I think that as fathers and mothers we should be concerned about the cuts that we are suffering in education, and those that we are going to suffer. Undoubtedly, any country that wishes to be modern and in keeping with the current times should bet on the future, and the future is children, it is their education.
Therefore we have invited Jesús Mª Sánchez To talk to us about this issue, in doing so we think that he can give us a fairly broad vision because he is the president of the Spanish Confederation of Associations of Parents of Students (CEAPA. This entity brings together 42 territorial federations and more 11,000 AMPAS, mainly from the public school, representation that it has held since February 2011.
Jesus is born in Palencia, 54 years old and married. He is the father of three children who are 13, 9 and 5 years old, and study at the Antonio González de Lama de León Public School, in whose AMPA and School Board he participates.
Our guest today is a very active person socially and with great involvement in the associative movement. He is also a member of the State School Council and president of the Association of Friends Down Syndrome of León.
We leave you with this interview in which we talk about cuts and school failure, about public school and about parental involvement. Peques and More.- Public services are suffering cuts and that will directly affect the well-being of families, but do they affect public education in the same way as concerted ones?
Jesús Mª Sánchez.- The cuts will have a greater impact on the public school, which is the one that depends directly on the state budget and investment. And it must be remembered that the public school educates all types of citizens, without distinction and discrimination, which the concerted school does not do.
To get out of the crisis, regain confidence in the future and, in passing, achieve the educational objectives set by the European Union, Spain cannot do without an instrument as important as the public school, it cannot divest programs and professionals that They lay the foundation for a better future.
In most European countries, governments believe in public school and, therefore, invest in it, because it is part of their "state policy." We do not have much data, but obviously in Greece the public school is suffering very hard cuts. We do not want that, and we will fight to prevent it
PyM.- Can you specify how you think they will have an impact on the quality of teaching?
J.M.S.- That a classroom of Infant and Primary can reach 33 students and 40 in Secondary school inevitably affects the quality of teaching, because the teacher can not attend to the diversity of students. In addition, the templates of support teachers and counselors are also being reduced. The countries that obtain the best results in international evaluations offer the most individualized education possible.
But also other cuts announced will attack the waterline of the right to public education, universal, free, inclusive and in quality conditions: Secondary education institutes will only have the obligation to offer a high school modality; there will be a lower offer of training cycles of FP. Most of the faculty leave will not be covered; there will not be enough professionals to attend other educational services; tutoring with families will be greatly diminished; the steep increase in university fees and the restriction of the right to receive a scholarship will make it very difficult for workers to send our sons and daughters to the university, an obstacle that will save the most well-off classes ...
Definitely the quality and equity of the education system are receiving an attack as I had never received before in our democratic period.
PyM.- Now it seems that it will be even more difficult to fight against school failure: reduction or elimination of aid for the acquisition of books, increase in ratios, difficulties in replacing the teaching staff who are on leave (I am sure I leave much more). All this is not synonymous with taking care of the future of a country, and also in the era of technologies where young people access information through devices that they carry in their pocket, does it not seem that in education we are returning to the past?
J.M.S.- It is necessary to reduce the rates of failure and dropout, a great burden on our education system and for our country, despite the fact that in recent years there has been a significant improvement, contrary to what many believe. Behind the data of school failure there are children and youth who, in general, belong to disadvantaged socioeconomic environments and students with special educational needs. As many studies indicate, the social and family environment of students affects the educational results of students.
Indeed, we return to the seventies, when however we would have to walk towards a school adapted to the digital society in which our children were born and raised, with a more motivating teaching and focused on the acquisition of basic skills. And that requires not only a change in the educational paradigm, but also investments that allow modernizing the education system, and which are also very profitable in the long term. The most expensive thing for a country is not to invest in education.
PyM.-Do you know if the cuts are also occurring in other countries in Europe? and in which nation do you think special importance is given by providing it with the necessary means to the public school
J.M.S.- In most European countries, governments believe in public school and, therefore, invest in it, because it is part of their "state policy." We do not have much data, but obviously in Greece the public school is suffering very hard cuts. We do not want that, and we will fight to prevent it.
We all know the so cited Finnish educational model, where almost all the centers are public. There, the system already acts in Early Childhood and Primary Education when it observes any learning difficulties in children, so that they reach secondary school with good training. In Finland there is no repetition, so sacrosanct in our Spain. There problems are prevented in earlier stages. In Finland, teachers are chosen among the best students, because it is a profession with great social prestige.
It is also a system that combines excellence and equity, that is, that has students with a lot of knowledge and skills and hardly has disadvantaged students. As we know, Finland is always at the top of the rankings produced by the OECD Pisa report.
PyM.- Tell us about the expected increase in students per classroom, can you teach / learn today in a classroom with 33 or 40 students? Isn't our society diverse enough for children to require more attention?
J.M.S.- With this increase in the ratio of students per classroom, it is going to be practically heroic that a teacher can attend to the students educatively with minimum quality conditions.
