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


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The fundamental processes


THE TEACHING PROCESS

The teaching process, to paraphrase one of the main defenders of the process-product paradigm, is that which teachers perform in the classroom with the collaboration by the students.

An educational reform involves an implicit change in teaching processes, a change in methodology. The change in contents is evident, although the methodological modification is too.

On the basis of the results of the survey, it is noted that the most significant methodologies of the ESO may be identified as follows:

  • Innovative and participational methodology. This means the teacher has organisational flexibility to carry out the classes, frequently in groups, and uses an active, participational methodology to encourage debates and exchange of opinions. This coincides to a great extent with the methodology proposed in the reform.
  • Conventional methodology. This is aimed at alternating, in development of the themes, between explanation, answering the students' questions, individual work, homework and its correction in class. The main intention is to facilitate student learning.
  • Lecturing. This consists of complete explanation of a theme without participation by the students, who just take notes and do exercises.

These three methodologies, as with the planning modes, coexist in ESO, with a relatively similar importance.

Two methodological problems the teachers point out as important ones are those arising from heterogeneous classes, without considering an adequate set of means and the difficulty Secondary Education teachers have to adapt to students in the first cycle of ESO.




DIVERSITY IN ESO

Diversity, closely related to the perspectives arising from consideration of this educational stage as a comprehensive school, seems to be a concept that is not excessively clear to the teaching staff. Moreover, its operative projection - syllabus adaptations - gives rise to notable difficulties, without producing reasonably satisfactory results. The heterogeneousness of the students also gives rise to class management problems that are difficult to solve, above all for Secondary Education teachers, who are used to more homogeneous groups.

The opinion given by the teaching staff, in terms of acceptance and rejection, as to certain aspects of the diversity, may be seen in graph 7.



Graph 7. Teaching staff opinion of the aspects of diversification

The syllabus diversification and compensatory vocational education programmes do not seem to provide an efficient solution for the large number of students, partially as these are minority, and partially as this is offered too late (age 14-16).

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.




INTEGRATION IN ESO

Integration is a peculiar derivation of comprehensiveness and heterogeneity. It is understood as providing schooling to students with special educational needs at ordinary schools and is a controversial matter.

The balance one may make at present is that of a not theoretical too difficult acceptance, even with a global appraisal of the benefits the integration would provide not only the students integrated, but also the school in general Terms. However, the practical difficulties arising in integration, due to which in many cases there has been a "savage integration", are becoming notably evident: there are not adequate resources, or sufficient support, there is no reduction of the ratio ...

The most evident difficulties are those related to students who are mentally handicapped, although this is not so in the case of students with special educational needs of a physical or neurological nature. Frequent reference is made in these cases comparing the support provided by the Spanish National Blind Organisation (ONCE) for students who are visually impaired, compared with the rest of educational needs.

A matter of special importance in certain regions is that of ethnic minorities. There is a punctual dimension and study is required in cases in which an ethnic minority relatively increases its presence at the school and "segregates" the remaining students. This situation frequently gives rise to school drop-outs among subjects who theoretically are majority, due to the cultural strength of practice with the majority and its strong group awareness.




THE EVALUATION PROCEDURES

Evaluation may be described as the process and result of collecting information on a student or class group which, in comparison to a reference, is aimed at taking decisions that affect situations of teaching that student or group. These decisions are based on achieving the forecast objectives or intentions.

Six forms of evaluation have been identified:

  • Evaluation and promotion based on the Reform. This involves acceptance of the most characteristic factors of evaluation in the educational reform implemented by the LOGSE. Greater importance is given to on-going evaluation, appraisal of the processes more than the results, evaluation of procedures and attitudes, to the scales of observation of the individual learning, to knowledge of the initial level of the students, to involvement by the family and to actual self-evaluation by the teaching staff. The evaluation tests also pay more attention to clarity of ideas, the ability to relate subjects, of synthesis, to solve problems, of verbal expression and creativity.
  • Rationalist evaluation. This is a viewpoint that concentrates more on technical models, assessing some innovative aspects. It is not considered to be of special interest to evaluate students while working on each one of the themes and its is based to a greater extent, to evaluate such learning, on the average level of the group. It considers that evaluation must concentrate on the conceptual contents and not on the attitudes, values and standards.
  • Traditional evaluation. Conventional examinations and tests are used to a greater extent to evaluate the students; it assesses the level of learning by the students against the text book or other syllabus materials. It also considers an initial and final examination it sufficient.
  • Product evaluation. This refers to evaluation by observation and analysis of the student work and notebooks, and to individual work in class or at home.
  • Criteria evaluation and promotion. This seems to agree better with the postulates of the educational reform as to evaluation and the criteria related to this set in the syllabus and emphasised as the most important in teaching practice, to assess the level of learning by each of the students, the objectives set in the planning, the criteria for evaluation and the promotion criteria agreed by the teaching staff board.

Evaluation thus forms a first level at which the contradictions between theoretical approaches and practical difficulties arise. This is the situation noted in this paper.

Theoretical acceptance of the principles of evaluation and promotion in ESO - criteria evaluation, team evaluation, consideration of concepts, procedures and values, functions and sense of the evaluation - have a global acceptance that must be classified positively by the teaching staff. However, there are a series of expressions of discontent as to the problems arising from application to the real situation. There is coexisting acceptance and explicit recognition of the formal difficulties involved in evaluation.

The problems the teachers note are, among others:

  • Explicit teaching problems, such as:
    • Approximate observation of a hypothetical drop in student performance.
    • Lack of precision in the criteria for student evaluation and promotion.
    • Lack of accessible, usual instruments to evaluate attitudes, standards and values.
    • Ambiguity in the terms used to guide the teacher as to aspects to be considered in promotion. It is not easy to convert such formulas as "achieve the objectives of a cycle or course in global terms" to minimally operative factors.
    • The repercussions noted as to automatic promotion, due to the legal requisite which is predominantly valued as negative.
  • Organisational problems, such as:
    • The confusing, protracted rules of assessment.
    • The difficulties involved in the formal and bureaucratic complexity of the documentation to be filled in.
    • The notable increase in the number of students to be evaluated. As the timetables of the groups are reduced, they have had the effect of extending the number of groups of students to be attended by each teacher to maintain the lecturing hours. Thus, the number of evaluations is increased.
    • The difficulties in coordination between High Schools and Primary Schools which teach ESO.

To sum up, it seems that theoretical acceptance of the innovating approaches to evaluation do not have a clear correlation in modification of the modes and techniques to be evaluated.

Information has been obtained on the importance and use the teaching staff gives to and makes of, respectively, of four evaluation procedures. Observation is the most important procedure, way ahead of the rest. However, observation and written examinations perform the same purpose. One must point out that verbal examination rates very low and, thus, is scarcely used to evaluate the students (graph 8).



Graph 8. Importance and use of different procedures


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