Education will evaluate management teams mid-term to detect conflicts and improve the work climate in schools

PalmaThe Department of Education and Universities will launch, at the request of the Educational Inspection department, an evaluation system for the management teams of the centers with the aim of detecting possible problems with the work environment, improving conflict management, and reinforcing pedagogical leadership. This is one of the main measures arising from the "Docent 360" working group, promoted by the Government to strengthen the emotional well-being of teachers, the conclusions of which were presented this Wednesday by the Minister of Education, Antoni Vera.

"Docent 360" working group, promoted by the Government to strengthen the emotional well-being of teachers, the conclusions of which were presented this Wednesday by the Minister of Education, Antoni Vera.

The initiative will be linked to the Center Self-Assessment Instrument. The process will examine aspects such as the work environment, team cohesion, teacher participation in the life of the center, conflict management, and pedagogical leadership. Based on this analysis, a report will be prepared with the strengths identified and areas for improvement, a document that will be taken into account in the final evaluation of the management's mandate, to assess the center's evolution and the impact of the measures adopted.

The measure is part of a set of actions that Education will roll out from the next academic year to address the difficulties faced by teaching staff. As Vera explained, teachers today work with a much more complex reality than ten or fifteen years ago, marked by greater student diversity and the constant arrival of students from different educational systems, especially in a community like the Balearic Islands.

The minister stressed that teachers have progressively taken on functions that go beyond their academic duties. "They have to combine teaching responsibilities with personal student support tasks," he pointed out. According to Vera, teachers are specialists in their subjects, but they often have to manage complex personal and emotional situations that can end up affecting the functioning of classrooms and their own well-being.

Another of the notable measures is the launch of a specific psychological support service for teaching staff. Teachers will be able to access a maximum of ten individual sessions with specialized professionals. This resource will be exclusive to teachers, while psychological support for students will continue to be provided through existing services. In this regard, Education recalled that Secondary schools have had psychologists for two academic years and that this figure will also reach Primary from the next academic year.

Emotional Support

Furthermore, in collaboration with the Official College of Psychology of the Balearic Islands (COPIB), workshops on emotional management and regulation will be developed for teachers. Each participating center will have four group sessions aimed at preventing psychological distress and professional exhaustion syndrome (burnout).

The package of actions also includes the reinforcement of mediation mechanisms in educational centers. The Ministry plans to sign an agreement with the Institute of Mediation of the Balearic Islands to facilitate intervention in labor and interpersonal conflicts. The agreement foresees the referral of cases, the designation of mediators, and the participation of specialized teams in particularly complex situations. Similarly, it will incorporate tools to detect possible conflicts early and prevent them from worsening.

On this same line, workshops will be held taught by expert professionals so that the management teams and the center's workers have more resources to identify risk situations, manage internal tensions, and prevent the escalation of conflicts.

The conclusions of Docent 360 also include measures aimed at promoting work-life and family balance. The new decree on teaching staff provides for the possibility that teachers can concentrate their teaching day into four days a week, as long as the organizational needs of the center allow it. According to Education, the initiative aims to facilitate the balance between the professional and personal lives of teachers.

12 demonstration centers

The actions will initially be rolled out in twelve centers selected based on the work carried out by the Docent 360 group and the first results of the survey conducted by the UIB, in which nearly 5,000 teachers have participated. The definitive results of the study will be known during the first semester of the next academic year. The centers that will participate in this first phase are CEIP Sant Ferran (Formentera), CEIP Can Cantó and IES Xarc (Ibiza), IES Josep Miquel i Guàrdia (Alaior), CEIP Sa Graduada (Mahón), IES Capdepera, IES Calvià, IES s'Arenal, CEIP Porta des Moll (Alcúdia), IES Josep Sureda i Blanes (Palma), IES Emili Darder (Palma), and CEIP Sa Indioteria (Palma). Over time, the measures will reach all centers.

Vera has defended that the project demonstrates the Ministry's commitment to improving the working conditions of teachers and the quality of the educational system.