Education and school day; Conflict of interest between teachers, parents and pupils.

Índex

INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………. 3

CHAPTER I. IN ORDER TO TACKLE THE SCHOOL DAY ISSUE………….. 4

1. What is the school day?.............................................................................................4
2. Why the school day is so polemical?........................................................................ 4
3. Necessary process to carry through a modification of the school day……………...7

CHAPTER II. OPINIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF THE DIFFERENTS PARTS AFFECTED BY THE ISSUE…………………………………………………………8

1. What Confederations and Federations  AMPAS think about the school day?……...8
2. What type of journey do other countries have?.........................................................10
3. What teachers think?................................................................................................. 10
4. Which are the advantages and disadvantages of continuing journey and the departure day?............................................................................................................................11
5. Which is the Academic assignment?.........................................................................13

CHAPTER III.  PRESS ARTICLES, STUDIES AND DOCUMENTS OF INTEREST…………………………………………………………………………….13

CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………………………16

BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………..17

INTRODUCTION

The present work has the objective of to address one as clearly and precisely as possible the problems of the school day for teachers and thus for families and students since its analysis, this analysis does not focus on actual hours of work of teachers, but yes in the distribution of those working hours in a school day that is developed continuously or otherwise developed a school day in a part- time form.

For this, the study is carried out from different points of view, which are manifested in the hands of the teachers, parents of school-age students, different parents' associations, trade unions, and so on.

In Chapter I, we started with the concept of school day, starting from the two models established in Spain traditionally, split shift or part-time, in which students attend class in the morning and afternoon, and consequently teachers develop their hugging the work schedule and continuous school day where classes are held only in the morning allowing teachers equated to other public employees. Then why the controversy regarding the school day is studied, which focuses on four points where the first point is, the autonomy of schools, which allows families to changing the school day the school of their children (always by approval of a majority of parents); secondly, the handicak that the school day for students determines the working time of teachers, and consequently, the third point, which teachers claim a chord workday with other officials of the public administration, and Finally the omission of the views of parents associations which warn against the introduction of continuous shift in the education of children. Moreover in this first chapter also discusses the steps necessary to make it possible to change the school day as well as the process of changing the school day.

        Chapter II focuses on the different views and experiences of parties affected by the issue, from the perspective of the associations of parents, parents of students and teachers themselves in order to get to know different views and understand why their positions in relation to the school day. This chapter also a comparison of different types of school day in the major countries of the world, then expose the advantages and disadvantages of the different systems, in order to clarify a little more convenient and effective method is performed in relationship with the school day.

Finally, in chapter III, it is dedicated to the exhibition of various newspaper articles that have been published in recent years on the issue of our work, showing that the issue of the school day, while a subject for many banal, is not without controversy. Here we refer to various articles published in relation to the school day, which tries to further clarify the pros and cons of the various options for school day.

CHAPTER I

IN ORDER TO TACKLE THE SCHOOL DAY ISSUE

1. What is the school day?^[1]

        The traditional Spanish school day, but not the only one, is a part-time one: students assist to class between two sessions; one in the morning and the other one in the evening. On the other hand, we also have the continuous school day concentrate all the classes in the morning so students are able to enjoy their ‘free’ evenings.

Currently, student's’ school schedule determines also, teachers’ school schedule: when schoolmates assist to a part-time school, teachers’ workday who works in this centre is also part-time and the opposite, when schoolmates assist to a continuous school day, teachers’ workday is also continuous adding to this schedule their faculty meetings, tutorials, house work and so on..

The faculty is in favour of a continuous school day, since this suppose a progress of their laboral schedule; a laboral revindication and one of their trade union’s aim who demands teachers’ timetable to be more in keeping with the rest of the public servants.

Families’ main point is to determine if the continuous school day represents, also a progress in their child’s education and learning process.

2. Why the school day is so polemical?

        This question has a very large explanation as an answer but the main answer can be related to the issue of the majority of the autonomous community, the normative attribute to the families, the power to decide which type of school day do they want to

the teachers. The continuous school day is a granting from the faculty in order to improve the workday and has nothing to do with an improve of the education.

A set of circumstances that generate conflict in the educational community take place^[2]:

• By the ‘autonomy’ of schools, families are allowed to modify the school day of their children’s schools (the establishment of the continuous school day must be approved by a majority of parents)
• Children’s school day determines, also, teachers’ workout day (when parents vote in favour or against continuous school day, they are also approving or denying to teachers of that school their continuous workout day.
• The continuous workout day is a teacher's and their union revindication, they claim for a better schedule in accordance with the rest of the public servants.
• Therefore, the faculty is a key part in this process.

The conflict starts when teachers’ arguments to introduce a continuous school day do not convince families. The foregoing ones feel pressed to vote in favour of the change in the schedule, they consider that they are being denied of a dialogue and they detect faults in the voting process, like, for example, when they are asked to indicate their children’s names in the ballot.

Let´s take a look through some points of view of the different spheres affected by this controversy:

1. RAFAEL FEITO ALONSO (Sociology doctor by Universidad Complutense)^[3]:

“...There’s a convincing fact: the majority of the teachers are in favour of a continuous workday. Every work group wish to improve his/her conditions. The problem comes when this professional improvement can result in a less quality public service… It must be clear that the continuous school day revindication has nothing to do with the educative innovation…”

1. MARIANO FERNÁNDEZ ENGUITA (Sociology professor of the Salamanca University):

“...No doubt the biggest misfortune and the principal problems source of this process has been the mix of a school problem (advantages and disadvantages of the different types of school day) with a labour aspiration widely expanded in the teacher profession…”^[4].

 “… Schedule reduction and scholar calendar has been created either in a more or less surreptitious way or camouflaged under the children comfort (...)”^[5] 

1. P. JIMENO OSTÁRIZ  (General secretary of UGT Federation in Aragón)^[6]:

“...The pretension of the teachers to improve their socio working conditions in order to get an intensive continuous workday is legitimacy. But this legitimacy can’t be justified under a made-up and continuous educative model based on false nesses like the one that says that everyone has a continuous workday routine, except for some exceptions in the commerce service. The educative model can’t be based on treating the minor like a factory operator that is going to be subdued to an intensive continuous school day with a morning schedule; because teaching is an election, like choosing any other job, and if someone chooses this has to accept it with all its consequences…”

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