Home Elements for a Diagnosis of the Spanish Educational System

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1
Previous studies of diagnosis and evaluation
of the Spanish educational system


It is well known that the tasks of control and evaluation system of a whole educational system still have a brief history in all countries. One may affirm, in general terms, that it was the stream of reform that swept the educational systems after the Second World War that brought about the striving to ascertain the base educational reality in order to improve it. Sometimes, with the aid of international organisations, and others through their own initiative, countries have allowed reports and analysis of their starting point to precede educational reforms and innovation. This trend has increased as the years have gone by, and has undoubtably intensified in the last decade, due to the growing attention paid by all governments to improvement of the quality of education, generally understood in terms of the real performance of the educational system and its close relation to the increasingly more substantial public funds dedicated to it.

Spain could undoubtably single out individual tasks to examine the educational reality at diverse moments of the past, although it seems clear that, as in other countries, it was mainly the reform movement of the sixties that brought about the first steps. Also, as in other countries, the successive governments have had the initiative of self-evaluation tasks although, sometimes thanks to their actions, and on occasions due to other social instances, diverse mechanisms have been created that have contributed to the same aim. Enactment of the LODE (Spanish Education Act) gave rise to the State School Council which, from the mid eighties, year by year, has gauged the educational system and issued reports on the situation. The Educational Inspectorate has provided abundant information on academic results, syllabuses, school management, etc. Since the National Centre for Educational Research and Development (CENIDE) was founded in 1970, considerable research has been carried out by the institution and by those that later continued its work under other names (INCIE, CIDE). The Regional Governments that are fully devolved in educational competencies have worked in the same fashion on evaluation tasks, on occasions through public bodies (School Council, etc.) and on others by collaborating in preparation of diverse studies. Universities, especially through their Pedagogy and Educational Sciences, Sociology and Psychology Departments, have made a significant contribution to improving knowledge of the circumstances of our educational system, its functions, drawbacks and problems. Thanks to all these important contributions, made over almost three decades, the task recently entrusted to the National Quality and Evaluation Institute is now able to draw on an important base of previous research and evaluation, supplied with the experience and critical certain of academic and professional sectors that are already used to such tasks and are demanding as to their quality.

Due to these reasons, we have believed it appropriate to provide a few introductory pages to this study to link the new attempt at evaluation to previous efforts. Obviously, the syncretic nature of this Report does not allow us to extend ourselves further on the point, which is also introductory as to the main objective set herein. As it is not possible to mention all the sectors in which there have been significant contributions, we have chosen only the four of those we make immediate reference to, as we consider their mention may not be delayed. We are aware that these alone perhaps do not provide us a complete view of the virtues and deficiencies of the system as, over the same period, research commissioned by some of the Regional Governments, from the scope of the universities or other fields and, even more so, information and articles that have been published in the social media, have pointed out lacunae and have provided regular criticism of specific individuals and social groups that it would be most appropriate to record here, although it is a task that greatly exceeds the objectives of this brief chapter. To sum up, we believe that the four areas covered here may be provide, if not a properly compensated view of the achievements and shortcomings of the system, at least a minimal catalogue of its most repeated trends in failings.


 

Diagnoses of education in Spain, commissioned by the political authorities (1968-1996)

N.B.: The INCE commissioned a study on this theme and title to Manuel de Puelles Benítez, Professor of Educational Policy at the Spanish National Open University. The lines included here are based on that study, which may be requested from the INCE by those with a special interest in the matter.
 

THE WHITE BOOK OF 1969

It is common knowledge that the General Education Act of 1970 was preceded, the year before, by a document that, in spite of initial scepticism, was a real success, due to its diffusion and the seriousness and rigor of its preparation. It is known as the "White Book", which was really titled Education in Spain: Bases of an educational policy. The White Book was undoubtably the first critical report produced in Spain on the overall educational system.

