The committee of experts, which was commissioned to analyze the Catalan educational system and propose measures for educational improvement after the social effect of the negative results of the PISA 2022 report, delivered the final draft this morning to Minister Anna Simó.
The report delivered is a long document that analyzes the situation of the educational system and proposes medium and long-term reforms, a monitoring commission and a national agreement to improve the educational system.
The councilor has said that she will do an exhaustive reading of it and has shown her complete willingness to incorporate all the measures represented by a roadmap that “will be scheduled and budgeted.” Many initiatives are already being carried out. There are others that do not need a specific budget item. “As the Government we are committed to applying concrete, more viable and greater impact measures,” said Simó.
For his part, the president of the driving group, Jesús Vinyes, has stated that the proposed measures have not been intended to be magic recipes and that the changes are slow, but efforts have been made to make the measures viable.
Thus, six lines of action are proposed that take shape in 154 actions and measures, of which 18 are priority, urgent ones to implement in the next academic year 2024-2025.
Among the latter, three stand out: more teachers, more training and the development of a basic curriculum for each stage.
The document recommends that “initially and in the short term”, the Government incorporates some of these measures into budget negotiations.” Simó anticipated this request last week and pointed out that it has a budget of 50 million to address some of the measures. the committee’s proposals. However, the document addresses structural changes that clearly exceed this provision. The 18 measures are designed in terms of equity and inclusion.
More personal
Thus, the 18 members of the committee, made up of a majority of teachers and school directors, advocate increasing the number of teachers and educational personnel, restricting their mobility and encouraging those who work in more disadvantaged environments. They ask to be able to personalize education by treating smaller groups of students. Do “more co-education, work in small groups and lower ratios, especially in the most complex environments.”
They also ask to increase non-teaching support staff based on the needs of the students and, especially, in the most complex environments. This, together with restrictions on the mobility of staff to stabilize the faculty and the provision of incentives to teachers who work in highly complex centers.
Time and training
Another aspect that they highlight, and that they include as a priority for the next course, is having time to prepare classes, reflect on pedagogical work and allow teachers to train in whatever their task or the center needs within working hours. .
To do this, they urge us to reduce the bureaucratic and management tasks of the management teams and also of the teachers to dedicate it to how and what to teach. “We must study the weekly time distribution of secondary school teachers to facilitate, without increasing their hours, face-to-face coordination and other meetings.”
They also make a call to improve their profession through quality training, improving the training of university students and reviewing the current training of active teachers, these “in advisory mode and in permanent hours.”
In initial training, they urge to review the training model of teachers who join the educational system.
Know basic resume
Regarding the curriculum, which generates some controversy due to the difficulty of applying it in its entirety and in a context in which the possibility of repeating a course is reduced, the group proposes “identifying and defining the basic learning for each cycle of the stages of early childhood, primary and compulsory secondary education”.
As a direct measure for student learning, the need to develop and disseminate a “frame of reference on the learning process of oral communication, reading and writing, and mathematics” is incorporated.
Other measures
Not all priority measures are highly specific. It is requested, for example, to promote a national pact for inclusion and equity or to dedicate the equivalent of 6% of GDP to education before 2029.
In terms of equity and learning, it is promoted to increase the number of reception classrooms, review its model and guarantee the training and stability of its teachers.
Follow-up proposal
Likewise, increase resources to move towards full-time education in collaboration with the local world, ensuring access for vulnerable students to activities, both in non-school time and in school time.
The driving group goes beyond the specific assignment of President Pere Aragonès and also recommends following up on these proposals to the Government.
Thus, if a “country agreement” for education were to be produced, it proposes the creation of a group to monitor, develop and implement these measures. And a certain composition is advanced, made up of parliamentary political groups, local administration and the educational community and some members of the driving group.
