Some 80 students of the secondary master's degree at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) have signed a letter, addressed to the Department of Education, in which they ask to be able to validate the internships or part of them because they have been working as teachers for several years now. in the institutes.
They appeal to the lack of teachers in specialties that are difficult to cover, such as Catalan or computer science, in which there are no longer professionals on the job market. They argue that if next year they are forced to leave their jobs to complete the 250 hours of internships, the problem will worsen.
In the letter they affirm that the fact of practicing already guarantees the practical competence that the master's degree seeks. On the other hand, they maintain that some specialties are so rushed, such as computer science in Vocational Training (FP) cycles, that young people who have passed the higher cycle (therefore, without a university degree) have been authorized to enter the job board and replace teacher dismissals.
The letter has also been sent to the Department of Universities and the management of the UOC, who are also involved.
The master's degree in Teacher Training for ESO, baccalaureate, Vocational Training and Language Teaching is qualifying and, therefore, mandatory to practice. It culminates in an unpaid internship lasting 250 hours (two to three months). At that time, these teachers who are now working would leave their assigned position and would not receive any income.
In reality, the fact that secondary school teachers are practicing without the relevant master's degree is already an anomaly. Given the lack of substitutes, the department authorized in 2019, exceptionally, the entry of university graduates into the job market in exchange for the commitment to train and obtain appropriate pedagogical training, within a period of three years.
Five years have passed and some are still not even enrolled in the master's degree, so last week, Educació announced that they will be told to at least be pre-registered for a master's degree if they want to continue working. And it is not a question of lack of places since the UOC expanded them last year and they have remained vacant.
Regarding the request of these students, they consider that it is a matter of university regulations.
The UOC, which has taught six specialties of this master's degree since 2023, confirms to this newspaper that the internships are mandatory, in-person and can only be carried out in training educational centers recognized by the department (it is not valid in any center or in the center where these teachers they are working).
Likewise, as it is a regulated master's degree, it complies with state legislation and is organized in accordance with the framework of the Catalan university system. In this sense, campuses cannot fully validate internships due to having teaching experience, according to a 2011 agreement of the Commission for the Regulation of the Monitoring and Accreditation of State University Degrees. “The UOC does not establish the conditions for the validation of internships,” says the university. “It is governed by established regulations.”
The authors of the letter state, however, that, although not completely, 12.5 hours of workday are recognized as face-to-face internships at the UOC itself. They point out that the university establishes that there must be certain conditions, such as that the institute is a recognized training center, that the student teaches in the same specialty as the master's course, and that there is a teacher in their field who can exercise the function of intern mentor.
For UOC students, these adaptations are insufficient and they question the conditions they imply because they leave out professors who work in unrecognized centers or in subjects other than their specialty.
“At the UOC – sources from the entity continue – we are aware of the problems that affect these professionals and we are at the disposal of the Government and the affected students in the event that we can contribute to mitigating the effects, always within the current legislation” .
Previous years, the administration would have detected that contracted substitute teachers were requesting medical leave to complete the master's internship. But, as of January 2024, this is not possible due to the obligation to register internship students with Social Security.
That is not the case of the professionals who appeal to the Government in this letter for a flexibility that suits all parties.
