The other day I read a statement by Minister Wert who said that "teachers go on strike because they have secure employment," in the face of such a perverse argument, one has no choice but to remember that today - fortunately, and that it lasts - The right to strike is legally recognized. And that the reasons for the Education Strike that are being celebrated today they are so wide that reductionisms are not healthy at all, even less when there is more than one affected group.
I will not talk about the day today (although it seems so), but responding to all those people who say that the strike has been called by a certain political trend, or that students are lazy, or that children will lose a day of classes; I allow myself to ensure that the parents who do (we do) strike can be more or less successful, but we have much interest in the future of our children. And - not taking the matter jokingly - we can be both demanding with the children, and with whom it formulates the educational legislation.
I also want to remember an old post, in which he assured that one day of not going to school is not relevant, but in the future of youth, it will be noted that ESO's third-party technology will be withdrawn, or that tutorials be reduced ( as examples).
Many reforms, little break with previous models, and less investment in education than in Finland
As you know, the LOMCE has already been approved by Congress without votes in favor by the opposition, whose representatives said it arrived "with an expiration date", although its implementation will take place for the next course. In an attempt to present the main points of this law (the same ones that have created so much controversy) we allow ourselves this brief analysis, with the invitation that - if you consider it incomplete - you can make your contributions.
I confess that if I have to start now to remember the tangle of acronyms corresponding to the previous educational laws, I would probably lose myself, and that is that in this country there does not seem to be a serious commitment to education, and many of us have the feeling that the regulations conform to the pretensions of the rulers, without taking into account the needs of the population. In practice, the reforms are not that they have been very deep, and their results ... we have already seen them over time.
Suffice it to say that since the late 1970s, we have assisted (including the LOMCE) with the approval of 12 legal texts that concern education.
According to the professor of the UNED, Alejandro Tiana, we only have two important models (the General Education Law with the GBS, and the LOGSE with the ESO), the rest are still touches of greater or lesser importance, but following the same line. And Antonio Cabrales (of the Carlos III University), affirms that this law reforms the above, "but without breaking with the model".
I can contribute something that we know or intuit (he has been talking about this for a long time): and knowing that in Finland they have low rates of school failure, a level of fairness more than acceptable, and good results in international results; maybe it wouldn't be good to know that there is a stable investment in education. The investment vocation of the Public Administration seems to be demonstrated when they allocate one more point of GDP (5.8%, compared to 4.7%) compared to Spain.
There will be someone who says "it is that in the Nordic countries many taxes are paid", but do we think that the taxes that citizens pay to the State in Spain seem few?
The groups involved in Education do not deny the need for a Reform, but not in the terms in which this. And on the other hand there are (as an additional reason for discord) the cuts, which affect scholarship reductions, increase of the ratios, waning of the teaching staff, etc.
Are our results bad in international tests? Yes, that is more than obvious, do we need a change? It also seems necessary. However, will a law that is presented as a centralist, hierarchy and privatizer guarantee the future of young people? I mean all young people, Sure.
If the investment matters, the contents also
We had already commented on the change in the role of the Catholic Religion (and its alternatives: cultural and social values in Primary, and ethical values in Secondary, what do we complain about?) Will become evaluable, with what the Catholic doctrine (because it is not, no, History of Religions, if so I would choose it for my children) equals the corresponding knowledge of the subjects. Citizenship Education will be eliminated, which has served many teachers to work class conflicts, and to transmit core values of coexistence.
We had also commented that Technology is going badly, but it was not so important for our children?
On the issue of languages, I will not extend much, but after the approved amendments, it is clear that Spanish is the vehicular language of education throughout the State, and co-official languages in the respective Autonomous Communities, according to its Statutes and the applicable regulations. Of course: the Government will advance the money from the private school to families who want their children to receive lessons in Spanish, and then discount it to the Autonomy of the financing, to guarantee the right of parents to choose the language in which they study their Children with co-official language.
I wonder if the demand corresponds in this regard, with the change made
This it seems an answer to a problem generated by adults, I have doubts about whether children show, I say it from my own experience (which I already know that it may not be extrapolated) as the mother of a child who, being a Valencian speaker, arrived at another Autonomous Community with three years, and without knowing Spanish (more than what he had heard from relatives); in less than two weeks he communicated with the children he knew using it. Now he studies in our mother tongue but reads in both languages (and in English) and does not commit mistakes in Spanish.
What public money is invested in?
And if it seems to you that it is excessive to allocate everyone's money to solve a problem that may not be, let's be attentive, because the ban on allocating funds to schools will be eliminated that segregate because of sex.
This adds to the reduction of aid for books or dining room - something that is not directly related to the Law, but is already taking place.
As we said, the Law has been approved, and it has been done incorporating 36 partial amendments, of the more than 770 that had been submitted, being these (the approved) proposals of the party that governs us, and some agreed with UPyD
Contrary to what happens in that Nordic country that we like to talk about so much, the new law gives more capacity to decide on educational content to the Central Government, that is, far from reaching the ideal that the municipalities have possibilities to manage, the autonomy decision quota is removed.
And speaking of competencies (in the sense of decision power), we should know that institutional control in the centers also increases, because the directors will be appointed directly by the Government, and as a consequence the School Board will paint little (if nothing) in the election of the principal.
It goes without saying that this maneuver also implies a drastic reduction of the role of representatives of parents (or teachers, or representatives of the municipality) in such an important decision-making body (the School Council) for each Center, limiting itself to an advisory role, in a nutshell: no participation, no place for debate, and decisions that They will not be consulted.
Tests and more tests
Of the external evaluations as an instrument to evaluate student learning, we can say that the first (in the third grade of Primary), has the pretense of detecting educational problems, to improve them or to point out the students? and in the case that the Baccalaureate will be completed, it will have a weight of 40% in the average grade to pass, compared to 60% of the result of the cycle, which will be obtained, remember, working two courses.
With the external test at the end of ESO, it happens that it will be necessary to obtain the degree. Access to the University will be made by the Universities themselves. We still find (that I don't forget) one more evaluation at the end of the Primary Stage, it will not be decisive to get the title.
From the implementation of the LOMCE, the centers will be able to elaborate rankings with the result of the evaluations, something that the previous law did not allow, so that the centers did not compete with each other. Experts say that these lists will favor schools with very good results, and others with worse "grades" (let's say it clearly: the enclave, the ownership, the socio-economic situation of the families that take the children to these centers) will not come out very well. well stopped, let's say. Something about what Andreas Schleicher (no less than the OECD Secretary of Education) had already warned.
To be abbreviated a little, other points that have generated the most differences between politicians, and especially a confrontation with different sectors, are the change of status of education officials, which will increase the teaching hours, and may change their destination. Electives in Baccalaureate are also reduced and the itinerary choice will be earlier (something that can lead to a predictable segregation of students.
Finally, we can clarify that the studies that support competent educational systems, what they measure is a culture that does not lose sight of "education", and they do not base the changes on ideological questions, but on real information.
I leave you with a video that ends the post as I started, talking about some of the reasons that the educational community has to reject the cuts, and join the Strike.
Images | Mario Sánchez Bueno, dcJohn, USAG- Humphreys In Peques and More | Today's education cannot be competitive: children need to meet and live together
