The Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, José Ignacio Wert was the guest speaker at the PROA Communication Observatory held last Wednesday, 5 March. In front of a group of businessmen and representatives of civil society, the Minister explained the keys to education reformOne of the most important, controversial and possibly one of the most necessary reforms. "Education is the backbone of any country," the minister stressed.
Wert compared the Spanish education system with those of other European countries. He also pointed to South Korea as an example of a model to follow, where the role of the family in educational development is key. In South Korea, parents devote a significant percentage of their time to their children's education and this has proved to be a success.
The Minister acknowledged that the education reform "could have been better explained" and explained the four objectives it pursues.
Objectives of the education reform
- Firstly, to put an end to early school leaving, the biggest problem in the Spanish system. In Spain, the average dropout rate is twice as high as in the EU and 8% is lost due to the repetition factor. Dropout rates explain why employability rates in Spain are very low.
- Secondly, improving the quality of training. Spanish young people have a performance ratio similar to the European average but, and this is the problem, there are very few above this average. In the Minister's opinion, "the lack of excellence is due to the lack of evaluation. Systems that abandon evaluation deteriorate. "Evaluation always makes the system transparent", he stressed.
- Thirdly, the reform aims to strengthen vocational training. Although it has developed a great deal in recent years, we still have ratios of two thirds of students taking the baccalaureate compared to one third taking vocational training. This should be reversed, as is the case in Europe.
- Finally, the new Education ActThe aim of the new school curriculum is to address the pedagogical renewal of the 21st century school, which must be more technological, and to reinforce the instrumental subjects of the school. In these subjects -language, mathematics, science and the first foreign language-, a reinforced control of assessment criteria is going to be applied. Regarding religion, the minister clarified that the only thing that has been done is to introduce a mirror subject for those who do not wish to take it.
José Ignacio Wert was particularly satisfied with the reception the education reform law has received in the business world (more than 1,500 companies are already participating in Dual Vocational Training, in which two thirds of the training process takes place in the company). The Minister said he was optimistic about the approval of the education reform because "it is aimed at correcting problems and is based on evidence".