Want to be a teacher in Spain? Think twice.

For this blog entry, I've decided to try and explain how the Spanish education system works (at least how it works in Castilla y León, which is the province I'm living and working in). 

 

First things first is that it's a pretty different system than the one I'm familiar with at home. Second thing is that since I'm obviously still in school, and haven't even started in the Ed. faculty, I really don't know too much about actually being a real teacher in Alberta (but I do plan on finding out). 

Here, as a Spanish student planning to go to university to become a teacher this is what they must do to be:

a. A primary school teacher (grades 1-6)

    They have to be in the "Magisterio" program at a Spanish university. From what I've been told, this program is 3 years right now. In the future (I think for the next academic year 2010/2011) this is being upped to 4 years, to be par with the rest of the EU.

b. A Secondary school teacher (grades 7-12)

    They can study for a degree in any teachable subject (math, english, sciences, gym, etc.) and then after the have to to a post-degree program called CAP (curso de Adaptación Pedagógica) which in english would be a course that teaches teaching methods. The course is 80 hours of lecture, and 40 hours of practicum. This is going to change to something similar to the American/British university organization, with bachelor, master, and doctorate degrees. For secondary education, students will have to take atleast a 2 year bachelor of Education.

After doing the first part of the process (graduating), teachers who want to work for the state (civil-servants) have to do an exam, called "la oposicion". By just taking the teachers oposicion exam (from what I've heard is a very difficult, useless, standardized exam) candidates earn points. They also accumulate points by having extra education, taking courses, being part of clubs, etc. According to the amount of points they have behind their name, they are placed on lists according to their subject (some teachers can be on more than one list, for example, a bilingual science teacher would be on the english list, and the science list). When the times comes around to offer positions, the ones that are higher up on the list are offered first. Note: the teachers that take the exam but don't actually pass aren't guaranteed work.

By passing the oposicion exam, teachers earn more points and then are official civil servants. In Spain that means that they are guaranteed work (well paid work too) until they are 65 years old. While doing some research I came across an article that said that starting off, Spanish primary school teachers make around 2,300 euros/month. For a full time/full year placement, that's $41,000 CAD per year. Pretty good for a beginner teacher, with minimal teaching education.

Many teachers on the lists are not offered full time/full year positions because there are very few of those. The retirement age here for teachers is 65, and there are still tons of old teachers (the late baby boomers) kicking around. On top of that, the school board is run by the province. So for teachers in Castilla y Leon, the biggest province in Spain, that means that they could be offered a position up to 4 or 5 hours away from where they live. By taking the position (full time or substitute) and working a certain amount of hours, they earn more points, and therefore move up on the list. That means that teachers sometimes have to decide whether they want to live away from their families (and possibly pay a second rent) to take the job and get more points. 

Because I live in a fairly lame, small, industrial city (pop. 45,000) that no one wants to live in permanently, my school has a high teacher turnover. Teachers are usually placed for just one year. They are usually young with few points to their name. Older, mature teachers are concentrated in the capital cities because those are the prime spots that require the most number of points (points that are earned via experience and education that young teachers don't have) The permanent teachers at Montes Obarenes are the ones that live in the large neighbouring cities, or the ones that are originally from Miranda.

One obvious problem with this system is that in big cities, there's no fresh teachers. The teaching style is archaic and old-fashioned. On the other hand of that problem, the teachers in small towns are young and lack experience and tactic. 

The second point is one that is really frustrating here in Miranda. Some of the teachers I've worked with really lack control in the classroom. They are completely walked over by their students. (I can expand on that in another entry)

To sum up, the more I hear about this complicated process, the more grateful I feel for the simplicity we have at home. I'm glad that when I finish university, I'll be prepared to be a teacher (with all sorts of techniques and practicums behind me) and also glad that I won't have to live and commute to a city 3 or more hours away during the week. I think in Calgary the worst case scenario would be working on the other end of the city (of course Deerfoot traffic sucks!) but atleast I would get to see and be with my family and friends. 