It referred with notable harshness to the main deficiencies in education in Spain at that time, as for example the low rates of schooling in kindergarten, primary and, most especially in secondary education (where, however, there had been an explosion in the student population), as well as severe structural problems, in the foreground of which there was the "double track" offered to Spanish children as of the age of ten, which discriminated children, above all due to their resources and social and family background.

Many of the problems criticized in the White Book may be considered inherent to that time and were solved to a greater or lesser extent by enactment of the General Education Act and, later, through other legal measures. Thus, we shall not refer to these here. What we are now interested in is to pinpoint some of the trends noted then that may, at least partially, still exist nowadays. Specifically as to secondary education, the White Book then emphasised:

  • high rates of drop-outs between the beginning and completion of secondary education;
  • high student-teacher ratios in the public sector;
  • appreciable differences between the public sector and private sector in certain aspects related to quality, such as, for example, student-teacher ratios;
  • overcrowded syllabuses;
  • teacher training excessively aimed at level of scientific and specialist knowledge;
  • scarce social appreciation of vocation training;
  • inadequacy of vocational training for the reality of the labour market and productive trends.

The White Book also emphasised failings of the academic system for which, as could be expected, it did not offer a solution to please everybody. This is especially applicable to the matter of school segregation of 10 to 14 year old students. By proposing elimination of the preexistent bipolarity and establishment of a common channel for all students, a solution that was fully accepted and adopted by the Act of 1970, some sectors of society and the educational sector (especially in secondary and university education) clearly reacted against the measure, insisting that it led to a flawed interpretation of democratisation of education and hindered selection and adequate training of the more skilled students with an interest in higher education. Another important point worth pointing out is the denouncement in the document that teaching - at all levels, but specially in middle or secondary education - was too memory based. This may also have favoured a policy tending toward syllabuses that reinforced instrumental knowledge and cultivated the memory to a lesser extent, as then and later frequently pointed out.

To conclude this brief reference to the White Book, one must add that the Report published in the same period through private initiative (the so-called 2nd Foessa Report, in 1970) substantially validated the critical observations of the White Book, although pointing out that some of the data provided in it, in spite of their severity, were rather optimistic (such as those related to schooling and drop-out rates). The most substantial criticism in the 2nd Foessa Report as to the White Book concerned matters of funding, due to the inadequate financial calculation of the needs the reform announced aimed to cover.



THE EVALUATION REPORT OF 1976

Six years after approval of the Act, a new Report was commissioned by the ministerial authorities. This was requested in 1976 by the Minister Robles Piquer, by a Committee presided by Fernando Suárez, which was not published, although it did have a restricted circulation (Report presented by the Committee to Evaluate the General Education and Educational Reform Funding Act pursuant to Decree 186/76/ of 6th February). As its very name states, it aimed to evaluate implementation of the said Act and, in conclusion, to appraise its achievements and deficiencies at a time when the political situation, after the death of Franco, was undergoing a profound change.

The first of the three large volumes comprising the Report was dedicated to recording the quantitative evolution of the academic system from 1969, and it records the great growth at all levels, which is especially notable in secondary education (which almost tripled its number of students over those seven years) and also notable, although to a lesser extent, in Vocational Training (VT) (which was doubled). It also recorded practically universal application of General Basic Education (EGB) (that is to say, obligatory primary education up to the age of 14). It pointed out the great expansion in the public sector, especially in secondary education (much above that which took place in the private sector), although also at other levels.

The second volume is dedicated to evaluation of the different levels and modes. As to the matters of special interest to us, we may say that the Report backs the Act of 1970 as a "success" in unifying schooling between the age of 7 and 14, adding that "under no circumstances may one accept a return to the previous discriminatory situations which divided the school population at basic level into diverse groups" and that "if there is anything lacking in the present system, it is precisely a premature discrimination in educational treatment as of age 13-14 and an excessively radical division into predominantly humanistic, pretechnological and professional education". On the other hand, although it records the criticism raised in various sectors as to the drop in the quality of upper secondary education (high school baccalaureate "Bachillerato Unificado Polivalente - BUP"), it clearly favours the form established in the Act, emphasising the convenience of reinforcing its "unified" and "multiple-purpose" core.

