Cantabria "Europeanizes" its school calendar by joining a model already known in other countries such as France, Germany or the Nordic countries. The Cantabrian Minister of Education, Ramón Ruiz, has announced that the next school year, the children of Cantabria will have a week of vacation every two months of class. The parents have not been asked about the measure and it has not caused them the slightest grace, since more than a solution they see it as a complication.
The school days will be 175, the same as in other autonomous communities, and will apply to all cycles (children, primary, secondary and high school) in all schools, whether public, private or concerted.
2016-2017 Cantabria school calendar
Thus, the course will be distributed in five teaching periods (the shortest of 31 days and the longest of 44), instead of the three quarters in which it was divided so far with the aim that they are not "so long".
The difference from the previous calendar is the recess days to be set in November (the week of October 31 to November 4). The rest of the holidays coincide with holiday periods. They will be at Christmas (December 23 to January 8), Carnival (February 27 to March 3) and Holy Week (April 13 to 23).
To start the new calendar, the beginning of classes is advanced and the end of the course is delayed, shortening the summer holidays. In Primary, the course will begin on Thursday, September 8 and end on Friday, June 23, while in Secondary, the start will be on Monday, September 12 and will end on Tuesday, June 27.
A problem for family reconciliation?
The proposal came from the unions to understand that this distribution of classes is "more logical" and "pedagogically more advisable." "It's the same school days as always, with a more rational and homogeneous cast," says Ruth Trueba, president of the Anpe union in Cantabria.
And what do parents think? They consider the new measure as a difficulty for family reconciliation. The school calendar does not match the work vacations of the parents and the family organization the non-school days become an engineering work. On the other hand, there are those who think that in this way, being the shortest school periods, children get less tired and improve their performance.
Cantabria is the first Spanish community that puts it into practice. We will see how families carry it during the course, but what would happen if the model were extended to other communities? What do you think of "Europeanizing" the school calendar, Do you see it as a solution or a complication?
