In nursery and primary schools, split or continuous day? Catalonia and Euskadi They are still two forts of the first, defended tooth and nail by two autonomous governments. Aragon, Navarra and Valencia they have both options in similar proportions while in Madrid it is eating ground. Intensive is already the majority in Andalusia, Asturias, Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Castilla y León, Galicia and Murcia. The Canary Islands was the first community, decades ago, to implement a 100% continuous shift. He has tried to get back into the game, but has not succeeded.
Internationally, France, Belgium, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands have a split school day. Germany, Poland, Austria, Cyprus and Estonia, among others, are in the intensive model while Italy, like Spain, mixes both.
“The first objective of the school is the educational. That has to be very clear. So the debate on the organization of time should only have one objective: the interest of the students & rdquor ;, he affirms Mari Carmen Morillas, president of the Giner de los Ríos Federation, which brings together the associations of parents of students from the Community of Madrid. Morillas recalls that the class hours are the same in both models, what happens is that in the continuous there is less space for recreation and coexistence and the schedule is more compressed.
“The first objective of the school is educational, so the organization of time should only have one objective: the interest of the students”
Mari Carmen Morillas, president of the Giner de los Ríos Federation
Present in cabbage for decades, many other interests are mixed in the debate. To begin with, those of mothers and fathers. Each family has its own circumstances but, for the most part, they are prone to split schedules so that the kids leave school later and thus be able to reconcile their work schedules. On the other side of the ring are the teachers, in favor of the intensive one, which facilitates their own conciliation. In fact, in Madrid, it is the teachers who each year submit the request for the centers to vote for a change of day in case of having the departure. This controversy “causes a considerable wear and tear on coexistence in the centers and thins the atmosphere school & rdquor ;, acknowledges Morillas.
Is the Giner de los Ríos federation in favor of continuing with the game? Aware that each family is a world, its president does not want to give a resounding yes or no. What does stand out is that the management teams must “offer all the information & rdquor; before proposing the vote to the families. “You also have to be aware that if the continuous shift is implemented there is no way back. In theory yes, but the reality is that no & rdquor ;, she concludes.
In Madrid, where the autonomous government always alleges the freedom of the centers to organize themselves, the continuous day (from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.) is clearly on the rise in public schools. The same does not happen in concerted or private schools, where students leave at 4:00 or 4:30 p.m.
In Madrid, the split schedule is implanted in 96% of concerted and private schools compared to 40% of public ones
According to data from the Giner de los Ríos Federation, the match schedule is implemented in 96% of private and concerted schools compared to 40% of public ones. There are some districts in Madrid, such as the southern zone, where the intensive schedule already accounts for 79% of public centers. In the north, it reaches 32%. “This is a problem for families. Some are forced to choose a school outside their neighborhood to get the split day & rdquor ;, criticizes Morillas.
Extend with extracurriculars
As a result of the pandemicthe Community of Madrid decided -unilaterally and to the anger of the Ampas- to grant the management teams the possibility of imposing the intensive day without consulting the families. In the Ciudad de Roma school (Retiro district) the intensive was introduced, causing some anxiety among the parents. The center gave the option of leaving at 5:00 p.m. as long as they did extracurricular activities. These have a “moderate price & rdquor; thanks to the Ampa, but it is still prohibitive in households with less income.
Looking ahead to the next academic year, families have been allowed to vote again, as they have supported the split day, although in a lower percentage than in the past. “Each father and mother have their own circumstances and vote according to their interests. There are families that have adapted to the intensive model and pull grandparents or can telework in the afternoon & rdquor ;, explains Patricia López, mother of a 5th grade student, who voted for the party system.
In the split schedule, 72% of the male and female students eat at the center compared to 38% in the case of intensive
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In addition to the problems for the conciliation of fathers and mothers, the person in charge of Giner de los Ríos warns that the implementation of the continuous schedule entails another danger: the possible disappearance of the school cafeteria due to the fall in demand. In the split schedule, 72% of the male and female students eat at the center compared to 38% in the intensive case.
in Euskadi
Facing the situation in Madrid is the Basque one, where the autonomous government -as in Catalonia- is a firm defender of the split day for children’s and primary schools. Next academic year, a handful of schools and public institutes will be forced to give up the intensive and implement the game. Back in the day (more than a decade ago) they signed up for a program of reinforcement classes and activities called ‘Hedatze’. The Basque Government has tightened the conditions to form part of the plan, so if the centers are not considered suitable, they must forget about the continuous day they were carrying out and implement the game, a model applauded both by parents and by management teams.