Among the failings noted in the scope of secondary education (general and vocational, lower and higher level), some have to a fair extent been dealt with in later years, as for example the reference to free obligatory education (to a great extent "still an aim", according to the Report), or there still being deficient classrooms at primary schools. Other failings may perhaps have lasted same years after the Report, as for example:

  • high student-teacher ratios in certain areas and certain schools;
  • overcrowded syllabuses (in higher secondary);
  • scarce secondary education teacher staff training and refreshment;
  • vocational training turned into a "double track" in Baccalaureate, and into a "discriminatory alternative" against the recommendations of the White Book.

Puelles summarises that the Committee considers that, pursuant to the Act of 1970 special attention had to be paid to the following realities:

  1. a new political, economic and social situation;
  2. the growing process of urbanisation of the Spanish society and consequent isolation of the rural areas;
  3. insufficient gratuity of primary education;
  4. insufficient public spending on education;
  5. the urgent demand for decentralisation of the educational system;
  6. the demands for the principle of equal opportunities;
  7. the increasingly pressing demand for quality teaching.

In other aspects, the Report by the Committee also insisted that many of the remaining difficulties are due to insufficient funding of the Act of 1970.

In the Updated synthesis of the 3rd Foessa report, published in 1978, the observations were not much different from the previous ones. It made particular emphasis on educational expenditure still being notably below the needs and usual practice in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.



THE 1981 DOCUMENT ON SECONDARY EDUCATION

The Report Secondary Education in Spain published in 1981 also contains, apart from its proposal for reform, an evaluation of the Baccalaureate and Vocational Training more than ten years after enactment of the Act of 1970. On the basis of the great in the number of students in both educational groups (above all in Vocational Training, which duplicated from 1975, although amounting to half those enrolled in Baccalaureate then), the Report referred amply to "severe failings" and "anomalies requiring urgent correction". A summary of the deficiencies and anomalies stated in the Report is, mainly, as follows.

  • the high degree of school drop-outs at the end of Primary Education, stating the high number of pupils who do not obtain the (Primary) School Graduation Certificate;
  • the high drop-out level in Vocational Training, mainly due to the following two reasons:
    • due to imposed, not chosen subjects;
    • those dragged down by their lack of previous training which prevented achievement of the (Primary) School Graduation Certificate;
  • consolidation of the Baccalaureate as a mere preparation to enter higher education;
  • the failure of the University Orientation Course (COU), at least in its implementation.

Once more, the 4th Foessa Report, published two years later, also points out such anomalies as those already stated in the official Report in 1981.



THE OECD REPORT OF 1986

A report that was also commissioned by the political authorities is that of 1986, carried out by the OECD on Spanish educational policy (Survey of Spanish educational policy, OECD 1996). This Report begins by pointing out the great thrust education has received in Spain since the General Education Act of 1970, due to which there was growth throughout the educational system overall which the surveyors considered "was more spectacular than in any other OECD country".

The OECD Report emphasises some points of the criticism above, such as, for example, those concerning the faulty approach to Vocational Training, in the first grade (due to the type of students it takes in, and due to its scarce social appreciation) and at the second (due to the scarce proportion of high school students who chose it, not greater than 20% then, as well as the considerable number of drop-outs). However, it also mentions other key points such as:

  • deficient teacher training, above all in secondary education, which staff, it states, has "practically no training in educational theory and practice";
  • deficient training of the school principals, who "do not receive any specific training in the administrative and management tasks they have to carry out".

Of course, the OECD survey also covers matters related to funding, stating that "it would be useful to prepare more systematic estimates of the medium and long term requirements for resources".



THE WHITE BOOK IN 1989

As Puelles points out in the study taken as reference, the White Book published in 1989 (White Book for the Reform of the Educational System), also as a prologue to the Act to be enacted a year later (Educational System General Organisation Act, LOGSE), is much briefer than the one twenty years before as to diagnosis of the situation and sets more directly about presenting the reform it wishes to implement. However, its first part provides a fairly ample analysis of the achievements and shortcomings of the Act of 1970 which, twenty years later, must be properly implemented.

