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Elements for a Diagnosis of the Spanish Educational System


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7
Conclusions and recommendations


Five approaches to the educational system

  1. The Diagnosis was conceived, from its offset, as a diversified study, and not as a set presided by a research guideline that the different parties necessarily had to fit in with and adapt to. This initial conception was amply discussed from the start, because not all the experts consulted agreed with it. The contrary alternative was that of effectively choosing a specific area for evaluation or particular method of diagnosis, and to attempt to enrichen it with complementary, descriptive or explanatory evaluations and methodologies. The specific area of evaluation that seemed to be accepted by the majority was, obviously, that of academic performance, that is to say, the advantage taken by students of certain subjects on the syllabus. Taking that area as a starting point, it seemed possible and convenient to carry out complementary research to allow a better understanding of the differences in performance that may arise (research as to the syllabus, the social and family influence, the efficiency of schools, etc.). This was the same formula the INCE attempted to follow prior to this in some of the preliminary evaluations, specifically that on primary education. It was also the formula most frequently resorted to in other developed countries.
  2. This alternative formula has undoubtably been implemented recently in Spain and abroad. As to our country, the main efforts at diagnosis carried out in recent decades, analyzed in the first chapter, tended to adopt diversified approximation criteria, although perhaps insisting on evaluation of the existing resources and the necessary resources to extend the benefits of education to the Spanish juvenile population overall. What it set out to record was, definitively, the possible lack of sufficient educational resources (as to schools, buildings, teaching staff, teaching methods, etc.) to implement the right of all to education. However, in more or less punctual research, as well as, above all, in systematic actions carried out by the Inspectorate bodies, there have also been possible actions in our country in evaluation of academic performance as a means of diagnosis and improvement of the quality of the educational services.
  3. As far as the international scope is concerned, it is undoubtably due to the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) that evaluation of academic performance was adopted as the basic comparative criteria when providing information on the efficiency of school activities in diverse countries in the world. Later, other international bodies - especially the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) - also assumed this methodological criteria, integrating it as a fundamental part within a more ambitious set of educational indicators, among which those concerning quantifiable resources still prevail.
  4. In spite of all these considerations, which seem to back the decision to turn academic performance into a procedure in inside information concerning the greater or lesser quality of the educational system, the diagnosis project prepared by the INCE, which was definitively accepted by its Governing Body, was placed in the line of a greater conceptual and methodological opening. The aim was thus to prevent the educational reductionism this would perhaps lead them to, worldwide, in important social sectors and political decision making bodies, desiring to find relatively simplified access to something so complex, so subtle and also so imprecise, as is the quality of education received and to be received by the citizens.
  5. Although the extreme importance of academic results in the basic subjects of learning were never doubted as true indicators of quality, it did not seem, however, appropriate to use them - if one may use the expression - as an engine for the whole diagnosis process, making aspects that are of the same or greater strength and meaning in the quality of training actions subject to them. A plural, relatively independent approach was thus preferred that, far from being limited to providing determinist explanations as to greater or lesser performance in some areas of learning (however important these may be objectively), to aim to diagnose the academic system from other points of view. An attempt was made to overcome the process/product paradigm. To do so, in addition to academic performance, four approaches were chosen that were considered substantial, relative, respectively, to the teaching syllabuses and methods, to administration and management of schools, to the teaching profession and to relations between society and school. Undoubtably others could have been added, or some of those chosen diversified., although it was considered that the approximative framework was sufficient, considering above all the time and resources available.
  6. Does this mean that all kind of correlation was renounced beforehand? Of course not. Although the reader will surely have already noticed it indeed, the main objective of the following pages is to show that all the aspects are closely correlated, although not linear cause-effect relations. Under no circumstances is the aim to underestimate, or even less to disqualify the importance or appropriateness of the latter determinist relations here, but rather to clarify for once and for all that the diagnosis has not used them as a fundamental methodological criteria.
  7. In any case, the methodological approach used here does not aim to say the last word in such an arguable and argued matter. It seemed, when it was adopted, that it could offer a means of integration, that would not be excluding at all, so it should be a diagnosis of the situation as to educational matters. in fact, the study aspect to academic results collected data and left open interesting results for future research by those who wish to seek cause-effect results in this specific aspect, although that was not its fundamental objective. Something similar may be affirmed in other chapters. The future will tell to what extent it is worth conserving or correcting this approach. In principle, it does not seem to be a good idea to have preferred plurality rather than exclusion here.


