THE FAILURE OF THE EUROPEAN EDUCATION SYSTEM MAKES NECESSARY MODEL CHANGES AND A GREATER BUDGET ALLOCATION

A few days ago, very disturbing information came to the media that, although our children are not yet of school age, I think it is deservedly analyzed. The European Union has admitted its suspense in education. And that, it is very important that it is analyzed to improve a system that is failing and that will drag those who are now small if nothing is done to change it.

Ten years ago the European Union Minimum objectives were set that should be met by 2010 in education. Today it must be admitted that they are not going to comply with them. Last Wednesday the Commissioner of Education of the European Union, Maros Sefcovic, presented to the European Commission the results of a report, which assesses the current situation in education in the EU countries.

There has been no significant progress in school competitions, in dropout rates, in number of graduates or in such basic things as the high number of functional illiterates that the system continues to produce. Nor has the budget provision increased. The note is a suspense in education.

The situation of Education in Spain

In Spain the situation is frankly bleak: 32 percent of students fail to complete compulsory education and 25 percent do not even achieve the normal reading comprehension required. If we add to this additional problems such as bullying at school or neglecting students with special educational needs, it is to tremble.

But in the face of such worrying figures and that governments themselves admit, we have to reflect on how education can be achieved and that it provides children with culture, skills, competencies, critical capacity, decision, interest, love of learning and respect for others. .

The education system

To our children the circumstances of society force us to be educated and spend many hours a day in nurseries since babies.

Then, in early childhood education, instead of boosting free play and experimentation, the need to make chips as a formula for them to acquire the necessary competencies and are evaluated by performing these repetitive and uncreative exercises is emphasized.

In Primary, when the need for movement and natural discovery is still very intense, the classes are closed, silence and attention are required, assessing the ability to automatically repeat texts and data chosen according to an always external criterion. They barely have free time, because, in addition to five or six hours of class, they must do homework, study at home or go to extracurriculars.

The natural evolutionary needs of children are ignored based on mandatory knowledge that is intended to be transmitted despite their disgust or disinterest.

All of this could make sense, even if I consider it a mistake, if at least I succeeded, but the reality is that they keep repeating educational and social results far removed from what is desired.

Possible solutions

Improving this would mean a budget effort and especially a mentality change in those who decide the educational models. The solution that I consider that should be tried is to reduce the number of students per class, really respect the learning rhythms of each child individually, enhance the possibility that children learn moved by their own interests and respect their evolutionary and emotional needs from an early age .

However, the models that are proposed to us rather reinforce the errors: more class hours, more and more advance the introduction to literacy and non-material arithmetic, and above all to advance the effective schooling age.

A few days ago Armando echoed the opinion of Dr. Eulàlia Torras, who says that "the nursery can slow the development of babies." It seems that a movement begins to materialize among some experts who argue that work and family reconciliation have as a priority to look for formulas that allow babies to be taken care of by their parents if they wish, and that we already saw in the announcement of the creation of the Platform More time with children.

Undoubtedly there are much more successful models to look at: the Finnish system, which is the one that obtains the best results, or the Waldorf or Montessori pedagogies that propose models that are much more respectful of evolutionary, cognitive and biological needs.

I believe that only a change of model can prevent this suspense in education Become permanent. What do you think?