In 1979, the Italian Ministry of Education issued a new curriculum for the Junior High School. Among other innovations, the curriculum introduced the teaching of statistics and probability. In 1982, three years after the first decree, an exploratory survey for evaluating the reactions of teachers to the situation and the prospects for the so-called "mathematics of uncertainty and probability" was carried out in the Venetian district. A large survey was carried out in the remaining Italian districts in 1983. Examining the obtained responses, a profile of the teachers is sketched and some answers to questions we had in mind while we began the research are given: "Is statistics taught?", "Which parts of statistics and probability are taught?', "Why some teachers put off the teaching of statistics?" . In the last two paragraphs, comments on prospects for the teaching of statistics are presented together with suggestions that, if put into practice, might improve the situation described.
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education