Reflections on academic performance

  1. The first reflection we should perhaps make first for the reader is concerning the considerable methodological effect made to obtain the most reliable and valid data possible on academic performance among young Spaniards aged 14 and 16. The evaluation is not limited in the first instance to "grading" the students, but aims to point out what they know and what they do not know as to the areas examined. Nor does it just offer a separate impression of the two age groups, but relates the knowledge acquired and the progression of learning among them, so we may notice the effect of schooling on them. Above all, it is not limited to providing an "up-to-date" portrait of what these youths know, that is thus destined to fade over the years, but, on the contrary, to be taken as a reference point in future periodic evaluation, something that has not been possible to date. The methodological option chosen - cautious and daring at the same time - has the virtuality of being particularly useful for comparative purposes, in spatial and time terms.
  2. This all does not mean that the methodological option implemented is completely free of risks and shortcomings and that the data provided should not be submitted to later analysis and accepted with the usual caution, as indeed there may be specific errors and base flaws. What one must reject a priori is that all the necessary means have not been deployed to prevent any bias or undue manipulation. Experts from all the Educational Administrations involved have participated in adapting the base methodological criteria; the preparation of the questionnaires was aimed at and reviewed by that same variety of experts, and its administration was entrusted to the actual services at the said Administrations, which have undoubtably taken the greatest care in the usual procedures.
  3. The academic performance by the students shown in the diagnosis is not determined according to what is considered "desirable", but according to what is objectively observed. In other words, using the same expression included in the relevant Report, the performance scales used show only the "education had" and not the "education wished for". Obviously, what is aimed at must be clearly defined, the sooner the better and, thus, what level must be considered as completely satisfactory; although this is not the task of the specialists in evaluation, but those responsible for managing the educational system and pointing out its priority objectives (which do not consist only of the so-called "minimum contents"). At present, according to the available data, we must be content to consider only what is presented in a clear, almost unarguable matter as "unsatisfactory" or "satisfactory" (although admitting beforehand that even evident matters are sometimes subject to argument).


