Teachers against the school curriculum: seven out of ten disapprove of it
A survey by Ustec of more than 10,000 teachers and professors shows that most believe their work has lost prestige
BarcelonaThe majority of teachers in Catalonia's public schools and institutes are dissatisfied with the educational curriculum they teach their students. This is one of the conclusions of a survey conducted by the Ustec union of 10,000 teachers in the system. Specifically, 73 percent responded that they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the curriculum because they consider it "inadequate or disconnected from real needs." In this regard, Xavier Díez, coordinator of the Study Group on the State of the Teaching Profession (GEEPD), criticized the fact that "you can't create a curriculum without teachers' participation in its design" and indicated that the curriculum should be concise so that each individual curriculum is concise. Díez insisted that "teachers see the curricula as increasingly long and unattainable" and that "everything should be simpler" and "not have so many indicators to evaluate." In fact, one of the first measures announced by the previous government after the PISA test debacle was that a "specification of the learning objectives" would be sent to schools. The first concrete results came in April —two years later—, under the leadership of the current Minister, Esther Niubó. Furthermore, the spokesperson for Ustec, Iolanda Segura, also raised the issue of the reduction in teaching hours for subjects such as Catalan language and literature in high school in recent years. "If you want quality, you can't cut back," she insisted.
The study published this Wednesday by the largest union in the education sector also highlights that 87% of the teachers surveyed believe the profession has lost prestige, and nine out of ten criticize feeling excluded from educational decisions, asserting that there is a lack of resources.
The professionals were also asked about one of the problems they face, especially school principals: excessive bureaucracy. According to the survey, 84 percent of teachers are dissatisfied with the excessive bureaucracy, and 64 percent consider their workload to be "excessive." "At the beginning of the legislative term, the regional minister announced that she would create a protocol for reducing bureaucracy, and we still haven't seen any proposals in this regard," Segura complained. Regarding workload, almost eight out of ten teachers say they don't have enough time to prepare their classes, while 88% of those surveyed say they would like to be able to work a condensed schedule.
High ratios
The union study also delves into the ratios – the number of students per classroom or per teacher – one of the problems that the Catalan education system has been grappling with and which, According to an announcement made by the Spanish government on Tuesday, the situation should begin to improve within two years.Currently, 79% of Catalan teachers report that class sizes are "too high," pending the evolution of class sizes in the coming years. Furthermore, the survey results also show that 67% of teachers want the school year to start after September 11th—this year it began on September 8th—and 58% express dissatisfaction with their salaries. The teachers' union released the survey results in connection with a demonstration they have called for this Saturday, November 15th, in Barcelona to "restore dignity to the profession."