Recognition of a foreign support-teaching qualification

Recognition of a foreign support-teaching qualification does not depend on the country that issues it, but on the comparison between that course and what the Italian system requires of a specialised teacher. It is a professional recognition, within the competence of the Ministry of Education and Merit, and is never automatic.

When recognition of a foreign support-teaching qualification is needed

It is needed by those who have obtained abroad the support specialisation and wish to teach in Italy or to enter the rankings for support posts. Teaching is a regulated profession, so even a qualification issued by a State of the Union requires an express act of recognition, preceded by a comparative assessment by the Ministry, as provided for by Legislative Decree 206 of 2007, which transposes Directive 2005/36/EC. The degree consistent with the underlying competition class also remains necessary, and if foreign it must be recognised separately by the university through the academic route.

It is the comparison of the course that counts, not the country

The rule of the Lisbon Convention and of Directive 2005/36/EC applies. The qualification must be recognised unless the administration demonstrates a substantial difference from the Italian course, in terms of level, duration or content. The assessment looks at the course as a whole, not at the correspondence of individual examinations, and the burden of giving reasons for the difference lies with the administration. Following the 2022 Plenary Session of the Council of State, automatic refusal is no longer permitted, and many foreign qualifications have been recognised where the training proved to correspond.

The Council of State judgment 6816 of 2026

By judgment of Section VII number 6816, published on 4 September 2026, the Council of State reversed a favourable decision of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court and upheld the Ministry’s refusal towards a teacher specialised in support teaching in Romania, for the competition classes ADMM and ADSS. The Romanian course was single and undifferentiated for every level, whereas the Italian rules, built on the Ministerial Decree of 30 September 2011, provide for separate annual courses by level. Missing were the training on the different disabilities, the laboratories by level with tutors, the documentation on the traineeship and the final examination with a mark.

Compensation measures do not create a parallel course

The central legal point is this. Compensation measures, the adaptation period or the aptitude test, serve to make up the differences from a course that exists and is in substance corresponding. They cannot turn into a parallel qualifying course, alternative to the one designed by the Italian system. Where even a minimum base to build on is missing, the compensation measure has no object and recognition is not due.

The documentation is the procedure

The outcome does not depend on the nationality of the qualification, but on the actual content of the course and on the evidence the applicant provides. Two similar qualifications, from the same country, may have opposite outcomes according to how they are documented. One must enclose, in detail, the syllabuses, the hours divided between theory and practical work, the arrangements and duration of the traineeship, the final examination and the mark obtained. For European Union qualifications the Declaration of Value is not required, but the certificate of conformity of the authority of the country of origin. A corresponding but poorly documented course risks being treated as deficient.

Legal references: Council of State Section VII judgment 6816 of 2026, Plenary Session 19, 20, 21 and 22 of 2022, Legislative Decree 206 of 2007, Directive 2005/36/EC, Law 148 of 2002, Ministerial Decree of 30 September 2011.