"SCHOOL FAILURE": A RECURRING THEME

  1. However much this may be mentioned in recent decades, so-called "school failure" is not in deed an old problem, but a fairly recent problem, due to generalised schooling. At least from a subjective point of view - which indeed is not the only important factor in this field - one fails only in what one attempts to achieve and does not achieve. Thus one may note, among other things, that "school failure" is really a typical phenomenon in countries that have achieved a certain educational development, but not so much in those still struggling to generalise schooling, even at primary school level. In fact, it is so typical in educationally developed countries that almost all of them suffer it to a greater or lesser extent.
  2. However, "school failure" in Spain, if not old, has indeed been a recurring theme in recent decades, above all as of the early seventies. Under one name or another, it is referred to in numerous research papers and in most of the diagnosis or situation reports presented to the public at large or to the educational authorities since then, as we have had the opportunity to see in chapter one. It places special emphasis on the technical reports by the Inspectorate, which sometimes provide specific figures, as well as those that, since 1984, has been prepared by the State School Council. According to the Report on Primary Education performed by the INCE in 1995, only 51% of a 64% students aged 12 achieved acceptable results in Mathematics and Spanish Language respectively, which shows there is 49% and 26%, in both cases, which do not achieve these.
  3. It is thus not something new what the diagnosis now presented affirms in more general terms and undoubtably better documented: that as to the basic subjects of learning, an average of students aged 14 "is on the limit of the distribution with clearly unsatisfactory results", and "33% of the students aged 16 is on the lower limit of the distribution, with results that are very far from the acceptable minimums".
  4. These are undoubtably worrying results, the severity of which must not be ignored. The truth is that the presence of high percentages of school drop-outs is also present in other educational systems around us at our cultural level, although, according to the scarce comparative data not available to us, the figures the developed countries seem to reach do not reach the same levels as ours; according to general impressions, that are merely approximate although documented, this does not usually exceed 20% a both ages. In order to speak of full reliability in comparisons between countries, as to school failure, one would undoubtably have to start from the basis of methodologies with common principles as to the actual definition and determination of school failure, which has yet to be carried out. To conclude, the differences in margin between some developed countries and others, which is relatively close, does not in any way justify social alarm in the Spanish case, although urgent corrective measures should be taken.
  5. In fact, these means of correction could and should have started years ago, as in other countries (and in spite of these being less affected). Due to a series of reasons this diagnosis need not go deeper into, the truth is that this has not happened; we are now facing the urgent need to bring about a significant change to make schools an efficient means of promotion, in one sense or another, for the majority of the Spanish juvenile population, and under no circumstances may it allow systematic failure by at least a quarter of its members.
  6. The growth of schooling frequently causes a drop in the global level of teaching. Moreover, an important number of students who fail do so out of full, conscious lack of interest in what school has to offer them, in spite of the pressure that may be put on them by parents and teachers. The latter immediately comes to light in class, although little may be done to overcome the situation. From the teacher's point of view, the Report on Syllabuses and Teaching Methods states the problem in the following, very expressive words: "The presence of a significant number of students who could be called "academic objectors" has been noted: those who openly declare their rejection of schooling, although they have no alternative but to attend school. They show a problem generated by the ESO, that has no solution at present." It seems obvious that any attempt at solution must involve finding institutional solutions out aiming at it only being teachers who solve the problem - allowing the student's interest to be recovered, as exclusion from schooling must be fully rejected.
  7. Interesting the students who have lost interest is not a problem that only affects them, but also their companions (especially others who also, regrettably, have a low performance) and all of the school action. As the Report on School Operation most clearly states, one of the two main causes of the situations of lack of discipline in schools is precisely due to "lack of interest among the students, followed by family problems and the presence of repeating students".
  8. To sum up, one of the priority objectives that must be imposed by the Spanish educational system is a determined struggle against school failure from the very beginning of obligatory education (and surely before) although especially during the period of secondary education. To allow this, it is fundamental that Spanish society itself is aware that the problem exists and that it is a severe problem, a matter that is not very clear if we consider the information provided by the families of students in secondary education.
  9. According to the answers to the survey administered, included in the Report on School and Family, at least 70% of Spanish parents are satisfied with their children's academic results. One must reconsider the data collected in this sense, pages back "70% of Spanish parents believe that their children are doing well or very well in their studies compared with other children their age; 57% reply that their children are motivated (always or frequently) to study; 76% of fathers and 83% of mother satisfied with the they have with their children as to their studies; 70% of fathers and 71% of mothers say they are satisfied with their children's academic performance. The assessment of children's academic progress is high; a quarter consider it "very good" and almost half "good", somewhat less than a quarter "reasonable" and only 6% "bad". It is evident that the figures do not match, above all the latter two. If, as the data on performance suggests, we have academic failure rates of about 25% and 30% aged 14 and 16, how is it possible that less than 25% of parents state that their children's performance is only "reasonable", and only 6% admit a situation of real failure? It will be difficult to combat academic failure in a society that, simply, does not admit its existence, at least in real proportions. One would have to go into the causes for this state of opinion; and provide adequate solutions.


