Abstract

The contribution focuses on the relationship between ministerial initiatives and the role of the Regional School Offices in the decentralization process following the reorganization of the education system in the emergency due to COVID-19. This work, through a documentary analysis of the legislation and initiatives produced at ministerial level and of those reported on the portals of the Regional School Offices (RSO), aims at highlighting how, even in a condition of overall reorganization linked to the emergency, decentralization is weakly implemented, in particular at an intermediate level where the RSO operate. While the relationship between State and Regions continues to show some elements of problem, the role of the RSO appears to be reduced mainly to a duplication of ministerial activities or, only occasionally, to that of sounding board of the activities and initiatives undertaken by the networks of schools or school institutions with universities or associations present in the territory. Overall, there is an extreme variability in the ability of the RSO to connect to the territory effectively.