This is not the stage to examine what the new White Book considers many important "achievements". Among the shortcomings that have lasted until the end of the eighties, the document specifically emphasised the following ones, which it considers the effect of the new Act must address specifically:

  • deficiencies in the field of kindergarten education, which detracts from its enormous importance in preventing educational lack of equality;
  • important rate of drop-outs at the end of primary education;
  • early discrimination remains (at the age of 14) among the school population, due to the double qualification obtained at the end of primary education (EGB);
  • important limitations of the Baccalaureate, due to its lack of multiple purpose (in spite of the intentions of the 1970 legislators), its academically oriented approach and status as a non terminal gangway;
  • failure of the first grade of vocational training, as it does not cover or provide the appropriate qualifications for all the students who are not promoted to baccalaureate;
  • lack of flexibility in second grade vocational training, in spite of the important quantitative and qualitative increase achieved in recent years;
  • absence of a properly articulated syllabus, from the early years of schooling till conclusion.

In addition to these shortcomings, the White Book also points out the need to bring about a general adaptation of the Spanish educational system to present day circumstances, pointing out the following related factors:

  • inadequacy of the draft of the Act of 1970 to the Constitution of 1978, above all as to the new territorial organisation of the State;
  • lack of matching between the needs of the population (as to cultural and vocational training) and the possibilities provided by the system;
  • lack of endorsement of the Spanish educational system to suit the structures and quality levels of the countries in the European Community.


ON THE QUALITY OF TEACHING

Another important document was published by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 1994, this time titled Schools and teaching quality: proposal for action, considering 77 measures to improve the quality of the educational system, an objective set mainly by the LOGSE. Its first part is "description of the present day problems", but what specific problems does it refer to?

The document by the Ministry mainly concentrates on those affecting organisation of schools and their main resources, which are its human ones (teaching and management staff), although it suggests that priority be given to "scopes or main indicators of a quality education": education in values and equal opportunities, of which a glimpse is provided by the ministerial authorities when they state the lack of attention to these matters by the schools.

The fundamental guidelines to structure and organise schools were handed down in the Organic Educational Entitlement Act (LODE) in 1985. One must thus understand that what is proposed in the ministerial document of 1994 is an amendment or adjustment of this act in "the aspects in which the objectives set have not been achieved". The following list shows the points that the document considers require the greatest criticism and reform:

  • lack of candidates for the management roles, lack of selection procedures for the most appropriate candidates and a lack of specific training for the post;
  • in any case, the scarce authority of the principal at schools,
  • motivation and training lacking (above all ongoing) among the teaching staff;
  • lack of autonomy of schools as to management of the teaching staff;
  • scarce autonomy of schools as to their economic and administrative management;
  • insufficient treatment of matters related to evaluation of the educational system, including evaluation of the actual administration, of the teaching staff, the reform process, etc.;
  • lack of an adequate system for access to the inspection function, lack of legal measures to ensure greater stability of the inspectors, greater demands for training and a change in the means of intervention at the school.

The 5th Foessa Report (5th Sociological report on the Social Situation in Spain) was also published in 1994. This report contains critical observations as to the situation of the educational system that partially coincide with the two ministerial documents published in 1989 and 1994, although there is also a hint of criticism.

For example, it makes a net allusion to what it nettly considers "difficulties and failings" caused by the LODE and its later implementation, considering it necessary to reform some of its principles, as well as those relating to school management. With reference to the document of 1994, it blames that excessive dimension and questionable feasibility on the measures proposed.

The 5th Report also pays considerable attention to the matter of funding the educational apparatus, considering continued growth of expenditure correct, although it regrets the persistence of such finantial problems and, definitively, "the restriction on public funds assigned to education due to the general economic crisis and the specific crisis of the social Welfare State". The Report also regrets the gradual decrease in State expenditure from 1991 to 1994, the year of its publication.


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