Since Anna Simó assumed the Education portfolio in June, she has dedicated herself to fulfilling a double responsibility. President Pere Aragonès asked him to pacify relations with the educational sector and the Parliament entrusted him to overcome the downward indicators. In recent months she has opened avenues of dialogue with the unions and the educational community and is preparing a detailed diagnosis of the state of education that will end in an Excel with clear proposals, accompanied by a budget and calendar that will be presented to the deputies in January. In her answers you can see the hours of study dedicated. She admits there is a lack of resources and is worried about the prospect of not having more money. "Europe demands from the Spanish State a maximum growth of 3% in the coming years and the Government asks the communities, which are those with competence in social issues, for a zero deficit."
Has the course started with social peace?
It has started with an outstretched hand on my part to teachers, directors and unions. I know their reality and the difficulties they are going through and I want to make things easier. There will be changes, but without a budget now I have no answers. I am concerned that we will not be able to increase it due to the European limitation and Madrid's zero deficit requirement.
But there has been money for the school voucher, much discussed because it does not go only to the vulnerable population nor is it managed by the centers.
It's not Education money, it's Economy and Presidency money.
Don't you think it would have been more useful in an educational game?
The school voucher is intended to help families due to the increase in inflation. 75% has already been spent. The president has already said that he wants to evaluate it in November and that there will be changes in the management and orientation of resources. For example, you can invest in family associations.
It has been announced that there is no longer a budget for support monitors (“vetlladors”) and many families are complaining.
Monitor resources are annual and have already been awarded. They have increased by 16% (29 million euros) compared to the previous year. I understand the families' complaints but the criteria have been changed and, in addition, 20% has been reserved to serve these children in the dining room and outings, which was not contemplated until now. But we have added more educational support staff for inclusive. One of my first decisions was to look between July and August for a pool of reinforcement support for early childhood education, special education, and social educators technicians. There are 330.
Can you advance the results of basic skills? They are normally given before starting the course to give orientation to the centers.
We want to cross-reference the data on basic skills, reading comprehension (PIRLS) and the Catalan oral test. That's why it's taking a while. But each center has its result and already knows what to reinforce.
The bad results started before the pandemic, the councilors pass and they get worse.
The step prior to being able to modify results is a good diagnosis. The reality of the centers is increasingly complex and in Catalonia it is higher than in other autonomies. We have a very significant live enrollment in line with the population movements that Catalonia receives. Linguistic and cultural diversity is very high and we have to provide knowledge in three languages. We are responding, but the school alone cannot improve results if it does not improve the labor market, urban segregation, basic support services, and job insecurity. And the pandemic hasn't helped. We must opt for compensatory measures in public services.
In reading comprehension, what have you identified that is missing? Time, method, teaching?
The board of directors, which is very concerned, wants to reflect. We know, for example, the importance of families reading. The book and reading plan includes a campaign for families. In the centers there is already half an hour of daily reading in primary school and one weekly in ESO. We offer proposals for activities and support. The teachers know their job.
But something is wrong, the bad results come from 2016.
Even before. But it depends on the structure of the center. It determines whether the family reads. Therefore, we are going to accompany families and offer teachers training and resources. I trust in the ability of the teachers. And we have increased libraries, which were reduced to less than half of schools due to the pandemic.
It is a pilot plan for 50 centers. Don't you think the impact of libraries has already been evaluated?
The system is different, there will be an external librarian who will provide support and the new books will be, not in a room, but in the classroom.
Is your Department improving the social use of Catalan?
We are working in three bands. With the students, teachers and families to whom we offer courses. In 5 years the linguistic practice workshops will be in all centers.
Are you worried that there are more families that ask for 25% of Spanish?
I am more concerned that children from families that do not have Catalan as their usual language will not be able to acquire knowledge in three languages because we will not be able to gain the lost ground.
Is the school language law complied with Spanish?
Yes, Spanish as a school language is used in many ways, in works, videos... But the problem is Catalan, which is not spoken by students and some teachers. That is why you have to see the results of the oral test. And we have to guarantee the Catalan skills of teachers.
The next course on September 1 is Sunday. If it starts on the 4th, schools will have even less time than this one to prepare the course.
I know the complaints from the center managements. We will all work together in the 2024-2025 academic year so that there is a great agreement. That includes talking about the work of the teachers in the months of June and July. It won't start after September 12, that's for sure, but it doesn't have to be the 4th either. In any case, the templates will be stable due to the stabilization process and that will help a lot. At the end of 2024, only 8% will remain interim.
Will you ban cell phones?
I have asked the School Council to promote a debate. To prohibit would be to annul the possibility of speaking with families, to hide a very necessary debate. Families should know what it means to give their child a cell phone. The later it happens, the better. The recommended age is 16 and that is better than 12. And in any case, not before. In mobile-free schools, there has been a prior debate before banning it and that is the way forward.
Many students were left without a teacher for weeks last year due to a lack of substitutes. How will this one go?
Last year 30,000 substitutions were made. Right now there are 100 uncovered. They are language, mathematics or computer science. We want to see if teachers from one territory can travel to another when there is no available staff there. And we are negotiating exceptional measures with unions such as allowing a Catalan teacher to give up to 5 more hours on a voluntary and paid basis. And we have made the profile of Catalan teachers more flexible with journalists or historians with a C2 level. We are trying to expand the places on the online secondary master's degree.
There were 1,800 unassigned FP places left. Have they been covered?
400 are already enrolled. The rest want a center and a specialty and it is difficult, but there are vacancies. What surprised us is the enrollment of 3,000 people at the last minute. They did not show up for pre-registration and now they are betting on studying.
Don't you think that in FP there is a great delay in regulation and it suffers in the centers? Guidance that affects abandonment, new resumes.
This year we will have the preliminary draft of the guidance decree. It will not be approved until June. But we will have the model and it can be debated. Regarding resumes, we are working against the clock. It's all come at once. Stabilization, curricular change, the new FP law, pre-registration changes in the continuity of ESO students. Now they force us to change the applications to follow the students who finished 4th year of ESO 3 years ago...
Do you think intensive days are good?
The compacted days were taken at the time to compensate for economic cuts, but they were linked to results. So first we have to make a pedagogical assessment. But schedules are also a social issue. What happens to vulnerable students without extracurricular activities, what do the children with the key around their necks do with their time?
They have unified the violence protocol, created a registry and appointed a co-education, coexistence and well-being coordinator in each school. But in training, they have been told that one hour a week is enough, and that they apply the protocol to the minimum.
He is a good figure who will represent a before and after in the issue of violence inside and outside of schools. What has already been done so far has allowed more and more cases to surface. Now we have to improve prevention. The climate in schools will improve because high school students will have a nurse for a few hours a week, counselors, and the coordinator. But, in any case, each center will be organized within its coordination hours, which have increased thanks to the reduction in teaching hours that occurred in January and which has allowed more teachers to enter (3,500 more teachers into the system). That said, this is a figure of an organic law and it would be good if in cases of obligation the ministry accompanied it with the financial resources necessary for its compliance.