MEDIOCRITY CANNOT CONSTITUTE A COMMON OBJECTIVE

  1. According to the Report on Academic Performance, only 30% of the students aged 14 and 22.5% of those aged 16 in Spain, on average, achieve results that may be considered fully "satisfactory", without reserves; these percentages also include students who not only obtain "satisfactory" results, but more than satisfactory, one may state brilliant ones, to which we shall refer further on. Setting aside that high band of students and those who usually fail in their studies, we reach the following proof:that a considerable majority of students (about 41 or 42% in both cases) are concentrated in the interval around the average; although not obtaining clearly "unsatisfactory" results, do not seem to obtain clearly "satisfactory" ones either. These are thus located in a wide range of doubtful, arguable results, which in the best of cases we could classify as "mediocre".
  2. On the other hand, the number of students who are outstanding, above what is considered fully "satisfactory", seems to be very small on the performance scales. At age 14, that number amounts to 2% in Reading Comprehension and Grammar and Literature and 4% in Mathematics and 6% in Geography and History, and 3% in Nature Sciences. At age 16, the average is even lower, as the percentage is 2% in Reading Comprehension and in Geography and History, and 3% in Grammar and Literature, Mathematics and Nature Sciences. The portrait of the diagnosis of our educational system, in the stretch concerned, thus shows that the number of students with a high performance (no necessarily optimum performance) in our schools is fairly scarce. Is this due to an intrinsic failure in the scales of performance used, which perhaps have not known how to distinguish the most skilled students adequately? It is possible, and we now recommend further analysis in this sense. However, the probable interpretation that the data initially seems to indicate, is another: that cultivation of excellence at Spanish schools is fairly low nowadays, perhaps partially due to the effort required of the teaching staff to achieve at least reasonably satisfactory levels (partially we insist, as the causes of such a complex phenomenon cannot be simplified).
  3. There is a quite surprising lack of reference to this point in the Report on Syllabuses and Teaching Methods. The teaching staff shows a great interest in the matter of integration of students with special educational needs, and also as to the matter of diversity, as we shall also see later on, but, considering what may be seen from reading the Report, the approach to diversity seems to be governed, above all, by finding solutions for low performance students, and not thus to finding ways to provide proper orientation for high performance students. The impression given is that, in any case, the latter could take care of themselves perfectly well alone.
  4. However, discovery and encouragement of high performance students seems to be an objective of enormous interest to the educational system and to the society it serves. The more educationally developed countries have understood this well, as years ago they made excellence a fundamental, almost obsessive reference. Achieving and maintaining cultural, scientific, social and cultural development to keep up with the times, and with the capacity to compete nobly with the societies around us, requires cultivation of excellence in academic settings more than ever, especially in such a decisive moment as precisely Obligatory Secondary Education.
  5. Spanish schools nowadays do not seem to seek excellence, nor does Spanish society at large. One must take another look at the optimism shown as to this point by a high percentage of Spanish families, when they consider obviously mediocre results "good or very good", and results that are clearly unsatisfactory "mediocre" ("reasonable" is the term used). Of course, that optimism is also quite positive, as it means there is considerable appreciation for mere schooling and, thus, a possible driving force for future improvement. However, it is obvious that one must not become bogged down in the present terms of complacency.
  6. Mediocrity may not be considered, under any circumstances, as an objective of the educational system. The determined struggle must be put up against the high rates of academic failure we are suffering must be accompanied by institutional solutions and procedure to allow schools and teachers to take the greatest possible advantage of the more skilled students, interest and stimulation to study, in the conviction that this will not only be of advantage to them, but also for the good of the institution itself, for the educational system and the whole of society. At present, the Spanish educational system falls very far short in that sense.


