The Plurinational Parliamentary Group Sumar has presented in Congress an amendment to the law that reduces ratios and teaching hours, with the aim that the concert system remains in a subsidiary position compared to the public network, "educational administrations must prioritize the increase and preservation of places and resources in public education."
According to the registered text, which Europa Press has accessed, it is established that, to comply with this principle, "existing concerts will not be expanded or renewed and the needs for schooling will be covered by expanding places in the public network."
In another of the amendments, Sumar proposes that the Government, within a maximum period of six months from the entry into force of the norm, urgently approve a royal decree so that, from the school year following the approval of the law, the subject of confessional religion - both Catholic and from other confessions - will be taught outside of mandatory teaching hours in all educational stages, and both in public centers and in private ones funded with public funds, throughout the state territory.
Furthermore, the formation demands that the Executive, within one year from the law coming into force, prepare a White Paper on secularism in the Spanish educational system, "that comprehensively analyzes the degree of non-confessionalism of teaching and, specifically, the impact generated by the current dual configuration of public and concerted networks on school segregation by socioeconomic origin."
Renaturalize schoolyards and strengthen guidance
Among the registered proposals, Sumar includes that the Government promote, together with the autonomous communities and local entities, programs for the renaturalization of the yards of educational centers funded with public funds. The idea is to encourage spaces that integrate natural elements such as vegetation, permeable soils, or the presence of water, incorporated in a stable manner into the facilities, respecting the competencies and autonomy of the educational administrations.
Another amendment from Sumar seeks that public schools for Early Childhood and Primary with 350 students have, at a minimum, a full-time educational counselor, whether through external guidance teams or with the center's own staff, according to the model set by each administration.
In the same way, it is proposed that all public Secondary, Baccalaureate, and Vocational Training institutes have, at least, one full-time educational counselor for every 350 students.
Reduction of ratios and educational inclusion decree
Regarding the reduction of ratios, Sumar proposes setting a maximum of 20 students per classroom in compulsory education, both in Primary Education and in Compulsory Secondary Education, compared to the 22 and 25 students that the current bill contemplates. This limitation would apply without prejudice to educational administrations being able to establish even more ambitious ratio reductions.
The coalition also includes an amendment for the Government, within a period of six months from the entry into force of the law, to approve a royal decree on Educational Inclusion, Guidance, and Attention to Diversity. It must specify the minimum conditions for providing specialized support for students with specific educational support needs, including those requiring compensation for inequalities, the minimum staffing of professionals in the educational and psychopedagogical guidance network, as well as measures that promote and regulate co-teaching.
In relation to the reduction of teaching hours for teachers, Sumar requests that the obligation for educational administrations to assign the necessary teaching staff to centers to make these hourly reductions effective be included in the regulation, so that "under no circumstances can this hourly reduction mean that the center has to eliminate supports, reinforcements, splits, or any other organizational measure that it is carrying out".
Labor situation of teachers and protected languages
In the labor field, Sumar proposes to promote the necessary legal reforms so that all teaching bodies are integrated into subgroup A1 and improve their classification within the Public Function, in order to "establish a specific early and rewarded teacher retirement from any contribution regime and to establish specific regulations on teacher occupational health with special attention to psychosocial risks".
Finally, the training demands that, in those autonomous communities where there is a non-official language that has protection, a specific teaching specialty for that language can be created, if applicable. "The corresponding administrations will determine the teaching assignment to these specialties by analogy with what is provided in this royal decree for the specialty of Spanish language and literature," concludes the text.