Before the 80, the classrooms had a fairly homogeneous student body and in addition education was only mandatory until age 14. Today, the compulsory nature is up to 16 years old, the majority of students with special needs are enrolled in ordinary centers, there are students of immigrant origin, children from single-parent, homoparental families and of all types and social conditions; In short, a very heterogeneous student body, especially in the public school. This is nothing negative. On the contrary, we believe that diversity is wealth, but it also requires means to be able to adequately address it.
We return to the seventies, when however we would have to walk towards a school adapted to the digital society in which our children were born and raised, with a more motivating teaching and focused on the acquisition of basic skills. And that requires not only a change in the educational paradigm, but also investments that allow modernizing the education system, and which are also very profitable in the long term. The most expensive thing for a country is not to invest in education
PyM.- I have observed very different reactions in the educational community, but in general it seems that there is a certain disunity (parents / teachers fundamentally). Tell us moms and dads why it is necessary to fight for children's educational rights, and how we can do it.
J.M.S.- If we do not defend the education of our sons and daughters, if we do not fight for the quality of the services offered by the school, if we do not look further and we are critical of the educational policies that governments develop and that affect the education system ... who is going to do it? It is a question of dignity.
In addition, we also have to set an example for our children. If we want our people to be participatory, critical and involved in the life around them it is important that they see that we are too.
On the other hand, the fathers and mothers who participate in the AMPAS, in the AMPAS federations, and in CEAPA at the state level, do a selfless and voluntary work that has its worries, but it is also true that we learn many things, we acquire experiences and skills That enrich us a lot. Therefore, I encourage from here to the mothers and fathers who read “Peques and Más” to enroll in the AMPA of their school, to participate in the activities, in the association's own organization, to be involved in the decisions taken by the school board, to be informed of what their territorial federations and CEAPA do.
PyM.- As a representative of CEAPA, which is the voice of all the fathers of the Public School at the same time, do you think it is possible to improve public education? What measures should be taken?
J.M.S.- We have to flee from the topics. Most Spaniards believe that the public school works better than the private school or that the concerted one, and they point it out as their favorite option for the education of their children. This follows from the last barometer of the CIS, which has analyzed the attitudes and opinions of Spaniards about teaching and education.
But, of course, many things have to be improved, such as providing centers with greater flexibility in their organization and operation; give more space to fathers and mothers to intervene in their control and management and in educational activities; that fathers and mothers can access all the information of the centers through the Internet and know in depth how the center where our children and their workforce works, always from a cooperative and constructive attitude. We would also like to have a less academic and more practical education; Increase the relationship between the center and the environment, so that, for example, they do not close their doors in the afternoon and sing and become places for the participation of associations and citizens; that they stop taking exams that only serve to exercise memory and not skills; etc.
The public school is an open, democratic, secular, inclusive, participatory institution and, therefore, is in constant construction, which requires illusion and involvement on the part of citizens, and of some public administrations that believe in it. In a way, and with all the objections you want, public school will be what we want it to be.
PyM.- Summarize in a sentence (or two) what the Public School represents, can you?
J.M.S.- A basic institution of our democratic system, which guarantees the right to education of all citizens, without distinction and on equal terms.
A fundamental instrument to work on equal opportunities and guarantee the social ascent of the most disadvantaged classes.
PyM.- Do you want to add something that I have not thought about?
J.M.S.- By way of information, I want to say that we put in 7.200 million euros the cuts that the education system is suffering: 3,000 million that will cut the Autonomous Communities, 800 million in the budget of the Ministry of Education for 2012, and 3,400 million already They have lost in these recent years. The cuts announced by the Government are short-sighted, because they curtail the capacities of society, amputate the hopes of the population and prevent the exit of the economic and social depression in which the country is immersed.
The public school is an open, democratic, secular, inclusive, participatory institution and, therefore, is in constant construction, which requires illusion and involvement on the part of citizens, and of some public administrations that believe in it. In a way, and with all the objections you want, the public school will be whatever we want it to be
The Platform for Public Education, of which CEAPA is a part, has recently decided to convene students, fathers and mothers, and teachers, to a day of protest to be held on Thursday, May 10 throughout the State. The day will begin with concentrations of teachers, fathers and mothers and students, and will culminate with demonstrations and citizen concentrations in all the provincial capitals and important localities of the State. In addition, the Platform is finalizing a general strike call in all educational centers of the State, on a date to be determined at the end of May.
I also recommend all the readers of “Peques y Más” to visit our website, where they can find publications and educational videos very useful for their educational work.
It has been an extensive interview that has given us a lot of information and He has offered us a vision of the current situation of education in our country, with the assurance that through the involvement of all of us, the future can be better.
We want to thank Jesus for dedicating part of his valuable time, and for the selfless work he does.
Images | Jesús María Sánchez In Peques and More | New cuts in primary and secondary education
