explains that the algorithm “think with the availability of the moment. If I take a substitute position in Milan but then win the competition in Lecco, I give up the first chair for the second. But that is not put back into circulation”. Rino Di Meglio, national coordinator of the Guild of Teachers, stated that “errors made by the algorithm in the assignment of substitutes affect ranking rights“. The acronym requested, among the various correctives, the repechage of those who had given up and the creation of more rounds, depending on the rankings, to apply and not be automatically excluded.

garlic system errors must be added the manual ones. Some provincial offices have got the number of available chairs wrong. Result? The algorithm fails. What to do with it, then? The Guild would be to return to face-to-face appointments. While the CGIL asks not to throw the baby away with the bathwater. “We believe that using technology is useful – says Conca – as long as it is functional for better management”. Because, at least for now, the skein is more tangled than before.