This is the MIR for teachers and professors that has been tested in schools for two years

BarcelonaWhen the Department of Education and Vocational Training launched the Sensei Program –temporary initial teaching residency program The management team and coordinators of the Migdia School in Girona thought that the program would be an opportunity for the entire educational community. They proposed it to the teaching staff and everyone agreed. "We are now in the second year of this pilot plan and we are delighted," says the current director, Marta Massó, who was then head of studies. The program is a two-year pilot test, which began in 2023-24 and will end this year, and which combines half a day of teaching and half a day of training with the aim of implementing a kind of MIR (similar to that of doctors) but aimed at teachers and professors in the future.

The Sensei program has selected 55 centers throughout the territory, including schools, institutes and school institutes, has trained 85 mentor teachers and has offered 100 places for novice secondary school teachers and 150 for novice kindergarten and primary school teachers, who do a residency in an educational center. In each centre there are mentors, teachers who accompany and support the new teacher in the development of their educational practice. Each mentor is assigned an average of three new teachers, who among other requirements must have less than three months of experience as teachers.

When she found out about the Sensei Programme, Laia Puig (31 years old), a graduate in Occupational Therapy and Psychology, was unsure whether to wait to be appointed to cover a replacement, "because in Sensei you do half a day of class and half a day of training but you get paid half a day." But she decided to do it when she saw that it would be an opportunity to start teaching in a more friendly and calm way. She had already done a replacement working for a little over a month in a centre. She says that she arrived at 9 in the morning and at 10 she was already in front of a class of teenagers she didn't know and she left as best she could. "It is normal to start without knowing other ways of doing things, you have no references, and with so little time it is practically impossible to consolidate any relationship with the rest of your colleagues or get to know the students," she says.

Nothing to do with her current experience, as a new teacher in the Sensei program at the Josep Maria Xandri School Institute in San Pedro de Torelló, where she has the support of a mentor and a faculty that has welcomed her, having an entire course ahead of her to work. "This will allow me to learn to carry out quality educational practices," she says. The director of the School Institute, Marta Boixader, is very clear that when you start teaching, there should always be a transition process that helps the teacher to train and develop professionally. Everyone who participates in the Sensei agrees that it represents a considerable change for the better for the beginning of the professionalization of teachers.

New teachers

The Bernat el Ferrer Institute in Molins de Rei has also joined the Sensei Programme. They have been assigned seven new teachers who are accompanied by two mentors. "For us it is a privilege to have such a committed and eager to learn new teachers who decide to spend a year working part-time to learn about the profession, train and participate in the culture of the centre. It contributes a lot to the teaching staff and the students," says the director of the centre, Juan Antonio Chaves. Especially in the case of secondary school, he emphasises that the programme "makes up for the lack of a specific degree to be a teacher".

Anna Font, (23 years old) graduated in June 2024 with a double degree in early childhood and primary education and is one of the new teachers at the Migdia School in Girona. Like the rest of the beginners, she works half a day at the centre and the other half she does training, collects evidence of learning and keeps a diary with reflections on her practice at the centre. "The programme allows you to start more slowly, accompanied and in a more reflective way, an important detail because otherwise what you do is spend a few days at a centre, survive and leave without having enough knowledge or time to plan your classes. Here I learn and enjoy the work," she explains. She is very happy with the experience, eager to make the most of what remains of the course. She values having time to plan the subject she is taking alone, to evaluate, reflect on what she is doing and to talk to the mentor, who guides and helps her. She highly values the stability that comes from being in a center for an entire course, being able to connect with the students and the rest of the faculty, experiencing the teaching tasks of the entire course, and continuing to link theory to practice with good support.

What does it mean to be a mentor?

Irene Sitjà, a primary school teacher for over 25 years and mentor of three new teachers at the Migdia School in Girona, was clear that the Sensei project would be enriching and she presented herself as a possible mentor. After passing the selection process, she completed training to be part of the program. She continues to have regular training, every month she conducts training with the mentor community and there are monthly mentor meetings to share experiences, doubts, what works for them and what doesn't. Within her teaching schedule she schedules and co-teaches. She also has three hours a week that she dedicates to individual mentoring with each of the new teachers, and two hours of learning circle with the three new teachers in which each week they work on a topic, such as training them with more everyday aspects, such as facing interviews with families or focusing on issues that are of particular concern to the new teachers, both in terms of work at the center and management. In addition, the mentors carry out a minimum of two or three observations each quarter and peer observations are also carried out. Through observation, they discuss what has worked, what they think hasn't worked so well, what they would change, and strategies that could be implemented to improve practice. "The program allows you to do all of this, otherwise it would be impossible," she recalls.

She acknowledges that knowing that she is a role model for teachers who are having their first professional experiences has made her more aware of what she does and how she does it. "You stop to think about what your classes are like. It's not about them learning from me, but about accompanying them in their beginnings in the world of education." At the same time, she learns from the newbies and other professionals at the centre, who for the first time have been able to see how they work. "Normally, you miss out on a lot of resources that other teachers use because we are teaching at the same time. The programme encourages peer observation, an opportunity for all of us to improve," she says. For Sitjà, the Sensei programme is a luxury and a stimulus that has allowed her to leave her comfort zone, train herself and, above all, enrich herself on a professional and personal level.

If she could, she would repeat as a mentor, and she believes that "even if the Sensei program were not to continue at the center, which would be a shame, there are many proposals" that they have put into practice - co-teaching, peer observation or welcome protocols for the arrival of new teachers - that they can continue to carry out "and that they stay." When you arrive at a center there is almost always someone who supports you and ends up being a mentor, but Sitjà insists that it is important that it is institutionalized and does not depend on being lucky enough to meet someone who accompanies you.

How the centers experience it

Marta Boixader, director of the Josep Maria Xandri School Institute in San Pedro de Torelló, admits that it was difficult to resist a programme like Sensei, which allows new teachers to become part of the staff, enriches the teachers who are already at the centre professionally, and is an opportunity for everyone to continue training. She highlights that improvements in the professional development of teachers mean improvements in the learning of children and young people. Being in the same centre for an entire year makes it easier for new teachers to participate in the educational project, work in the collaborative culture of the centre, and as the year goes by they are given more autonomy in decision-making in the classroom. It is a very good opportunity for the centres and for new teachers.

Marta Massó, director of the Migdia School in Girona, says that they do not yet know if the program will continue, but if it did, they would like to be part of it again: "Everyone benefits, we have six more teachers who are working part-time, there is training for new teachers and for mentors, and the teams." And Chaves adds that they consider it essential for the program to continue in the next courses: "It allows for a better incorporation of new teachers and enriches both their training and the life of the center."

And after the pilot plan, what?

What will happen after these two pilot courses? What worries Laura Prat, a secondary school teacher and member of the Clam Educatiu collective, is knowing what the department's future plans are, whether it will go a little further and whether it will allow the program to benefit all new teachers: "Sensei has materialized many of the desires for improved training for new teachers, but we don't have the hair," but we don't have the political hair. Iolanda Segura, a teacher and national spokesperson for the USTEC Union, agrees with this concern that the program will remain a one-off pilot experience, and adds that "the working conditions of new teachers should be improved." That is, they should be paid for the entire day and not half as is the case now despite being contracted for the entire day, with part dedicated to teaching and another to training. "We are also concerned that this mentoring is designed to model teachers according to established standards, without respecting the diversity of teachers, which should be considered a source of wealth," he added. As for continuity, there is no need to suffer; the Department of Education and Vocational Training confirms that the programme continues and that at the end of this academic year an evaluation of these two years of pilot will be carried out.