The representatives of the pure private schools and the subsidized private schools maneuvered without success in a school council held in February to try to convince the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso that the retreat in bilingualism that the Executive has undertaken would apply only to the centers public. Faced with the government’s diagnosis that students who study subjects such as social sciences, history or geography in English suffer “a detriment” compared to those who study in Spanish, the private ones argued that they had not observed “a decrease in quality” in their centers and described as “restriction” a reform that affects one of its great attractions to attract students. Although the Ministry of Education did not give in, as clarified by a government spokesperson, thus avoiding greater segregation in the educational system, the private sector is pressing for a last-minute modification that would allow them to continue as before when the reform comes into force ( academic year 2024-2025). The period for submissions to the decree that will articulate the change is open until March 13.
“The draft decree is a modification of the curricula [de las etapas de Educación Primaria, Secundaria y Bachillerato] and, therefore, it affects everyone,” explains a spokesperson for the Association of Autonomous Private Education Centers (ACADE). “A measure aimed at alleviating a deficiency in the bilingualism program has transformed it into a general affectation, also for centers that are not covered by the bilingualism program,” he adds regarding the decision to modify the curriculum (which requires any type of center ) and not the system for studying the second language (which would have affected only the centers that apply it). “What ACADE asks is that the autonomy of private centers and families to choose be respected,” he continues, remembering that pure private centers do not receive public funds. And he concludes: “If the Administration has detected a deficiency in the bilingualism program, what it should modify is the regulations, not the curriculum.” [que es de obligatorio cumplimiento para todos los centros]”.
A government spokesperson thus justifies the commitment to return to Spanish and abandon English in the area of Social Sciences in Primary Education, the subject of Geography and History in Compulsory Secondary Education, and in the subjects of History of Spain and History of the World. Contemporary Baccalaureate: “The modification will apply to everyone because it is a modification of the curriculum, it is an academic organization and it affects all educational centers.”
In Madrid, a pioneer community in launching its own bilingual model (in 2004), there are 404 bilingual public schools this year, in addition to another 196 institutes and 223 private charter schools, so the decree that the Government Council will soon approve It affects more than 400,000 students. To them we must add those who attend pure private schools that teach the subjects that are modified in English. The commitment to teaching subjects such as History or Geography in a foreign language came from the Esperanza Aguirre Executive, it was controversial from the beginning, with antagonistic detractors and defenders, and created a trend: other PP governments, such as those of Murcia or Castilla y León , they launched to implement similar systems. After two decades of expansion of the system, the first step back, designed by the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has encountered resistance in pure and subsidized private schools.
His argument is dated February 21, and has the signature of Juan Luis Yagüe, representative of the educational employers in the School Council through CEIM and CEO of the educational group CASVI.
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“We want to make it clear that, from our organization, we do not observe a decrease in the quality or content taught to our students who carry out their studies in a foreign language,” he argued in a document that can be consulted on the regional transparency portal. “If the Ministry of Education has identified deficiencies in public centers, the measure should focus on correcting these specific anomalies, without extending the restriction to private centers (both subsidized and non-subsidized),” he added. “The autonomy of private centers not supported by public funds is unfairly limited,” he continued. And he warned: “Eliminating the possibility of teaching these subjects in English would not only negatively affect the job offer of specialized teachers and their purchasing power. [pues perderían pluses]but it would also reduce the quality of the bilingual education offered in our centers.”
The representative of FERE-CECA, which brings together owners of private subsidized centers, expressed along the same lines: “The draft decree issued suffers [carece] of the necessary reflection and justification that motivates its implementation, and […] “It may represent a step backwards in the organization and enhancement of the bilingualism system of the Community of Madrid.”
For its part, the Official College of Doctors and Graduates in Sciences and Letters of the Community of Madrid left a warning: “The quality of the educational offer and training in the subject matter of this standard seems to be called into question in those centers that They continue bilingual projects of the network not supported with public funds, historically.”
These opinions on the substance of the decree were not an exception in the School Council. Complaints also abounded regarding the shapes that accompany the change.
“The FAPA [federación de asociaciones de padre] Francisco Giner de los Ríos […] is in favor of the proposed changes […] without this making us forget that we cannot support the lack of pedagogical foundation in the norm to be ruled, that said changes have been announced without having first listened to the educational community, and that the agreements of this School Council continue to be ignored in the sense of the need to carry out a rigorous evaluation of the Bilingual Project by the educational Administration,” reads another document.
The largest study carried out so far in this regard, for which 1,724 primary and secondary teachers were interviewed, concluded last year that 8 out of 10 teachers consider that it “negatively affects the level of understanding of students” and “reduces the depth of the contents addressed.” A large majority claims that it has promoted a new form of school segregation within public schools. And more than half believe that it generates negative effects on the command of Spanish. That study, titled The opinion of teachers regarding the Bilingual Program of the Community of Madridwas developed by researchers Jesus Rogero-Garcia, professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, and Miguel Martinez, Eva Bajo, and Cristina Orio, members of the association Action Educativa MRP.
For its part, CC OO warned that, in reality, the change of the Ayuso Government “is a political turn for ideological reasons unrelated to the pedagogical field.” And he concluded: “For the absence of any analysis and evaluation of the bilingual Program imposed by the Community of Madrid and for this unexpected, untimely turn motivated by a merely ideological crusade lacking any pedagogical rigor; In addition to the inadequate, mismatched and/or redundant additions to the contents of the subject of Geography and History in ESO, the only option is to reject this draft decree and request [que se] duly analyze and evaluate the bilingual program and the consequences of its application and any changes therein with the effective participation of the educational community.”
But the process continues, and at full speed: the Community of Madrid is processing the change through the emergency procedure, so that it can come into force next academic year 2024-2025.
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