There are 5,023 out of 40,059, meaning 12.5%, or approximately 1 in 8, early childhood sections where the percentage of foreign children exceeds 30%. There are also 420 preschools where the percentage of foreign children surpasses 50% and where Italian children are in the minority. In these 420 schools, there are 1,406 sections with more than 50% foreign children. In the coming years, the demographic trend with a growing mix of foreign students will project itself onto the higher levels of the school system.
The data comes from a study by the specialist magazine Tuttoscuola focusing on preschool education (children between 4 and 6 years old), which represents the "outpost" of the Italian school system: in the coming years, this picture will project itself onto the higher levels of the education system. The proportion of foreign pupils in preschool is set to increase, based on demographic trends: over the past 6 years, the number of Italian pupils has plummeted by 14%, while the number of foreign pupils has increased, albeit slightly (+1%).
There are a total of 13,027 state preschools across the country, accommodating 768,256 children, of whom 105,327 are foreign (equal to 13.7%). They are divided into 40,059 sections. Classes with more than 30% foreign children — based on exclusive analysis carried out by Tuttoscuola — number 5,023 (12.5%), distributed across 1,523 schools.
There are 45,506 foreign children present in these 1,523 schools out of a total of 105,327. These schools with a percentage of foreign pupils exceeding 30% therefore accommodate 43% of all foreign pupils in preschool education.
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