Families accuse the Government of consolidating an "increasingly privatized" educational model

PalmaThe Federation of Student Families' Associations (FAPA Mallorca) has taken advantage of the school year's review to launch a global criticism of the Government's educational policies. The entity considers that the Ministry of Education has maintained a "good predisposition" for dialogue, but regrets that this has not translated into concrete actions or effective participation of families. Furthermore, it has warned that several decisions made during this school year point to a "change of model" in education towards greater contracting out and privatization of the system.

The president of FAPA Mallorca, Xavier Ferriol, has demanded that families stop being simple recipients of information. "We need real family participation. What we have now is not real," he stated. In this regard, he defended that it "is useless" to create participation spaces "if they only serve to announce what has already been done, with no possibility of negotiation." "We want active listening," he insisted. He also criticized the fact that the working terms of the School Council of the Balearic Islands (CEIB) have been shortened.

Schools on fire

Ferriol has also criticized the slowness in the improvement actions of educational centers. Although the Ministry has announced new investments within the framework of the Air Conditioning and Infrastructure Plan, it considers that they arrive too late. "The centers are demanding immediate measures," he said, recalling that there are still schools without adequate conditions to cope with high temperatures. Among the demands, he has called for shade, better building insulation, and solar protection. "There is no public building without air conditioning, but educational centers continue to lack adequate conditions," he denounced.

Another of the main criticisms has been the inclusion policy. The FAPA considers that the linguistic segregation plan and the promotion of new UEECO classrooms go in the opposite direction to an inclusive school. "More resources are allocated to separating than to including," stated Ferriol, who also lamented that the inclusion decree continues to be unapproved. "We thought that at this point we would already have it and it is still in a drawer," he said.

Regarding the new Baccalaureate of excellence, the president of the FAPA has stated that "it is a way to create separate groups" and has criticized that it has been implemented "hastily". He has also called for a strategic plan to continue reducing school dropout, beyond the increase in vocational training places. "It is not enough to create vocational training places," he warned.

The FAPA has also responded to the statements of the Minister of Education, Antoni Vera, who attributed the drop in passes in the University Entrance Exams (PAU) to the "failure" of the LOMLOE. The president of the entity, Xavier Ferriol, considers this explanation to be reductionist. "Attributing the poor results of the PAU to the LOMLOE is very simplistic. We are talking about students who started ESO five or six years ago," he stated.

On the other hand, the FAPA points to the reorganization of the school calendar as one of the factors that could have influenced the results. According to Ferriol, the Ministry had already been warned that advancing the end of the second year of Baccalaureate to May 29 could harm students who had to take the PAU. "There are centers that told students that they no longer needed to go to class and this has meant that some have had practically twenty more days of vacation before risking everything in the selectivity exam," he explained.

"Indications of a change in model"

The coordinator of the FAPA Technical Office, Miquel Àngel Guerrero, was even more emphatic in his general assessment of the academic year. "We are seeing indications of a change in model that concerns us," he stated. According to Guerrero, the progressive reduction of school catchment areas, the contracting of the first cycle of early childhood education (0-3 years), and the closure of public schools respond to the same political orientation. "We are increasingly seeing a more privatized model," he said.

The coordinator has particularly questioned the argument that the reduction of zones increases families' freedom of choice. "The data shows that more families have been able to choose a school. The question is which families and which schools. Mainly, families with more resources and subsidized schools," he stated. Therefore, he argued that the Administration must ensure that "all schools are equally good" and rejected turning the educational system "into a competition between schools".

Canteens and work-life balance

The FAPA has also taken advantage of the appearance to refer to the Can Arabí case. Guerrero has described the closure of the central kitchen as "the chronicle of a foretold closure" and has assured that the problem highlights the lack of control over school canteens. "We are not so much concerned about which company manages it as about the Administration not establishing measures so that canteens are safe spaces," he stated. In this regard, he celebrated that family participation in the management of canteens has finally been maintained after the new decree initially suppressed it.

For their part, FAPA board member David Edwardes has denounced that participatory bodies continue to be non-spaces for real decision-making. "Participating is working together," he claimed. Edwardes has also criticized the criteria for some aid calls. As an example, he compared the income limit for canteen aid, set at 30,000 euros, with that of the conciliation check, which reaches up to 120,000 euros. Furthermore, he lamented that subsidies for summer camps are announced in September. "If a family cannot advance the money during the summer, what use is the aid to them?" he asked.