Assemblea Educativa: "Attending to children in these conditions, without resources, is negligence"

BarcelonaIn the latest teacher mobilizations of the academic year, one of the actors that emerged to represent teachers was the Educational Assembly of Catalonia (AEC). An organization, outside of the unions, created from each of the school and institute assemblies in Catalonia. Its rise has been so great that it was the AEC, and not the unions, that first announced the strike for the start of this academic year. Roger Rovira and Marta García are teachers and members of the AEC.

You were the first to announce the strike for the start of this academic year. Why are you calling for a strike?

— Marta García: Because we are maintaining exactly the same conditions in the classrooms as when we finished the school year. The improvements that the department has been able to offer are laughable when you apply them to the reality of the classroom. The reality is that this year we will continue with a very high rate in most schools of children with specific educational needs, which we [the teachers] have to take on, without specialists, without physiotherapists, without child psychologists, without psychiatrists. Without resources that we do not have and that we need because caring for children in these conditions, for me, is negligence.

— Roger Rovira: The bulk of the concessions that have been made by the department are salary-related, and that is not what has burned us out. Obviously, I always say that when my daughter was born 14 years ago I could pay rent alone and now I cannot do it. Salary-wise the demand is fair, but it is not what made us snap, it is not what makes us come home every day saying I cannot take it anymore. The inclusion part is what costs us the most, and we have not touched anything regarding that.

How would you define what the Educational Assembly of Catalonia is?

— M.G. There is a certain diversity of thoughts. In fact, it is an assembly that is open to everyone, whether as an individual, as a teacher, or as a representative of a neighborhood, district, town, or city assembly. It is like the pinnacle of a pyramid, where the base is the center assemblies. It is a way for us to meet, to debate, and to make decisions.

What is its hierarchy?

— R.R. There are working commissions that are in charge of sending questions to the schools to decide what is prioritized. Then there is the board, which is rotational; every time there is a plenary session, five people are renewed and one stays so that there is continuity. In the end, we are not union representatives and we work, therefore, we need this rotation. But there are between 200 and 300 teachers who are more involved.

What is the relationship between the assembly and the unions?

— R.R. It depends on which ones. Members of USTEC, CGT, La Intersindical and COS participate in the assemblies. Other groups do not. But the unions abstain from the votes.

— M.G. In fact, it is intentionally like this from the assembly, because we want it to be separate and for it to differ greatly from the unions.

Is the goal for the AEC to be part of the negotiations with Education?

— R.R. The idea is for them to be part of the strike committee.

— M.G. However, at the last assembly it was proposed that we could organize ourselves to be able to institutionalize the AEC and for it to be a member of the negotiations.

— R.R. In the end, with all the love in the world... but unions have always defended the labor side more for us, but in the day-to-day part you sometimes notice that it is difficult for a person who has been out of the classroom for a long time to perceive the situation regarding topics like inclusion. Since we at AEC are the ones who are working, it is more agile for the general sentiment to reach there and not just the working conditions.

What message do you send to the families who will have to pull out all the stops to deal with another day of strike?

— R.R. When I conduct interviews with families, I explain it to them. Now I have ended up with a very disruptive child in class, and all the resources that existed years ago for reinforcement kids have now gone exclusively to inclusive education kids. A child with a disorder needs a lot of attention. Kids who struggle a little bit disappear from your radar. Then, only when you have those children covered can you be on top of the child who finds it hard to read. When you explain this, families say to you: how can I help you?

— M.G. I believe that we have not known how to do a good enough job of explaining the reality of the classroom. Of explaining that if we go on strike it is not only for my working conditions, and that we lose money because we are trying to fix the conditions of your child's education. I believe that we have not managed to make families perceive the real conditions we have in the classrooms because for many years, I don't know if it is due to a vocational issue, we have created a bit of a barrier, we have had a corporate positioning and we have defended that we were doing everything possible.