EMULATION VERSUS COMPETITIVENESS

  1. As aforementioned, the methodology used to diagnose academic performance among Obligatory Secondary Education students seems particularly fit to provide spatial and time-frame comparisons. One may expect these present and future comparisons not to encourage rivality, or irritation, but to be of use to deal with inappropriate differences and, definitively, to improve the quality of education throughout the institutional and territorial scope of Spain.
  2. One understands that the partial or biased use that may be made, and has been made of comparative data sometimes gives rise to the temptation among those in charge and managers to avoid this. To succumb to that temptation would be a considerable error of calculation, as it would deprive the political officers and institutions of an excellent instrument for improvement just due to passing problems of image. As to that point, this diagnosis has established an important precedent that shall no longer be done away with under any circumstances. The best virtualities of the methodologies used - particularly, although not only by the Committee dedicated to Academic Performance - are not those stated now, but those that will come to light in future evaluations.
  3. Among the comparisons obtained from the study, the most usual is that referring to sexes. Little new information has come to light in this sense. It has confirmed that there are differences between them in the results and processes. Female students are better than male ones in Language, perhaps due to their early maturity, while the males are better than females in Mathematics. There is the unique fact that the differences between them tend to decrease in the first case and to increase in the second, over the 14-16 year old period. the data as to this point, although important, however seem to be liable to variation, and require attention to be paid to successive evaluation.
  4. Among all the differences referred to in the Report on Academic Performance, one must perhaps take greater care in interpreting those referring to diverse syllabus lines followed by students at present, when there is still an overlap of two different sets of laws (those of 1970 and 1990). As repeatedly explained, the degree of implementation of the new teaching is not the same in all the Autonomous Regions, nor at all the state and private schools (even within the same Region), nor has enough time of implementation elapsed for the new teaching to show well defined differential features as to the previous ones. It would thus be most inappropriate to state that the diagnosis evaluates the ESO, that is to say, the new Obligatory Secondary Education established in the LOGSE. In this context, the results are thus these one would have expected: a habitual lack of significant differentiation between the two main syllabus lines among 14 year old students, and a clear significant differentiation in favour of BUP among students aged 16, which is more logical if one bears in mind that the student body in the new ESO contains not only students who previously attended BUP, but also those who attended Vocational Training, and even those who attended no kind of school. At present, there is no reason to stated that performance has worsened after application of the LOGSE, although there is none to state that it has improved either. Performance, as we perfectly well know, is fairly low, and what does seem true is that the circumstance of abundant academic failure and generalised mediocrity that has been denounced for some years has not yet found an effective solution.
  5. As to the differences in academic performance noted on comparison of the state and private sectors of the Spanish educational system, one may note yet again (as in the evaluation of primary education also performed by the INCE and also backed by other studies) that performance is usually higher in the private sector than in the state sector, although the differences between one and the other are not abysmal, and in some more specific cases, not to significant. Again it confirms what was already shown by some studies prior by the Inspectorate of Education and the said evaluation of primary, as well as in diverse research: that the social and cultural level of the students' families plays an important role in the differences, this generally being higher among those attending private schools. This diagnosis, however, shows two new and very suggestive details, that the relevant Report states, although not without caution: firstly, that the social and cultural differences partially, although only partially, explain the differences in performance, there thus being other causes of better or worse performance that may not be reduced to social and cultural factors; and secondly, that the private sector acts to a greater extent as a buffer than in the public sector for the effect on the students of those social and cultural variables that are inherent to the family background. The Report presents these two details more as lines of a trend than as conclusions that are fully confirmed by the data. One would have to wait for more precise research to be carried out into the matter.
  6. As to the difference in performance between the Autonomous Regions, the diagnosis indicates that, while within not excessively contrasted limits, these sometimes show a very significant lack of proportion. They range between 17 and 45 points on the relevant performance scales, and they should provoke serious reflection beyond mere anecdote, o examine possible causes, which the diagnosis, obviously, has not been able to consider. These causes, in any case, are complex and may be avoided, perhaps only middle to long term. Some Autonomous Regions that have a history of considerable attention dedicated to educational, human and material resources do not seem to have obtained the results that would have been foreseeable, while others, apparently less well attended, obtain high marks. There undoubtably must be reasons to explain these differences, and we hope that in the years to come research may be carried out in that field. At present, the diagnosis provides the political officers data of undoubtable interest, which we hope will come to favour the Autonomous Regions that apparently most require improvement, especially at this moment when the process of educational devolution is going through its last stages.

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