Home Elements for a Diagnosis of the Spanish Educational System
3 - Syllabus and teaching methods (continued)


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The academic environment


THE ATMOSPHERE AND ACADEMIC CULTURE

Academic conflict is a problem that concerns the teaching staff. There are some causes that go beyond strictly academic problems: the problems of present day youth, the lack of labour perspectives and consequent devaluation of effort ...

Other causes may be found within the school: the overcrowding of schools linked to what may be called the phenomenon of "school transplantation".

The transfer - transplantation - of students from the previous second cycle of General Basic Education (EGB) to the present Secondary Education Institutes (High Schools) involves a quite significant modification in the elements of the social-educational context. High Schools are too complex and, almost always, too large, even overcrowded, where anonymity may aid anti-social behaviour. On the other hand, the concurrence of much older students, with very different activities and habits, due to the age difference, leads to a certain sense of emulation and even of competition. Students aged 12 share the facilities with 18 and even 20 year old students. The "transplanted" student may tend to emulate students in the upper years. To all this one must add the atmosphere the so-called "academic objectors" may bring about.

These situations give rise to difficulties that, on occasions, are considered extremely severe by the teacher. Inhibition is sometimes related to concern and even, in very specific cases, to fear. There is an awareness that the internal rules of the schools do not provide an answer to these problems. On the other hand, the diverse situations have a modulated presence according to the social and cultural surroundings of the school concerned.

The procedures the teaching staff uses to maintain discipline in class and restore order are shown in graphs 9 and 10 respectively. As may be seen, firm dissuasion is the most frequently used procedure to restore order. Warnings and expulsion are lower rated than all the other disciplinary resources. Positive reinforcement and implication of the group in discipline are very highly rated.



Graph 9. Frequency of use of procedures to maintain discipline



Graph 10. Most frequent procedures to restore order

From the point of view of the atmosphere among the teachers, a trend towards cooperative culture is noted, although emphasising the difficulties for team work according to time limitations.

Parent-Teacher relations have changed substantially. Parents have become "customers" of the school, with a whole series of modifications in behaviours and relations with the teachers, the most significant of which are usually their demanding requests and unconditional support for their child.




THE MEANS OF SUPPORT AND FACILITATION OF THE PROFESSIONAL TASK FOR THE TEACHING STAFF

A greater attention and orientation is requested for the teaching tasks. The appraisal of the bodies that traditionally performed such tasks is not excessively high. Two bodies for which notably high hopes have been created are the Departments of Orientation and the Pedagogical Coordination Committee.

The Orientation Departments are required to define their functions and specify their action and obligations from a more pragmatic point of view. The position they hold and the activities they carry out change significantly from school to school. In spite of this, as may be seen in graph 11, the average rating of the different functions performed by the Department of Orientation exceeds the category of "important".



Graph 11. Appraisal of the Orientation Department

There is critical recognition that a fair part of the energy of the management team is taken up by establishing order, that detracts from other aspects related to planning and pedagogical improvement.

The Reform encourages the activity of pedagogical planning performed within a newly created specific body: the Pedagogical Coordination Committee, becoming one of the instruments in which the greatest hopes are placed. In general terms, it is an acceptance of possibilities, more than an appraisal of reality, as it has hardly had time to perform.

The teaching staff also stated its degree of agreement with a series of items related to the tutorials and the function of the tutor. As shown in graph 12, it considers tutorial indispensable in this phase of education, which requires more time to be dedicated to it, and must be performed by the actual teaching staff, with the advice or support of an orientation officer. The opinions between agreement and disagreement range from those who consider the teaching staff sufficiently able to act as tutor, that the tutorial should be performed exclusively by the teaching staff or, on the contrary, by specialists in psychology or pedagogy.



Graph 12. The teachers' opinion as to tutorials

Lastly, the teachers mentioned a series of items lacking at schools which they understand may be the causes for the drop in student performance and teaching quality.

The demands for resources that guarantee a minimum of teaching quality are broken down into personal factors and material facilities. Some of the demands are as follows:

  • Sufficient teaching staff at schools so the ratio is not a desire or a "statistical reality", but has an operative, realistic projection.
  • Provision of support teaching staff.
  • Increase in the quality of tutorials, through sufficient valuation and recognition of the time spent.
  • Greater attention to providing material resources, such as:
    • Increase in the resources and teaching material for each subject.
    • Encouraging creation of specific halls for each area.
    • Creation of sufficiently flexible, versatile spaces at schools.

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