The Government will include in the General Budgets for this year, which it hopes to present in a month once it has secured the support of the investiture partners, a reinforcement plan in mathematics and reading comprehension, the two aspects in which Spanish students of the last year of ESO the most have regressed in the latest PISA report.
The measure, announced by Pedro Sánchez at the conclave that the socialists are holding this weekend in A Coruña, will have a budget allocation of more than 500 million euros and will benefit 4.7 million students.
According to government sources, it will cover students from the third year of Primary to the fourth year of Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO).
“We are not going to stop, especially in the educational field.
In this era in which we live, it is relevant that we are aware in light of the OECD reports that, despite the efforts of students and teachers, there are subjects that are difficult to crack.
And that is why the Government is going to make a plan for all the young people who are studying today in our country,” Pedro Sánchez announced at the closing of the PSOE political convention in A Coruña.
The President of the Government has stressed his commitment to undertaking this plan "hand in hand with the educational community."
The Executive will meet next week with the School Council.
More information
PISA Report: Spain obtains its worst result, but resists the global educational setback better than its surroundings
The plan announced by Sánchez will be divided into three areas.
The first will be during school hours, with a reduction in the number of students per classroom, for which the hiring of more teachers will be increased.
Outside of school hours, there will be support teachers for students with difficulties.
The third pillar will be a teacher training plan to adapt them and acquire more knowledge for mathematical teaching.
Pedro Sánchez, during his speech this Sunday in A Coruña.
OSCAR CORRAL
The measure announced by Sánchez is not surprising after the poor results of the PISA diagnostic tests in which Spain fell, although to a lesser extent than the European average.
Spanish students in the last year of ESO have dropped 8 points in mathematics compared to the previous edition, in 2018 - in which they already fell a lot -, until they remain at 473. They have gone back three in reading comprehension, to 474. And they have up two points in science, up to 485.
This week Finland, which has ceased to be an educational benchmark after several editions falling in PISA, has announced that it is going to increase teaching hours in Primary to improve reading, mathematics and writing.
Finland is one of the countries in the world where students receive the fewest hours of class.
Already last December, the Royal Academy had asked to take measures in a document in which it denounced a "relaxation of the level of students in Spanish language and literature."
“Young people understand what they read, but they are not able to argue, to summarize the main idea and they do not express themselves fluently orally,” declared academic Ignacio Bosque.
These criticisms were not well received in the Ministry of Education, which considered that it was a report “based on 15 reports from collaborators [in reference to the information on which the text is based], which shows an opinion, with an absence of data, which, in any case, is partial.”
The RAE had already criticized what is known as the
Celaá law
for its excessive impact on the student developing their skills, to the detriment of memorization.
Many experts link language deficiencies to the habits of children and adolescents who spend more and more time on screens.
“Reading would be the perfect exercise for children to regain control of their ability to concentrate.
It is a fight that is worth raising in schools in the face of so many tablets,” said Language and Literature teacher Miguel Salas in this newspaper this July.
In mathematics, experts also demanded action.
A study based on 115,000 students in Catalonia who have undergone a diagnostic test (can be largely extrapolated to Spain as a whole) has just shown that no student who does poorly in that subject in primary school catches up in secondary school.
And almost all of those who were doing well get worse when they move on to THAT.
And this subject is vital for schoolchildren to study technical careers, a field in which there is a shortage of professionals and which is central to the growth of the country.
The Bofill Foundation, which has analyzed these data in a report, considers, as Sánchez announced this Sunday, that it is necessary to divide Mathematics classes, not exceeding 10 students per class in standard centers (during 80% of the hours). classes), and in only five in institutes classified as highly complex in depressed neighborhoods.
But probably, the ratio will be higher, since in secondary classrooms there are usually up to 30 students.
The PP criticizes the plan
The plan announced by Sánchez has been criticized this morning by the PP, for whom this announcement means that the Government "assumes the shortcomings of its model", by admitting that it requires extraordinary reinforcement.
“The delay of our students in mathematics and reading is the responsibility of a socialist educational model that enshrines the law of minimum effort,” since “the student is allowed to pass the course with failed subjects and without acquiring the necessary knowledge,” sources have assured. of Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party.
They assure that this reinforcement system that the President of the Government has announced "has been applied for years in the autonomous communities of the PP, which always lead the PISA reports."
“The main problem of education in Spain is the successive educational reforms and counter-reforms that the PSOE has imposed.
A Sánchez accustomed to failing has condemned our students to do the same,” the aforementioned popular media added.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Keep reading
I am already a subscriber
_