The school day It is going to be the workhorse in the coming months in Madrid. The regional government has turned on the spigot with the announcement by President Díaz Ayuso, last September, that the split day would take precedence in schools, instead of the continuous one, which almost 80 percent of public schools now have. Yesterday, the Government Council took a new step, starting the procedures for the decree that will establish this split day as a priority. A modality supported by educators, parents, nutritionists and experts, including the OECD. But that is one of the demands that the teachers unions have as reasons for the strike that they will maintain next Tuesday, October 29.
The draft new decree is now out for public consultation, with the intention of making the procedure more flexible to go from continuous work to departure. Now it is decided through a long procedure in which all members of the educational community in the affected center are involved: teachers, parents, management and students. It would be about finding a legal formula that makes it possible for this situation to be reversed if the majority of the educational community wants it. Always without forcing: «We do not impose it; We develop it for those who want,” said the Presidency advisor and spokesperson, Miguel Ángel García Martín.
The idea of the regional government is that, in general, schools have split days. That is why the rule that now regulates the change of schedule, which has been in force since 2012, is going to change to make it more flexible so that anyone who wants to return to the split schedule can do so. On the other hand, starting next year, all new schools that open will have this type of day, and none of the existing schools will be allowed to change to the continuous schedule.
A measure that teachers unions do not like. The four main organizations in the sector, CC.OO., UGT, CSIF and ANPE, have called next week for a day of strike on October 29, followed by a demonstration in the afternoon, and among other measures, they propose the “freedom of choice of day in the centers”, against the criteria of the Community of Madrid that intends for the departure to be imposed.
Parents: “Studies and reports support having school times better divided between morning and afternoon”
In this case, the unions have been left alone in this request: various scientific studies have shown that it is positive for students and their academic performance that there are school periods alternated with leisure, food and rest times. Instead of a continuous day from 9 in the morning until three in the afternoon, which has been criticized by nutritionists, educators and in studies carried out by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that have proposed ending the continuous or intensive day, and implement the split day with morning and afternoon classes with a lunch break, as an effective formula to reduce premature school leaving.
In addition to the measures that have already been announced, the Ministry of Education, headed by Emilio Viciana, is also working to ensure that schools that already have an intensive day can offer new activities so that students without resources or alternatives can continue more hours in their schools. The Community insists that this is about facilitating work-family conciliation and the free choice of schools by parents.
The continuous day has become the majority among Madrid public schools. But that does not mean that parents are happy with it. In fact, the announcement by the regional president that split days would take precedence from now on sparked an immediate flow of sympathy among the student parents’ associations.
Specifically, the Francisco Giner de los Ríos Federation of Parents of Students Associations, which brings together a thousand associations of parents of students in the region, expressed its support for Sol’s initiative to implement this day starting from mandatory in the new schools that opened. “We have always defended – they explained – that any educational measure must prioritize the best interests of the minor.”
Parents also add that “more and better distributed school time contributes positively to the comprehensive development of students, both from an academic point of view and in terms of physical and emotional well-being.” And they refer to “various studies and reports published on educational systems in Europe that support the advantages of having school time better divided between morning and afternoon.”
The week will begin in Madrid with the mobilizations called by the main teachers’ unions: the strike on Tuesday, and that same afternoon, a demonstration between Neptune and Sol. Another day of strike will follow on November 21, with another march. The unions are asking, in addition to the freedom to choose the day, a reduction in teaching hours that reverses the increases that have been applied since 2011, a further reduction in ratios and an equalization of salaries for Madrid teachers with those in other regions, since they are now placed seventh in the ranking, they say.
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