The plan of reinforcement in reading comprehension and mathematics announced this weekend by Pedro Sánchez in an electoral event, it will be applied starting next year in the public and charter school. Reading comprehension will cover all of primary and secondary school, while extra support for mathematics will focus on courses ranging from 3rd grade of primary school to 4th grade of ESO. Sources from the Ministry of Education explain to this newspaper that It will not be the same program for everyone. the centers but will depend on the type of students and the complexity of the classrooms. That is, there will be more reinforcement in schools and institutes with a greater number of students with greater need and worse academic performance.
These same sources explain that the financial allocation provided over the weekend – 500 million euros – is “approximate and indicative” and that in all likelihood it will be “much larger.” The game will start from State’s general budgets and will have as recipients the autonomies (competent in education) but their character will be finalistso the communities will not be able to allocate the funds to another objective other than the agreed one.
PISA
The PSOE electoral program, on page 102, already included a reinforcement of mathematics and reading comprehension, two fundamental subjects in which Spanish students click. Also the international one. The latest PISA report, published in December, revealed that Spain has fallen eight points in mathematics compared to 2018; Catalonia, 20; and the average of OECD countries, 15. This is an unprecedented drop in the history of the international program, which evaluates 15-year-old boys and girls. PISA also emphasizes the anxiety generated by mathematics in the classroom.
The reading comprehension -reading and understanding what is read- is not going through its best moment either. Prepared by the National Institute of Educational Evaluation of the Ministry of Education with data published by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), the PIRLS report grants 521 points to the reading comprehension of boys and girls in 4th grade. In the previous edition (2016) the score was 528.
Depending on the needs
Sources from the ministry he directs Pilar Alegría They confirm that the plan announced by Sánchez is not yet finalized. What is clear is that it will not be coffee for everyone but rather it will be applied according to the needs of each center, a demand from schools and institutes.
The drop in ratios (something that requires a legal change) it will not be uniform and will have more strength in those classrooms that are High complexity (greater number of students with low performance or vulnerable population).
The splitting of classes – something that was applied during the pandemic – will occur only in classrooms that need it, these same sources explain.
Teacher training
According to the teacher trainingin the ministry they are convinced that we must give pedagogical tools to teachers so that they have a way of teaching that makes mathematics less of a choking problem for boys and girls. In ESO, educational reinforcement will consist of students “being able to apply the knowledge they already have to solving problems.”
Ministerial sources recognize the “problem” what is there when hiring mathematicians as teachers in schools and institutes. “They are professionals in high demand in private companies, where they earn much more”they admit.
The reinforcement plan is not at risk of being privatized because, in theory, support classes for students who need it will be taught in the same center in the afternoons, once school hours have ended.
Reading comprehension
Support for reading comprehension will be much more transversal and it will be applied not only to the language subject but to all of them. It will basically consist of students reading more and understanding better. For this, it will encourage oral presentations to improve linguistic communication.
Related news
The educational reinforcement plan will be a topic of debate at this Thursday’s meeting, where the President of the Government will attend the meeting that the minister had closed for several weeks. Pilar Alegría with the representatives of the School Council to discuss the use of personal cell phones in classrooms and the future regulations in this regard, but Sánchez’s announcement has disrupted the planned agenda.
On January 31, Alegría also has another meeting with the counselors to discuss the regulation of student phones in the centers (prohibition in primary school and strictly academic use in secondary school) but, logically, the educational reinforcement plan will also be will put on the table.