We are celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Debats d’Educació by giving the educational community the opportunity to air its views
I am an associate researcher at CRES-UPF and, until 2012, I was an educational inspector.
The current aim of the finance of the network of centres belonging to the Catalan Education Service is to ensure a school place for everyone of compulsory school age. In the case of public schools, the basic reference for the provision of teachers and operating resources is the number of pupils and the complexity of their profile. At private schools forming part of the public system, finance is based on the modules of the agreement per group of pupils. In some cases it has been complemented with aid for schools with complex pupil profiles. The current finance model makes no real additional demand other than schooling. School autonomy projects (co-responsibility agreements), in which public schools take on the commitment to apply their educational improvement project in the medium term and to be accountable for its application and the educational results obtained, are the exception to the rule.
The low birth-rate and halt to immigration flows are reducing demand for infant education. This is an opportunity to rethink the management of existing infrastructures and the use of resources to improve social cohesion and educational success for all pupils. Two proposals:
a) Planning and making use of the spare teachers and space in primary education to provide a response to the increase in compulsory secondary education and to expand the 0-3 range, prioritising disadvantaged pupils and training for their mothers. The proposal saves investment and provides high social and economic returns.
b) Financing all schools in the Catalan Education Service fairly, through programme or management contracts involving a requirement for commitment in line with the objectives of the country, transparency and accountability. The proposal improves the fairness, quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the education system.
The scarcity of resources and the uncertain future make it absolutely necessary to consider two key variables for improving educational success and social cohesion: fairness and efficiency. The former is essential for cohesion and educational success for everyone and the latter is necessary so that more can be done. Two additional proposals for the future:
a) Making use of the cultural diversity and complexity of the pupil profile to provide more and better learning for everyone through adequate, balanced heterogeneity in the offer of places financed with public resources. The proposal also allows greater and better personal preparation, and preparation for a globalised world.
b) Generating financial and educational synergies through educational area plans led by education administrations and with the cooperation of social initiatives. The proposal generates synergies, making it possible to do more, better.