Giovanna Zanolla

Giovanna Zanolla is a Senior Lecturer and researcher at the Department of Education and Learning (University of Teacher Education) within the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI). She also serves as a researcher at the Competence Centre for Innovation and Research on Educational Systems (CIRSE) and holds affiliations with institutions like the European Academy of Bolzano and the University of Trento.

• PhD in Sociology and Social Research (University of Trento, 2003)
• BSc in Sociology (University of Trento, 1999)
• CAS in Teaching (SUPSI)

Her research focuses on educational inequalities, gender disparities in academic performance, and social policy impacts on youth education, particularly in the context of Ticino. She has led studies on private tutoring ('shadow education'), standardized testing validity, and long-term effects of social assistance on educational trajectories. Her work often employs multilevel statistical models to analyze teacher grading biases and social stratification mechanisms.

Recent publications examine gender-based evaluation disparities in mathematics and language assessments (2024), private lessons' role in inequality (2012), and longitudinal impacts of social aid (2020). She has also developed educational system indicators for Ticino (2015) and conducted comparative analyses of standardized testing vs. teacher grades (2013).