This education system is part of a much, much larger social trend here in Spain. I'm hoping that by the end of my stay here (in June) I'll be able to figure out a way to articulate that idea, although I know its going to be difficult, and finding evidence can be patience-testing.

Some Little Thoughts.

Well, today started off as a pretty sunny day (by Miranda standards), but it's now 3:30pm and it's right back to being cloudy.

I just finished the last book in the Millennium Trilogy, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" and it was great. I'm honestly a little sad that there aren't any more to read now!

Since I have work at the academia in a half hour, I decided that I should really prepare something. Yesterday while I was in the same situation, I was looking through a book I borrowed from the school called "Grammar Games" (since I'm really a kid at heart, I teach the same way, by playing!) I found a great activity that I tried out with two of my teenage girl students, and it worked great. It's called "Sentence Reduction/Disappearing Sentences" It works like this: 

You write a big sentence up on the board, for example:

Jane went out early and walked sleepily down the street to buy some milk and bread when she saw her old friend driving very fast in a beautiful new red car; she waved quickly just before the car disappeared around the sharp corner. 

What the students' goal is, is to reduce the sentence (keep making it shorter and shorter) by eliminating up to three words at a time, while still keeping the sentence grammatically correct. For example, eliminating "and bread" makes the sentence shorter, but still correct. They have to keep doing that all the way until there is only 1 word, or no words left in the sentence. 

I just realized, while I was looking online for some example sentences to use, that I love this stuff. I could really spend hours looking up fun grammar activities. 

I enjoy challenging my students, and pushing them out of their comfort zones. Here in Spain, students have a tendency to never want to try to speak, or answer questions in English unless they are completely sure of themselves (when they speak in Spanish it's a WHOLE different story) but I have figured out that when it comes to competition/challenge they really can't resist. 

Anyways, sometimes I still can't believe that this is my job, just speaking my own language that is. I guess sometimes it just seems so simple. 

Oh How Adorable.

Today's blog inspiration comes from 6 year old Elena at Altamira Elementary School. I only visit Altamira about 4 hours/month, and have really enjoyed all the hours I've spent there so far.

The morning usually starts at 10:00am when I spend an hour with the grade 1's. First we do the morning routine, example:

Today is Tuesday, the 9th of February, 2010. The weather is cloudy, sunny, and cold.
Then all the kids sing the months of the year, "January, February, Maaaaarch and Aaaaaapril. May, June (Yuuuun) July (yoolay) and August (Ohgust). SEPTEMBER. OCTOBER. NOVEMBER. DECEMBER. (some kids get really into that last part, hence the capitals!)

Then we usually go over their vocabulary. Last week it was Nature/Environment words (tree,plant,root,seeds,soil,sunlight,etc.) and this week it was fruits and vegetables.

I was really looking forward to class today, but when I arrived to school, I was told that my class was going to have a presentation from the Police. So instead of doing any vocabulary games, I tagged along to the presentation.

It was really boring, to say the least, not very stimulating, and far too challenging for 6 year olds. During Mr.Policeman's talk, little Elena came wandering over to Clara (the other english teacher) and I. She told us that the little girl sitting beside her wouldn't leave her alone, so Clara let little Elena sit with her instead. Little Elena then shyly asked Clara what my name was (I guess she forgot!). Clara said "Well, ask her... "whats your name?"" so Elena did just that. And it was so cute! I told her "My name is Jennifer, what's your name?" and she said "My name is Elena." Then just to be even cuter Clara asked her "Elena, do you like to speak English?" and Elena responded "Yes!"

It seems so simple. But yet it was adorable. It really reminded me of how much I would love to teach in a Spanish immersion school. I think hearing little munchkins speaking in Spanish has got to be the most awesome thing ever.

Needless to say, Elena's cutiepie comment was far, far more rewarding than the Police presentation.