Education will screen all students to detect learning problems

BarcelonaAn important step towards inclusive education. Starting next year, all schools and institutes in Catalonia will be screened for possible learning problems. As detailed this Monday in the Parliament by the Education Minister, Esther Niubó, the tests will be carried out four times during the school career between primary and secondary school. All of this should serve to carry out a "map" of the different educational support needs of students in Catalan schools.

In this way, Education, in coordination with Health and Social Rights, will carry out systematic detections at the different levels of the educational system. It will begin in the 1st year of primary school - at the beginning of compulsory schooling - with a test to detect language problems for all students. At the same time, guides with recommendations for attention for early childhood education schools will be published, in collaboration with the College of Speech Therapists.

The second screening will take place in 3rd grade of primary school, when a test will be carried out to detect possible dyslexia in all students, since it is considered an essential factor that can affect the acquisition of reading skills. Finally, two more analyses will be carried out in 5th grade of primary school and in 2nd grade of ESO. In this case, it will be a global test to detect disorders in students, especially with the aim of detecting students with some type of special need who have arrived at the centres through the live registration and who, therefore, have not undergone the previous screenings. According to Educació, these last tests should also serve to provide information on the evolution and the appearance of new cases of educational support needs among students.

Remodelling of the EAP

Niubó also explained that the Department of Education is working on "a roadmap to redefine and update" the psychopedagogical advisory teams (EAP). These professionals are essential when it comes to addressing educational problems in schools and institutes. In fact, increasing their staff is one of the main demands of the centres in order to comply with the inclusive school decree.