Home Elements for a Diagnosis of the Spanish Educational System
6 - Family and school (continued)


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Family and education in ethical values

In the early years of a person’s life the family plays an exceptionally relevant role in directing ones relation with the world. Parents form the main reference for their children’s socialisation, through transmission of beliefs, values and attitudes, which will have an effect on their personal and social development. However, in present society, spend a lot of time in contact with other agents of socialisation and the family no longer monopolises that function. This change of situation arises due to diverse reasons, among which one may point out a certain insecurity by adults in setting models for the future for their children.

The withdrawal by some families, who delegate their responsibilities on the school, coincide with the generalised concern parents have for providing their children the necessary instruments to cope on the labour market. In this context, attention to technical training seems to leave training in moral values in a second plane.

It is obvious that, along with the mission of transmitting knowledge, the school has that of training people who are able to prepare a personal project in life oriented towards the values of equity, autonomy and solidarity. In any case, the references to this would be the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the Spanish Constitution of 1978. Within the framework of the latter, the Education System General Organisation Act (LOGSE) of 1990 explains the values on which educational action must be based.




How family, school and mass media face ethical values

As to the cases mentioned, the questionnaire addressed to the families included questions whose answer allows one to know to what extent the school, family and media encourage certain values, in the parents’ opinion. Graph 6 shows, in order of frequency of replies, the values concerned. As may be seen, the family has an excellent opinion of itself as a socialising instance for its children while it shows a certain distrust of the role of the media in transmitting values.



Graph 6: Families who answer that the following values in the family, school and media
are encouraged "a lot" or "fairly"

According to the answers, school encourages the values most positively. Parents of students at private schools have a better opinion than parents at state schools as to encouragement of certain values by the respective schools (table 11).



Table 11: Families who answer that the school their children attend encourages certain values "a lot"
Values Total State
schools
Private
schools
Difference
Religiousness
Goodness
Honestness
Sincerity
Tolerance
Success in studies
Hardworkingness
Responsibility
21%
31%
37%
35%
36%
24%
26%
38%
9%
25%
31%
30%
31%
21%
23%
34%
46%
45%
49%
45%
46%
33%
35%
46%
37
20
18
15
15
12
12
12
Source: Family-School Questionnaire. INCE 1997.


The assessment by parents of participation by the media in socialisation of children and youths is fairly negative. The families consider only the values "respect for nature" and "personal freedom" are encouraged in an adequate way by the media (table 12).



Table 12: The families’ opinion as to the extent the media encourage values
Values "a lot" or "fairly" "little" or "none" Difference
Respect for nature
Personal liberty
Friendship
Solidarity / Companionship
Hardworkingness
Success in studies
Responsibility
Goodness
Tolerance and respect
Authenticity and coherence
Honestness
Sincerity
Religious sense
67%
57%
45%
42%
35%
35%
34%
32%
27%
26%
25%
23%
14%
33%
43%
55%
48%
65%
65%
66%
68%
73%
74%
75%
77%
86%
34
14
-10
-6
-30
-30
-32
-36
-46
-48
-50
-54
-72
Source: Family-School Questionnaire. INCE 1997.


The negative perception as to this increases with the cultural level of the parents and the size of the municipality where they reside. On the other hand, parents of students in private schools are more critical than those in state schools as to the role of the media as to certain values (graph 7).



Graph 7: Families who believe the media encourage the following values "little" or "none",
according to the type of school the children attend




EDUCATING ATTITUDES

The study has researched forming attitudes within the family and at school. The activities proposed for consideration by the families are usually approached as qualities the parents wish to see in their children. Graph 8 shows a set of activities encouraged by the family and by the school, organised by percentages of answers according to which said activities are encouraged "a lot" or "fairly".



Graph 8: Attitudes encouraged by the family and school (percentages of "a lot" or "fairly")

The parents’ view seems too optimistic. In any case, the study has also allowed some comparisons in this aspect. For example, the attitudes "development of critical spirit" and "autonomy" are the most favoured by parents with a higher educational level. According to the parents, private schools insist more than state schools on forming the attitudes consulted.




CIVIC VALUES, LINES OF BEHAVIOUR WITHIN THE FAMILY

The family forms the surroundings where the child takes in values, rules and guidelines of behaviour that affect socialisation. Families consider life together is an optimal fact, as respect between the members, adaptation to the economic circumstances and dialogue are clearly valued (graph 9).



Graph 9: Opinion the families have as to the extent to which the following values of life together arise within the family setting (percentages of "fairly" and "a lot")

Among the comparisons the study has allowed, one must point out the fact that the greater the municipality in which one lives, the more children take part in decision making and the more they adapt to the economic circumstances of the family. Families whose children attend religious schools show a greater respect for privacy and the spaces and objects in the home. On the other hand, encouragement of values for family life together increases with the educational level of the parents and, finally, the parent’s work outside the home also influences greater responsibility among the members of the family in their chores.




FUNDAMENTAL ASPECTS OF EDUCATION

The order of priorities as to the dimensions of education that affect the whole syllabus (those called cross-curricular) is not the same for the family as for the school. Graph 10 shows the aspects which the family and the school grant a "fair" or "lot" of importance, ranked according to their respective assessment.



Graph 10: Families who consider the family itself and the school grant a "fair" amount or "a lot" of importance to the following aspects of their son or daughter’s education

The table must be interpreted with care, above all as to the aspects that are apparently less valued. What the parents were really asked is what they really do, that is to say, the importance they grant in their action to those aspects and not the importance they should give them. Indeed, parents seem especially concerned about the problem of drugs and their prevention and fairly little as to education for consumption, the latter being a fact that does not cease to be contradictory to a great extent and perhaps thus discouraging. Even less importance seems to be granted by the family to religious education. The parents, on the other hand, consider that schools pay special attention to education for peace and moral and civic education.

The greatest demand among the educational aspects considered in the study arises in municipalities with a greater number of inhabitants, except in the case of religious education, where the demand is inversely proportional to the size of the municipality.

The parents of students at religious schools show a greater concern for religious education, prevention of drug consumption, learning languages and computer science and encouraging work and study habits.

The parent cultural level factor also introduces significant differences. Parents with higher education have a higher appraisal of moral and civic education, education for peace, environmental education, encouragement of study and work habits and learning languages. Parents with only primary education, on the other hand, grant special relevance to education for the labour market, education for consumption and religious education.




IMAGE OF THEIR OFFSPRING

84% of parents consider their children are "scarcely" or "not" aggressive and 60% are "scarcely" or "not" consumer oriented. This data item is obtained from the answers to questions on children’s behaviour. Table 13 expresses to what extent certain behaviour is shown by children, according to their parents. As conflictive situations have grown with society overall, one might think that children have a sweeter image within the family setting and that, in this context, there is an appreciable climate of overprotection of children by their parents.



Table 13: Extent to which behaviour is shown by offspring
 
None Little Fairly A lot
Aggressiveness
Competitiveness
Consumption
Autonomy
Self-esteem
Personal care and hygiene
34%
7%
10%
4%
2%
0%
50%
39%
50%
21%
15%
6%
14%
43%
31%
54%
56%
38%
2%
11%
9%
21%
27%
56%
Source: Family-School Questionnaire. INCE 1997.



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