DIFFERENT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS; DIFFERENT PROBLEMS OF ADAPTATION

     

      The 16th of  January, we have been with our expert in sociology and we have talked about a great number of topics, all of them more or less related to the problems of adaptation at school.

    First of all, we have analysed some differences between English and Spanish educational systems. In England there is a strict plan to follow in every session of class, which in a simplified way consists on:

• First of all, teachers have to prepare three different levels to work in the class with the students, for the content to be available and understandable for everybody
• At the beginning of the class, the  teacher spends 5 minutes to introduce the topic to work with.
• Then the teacher sets the goals to achieve during this lesson; in this way students are certain to know what they are expected to learn.
• Afterwards, the teacher hands out the task to accomplish in their three different levels. The students work on it for about 20 or 25 minutes.
• Finally, there is a plenary activity to solve doubts and to sum up the learned contents for about  15 minutes.
• Specialised teachers enter the class to help students with SEN (special education needs) and foreign students whose level of English is still too poor to follow autonomously the lesson.

        The teachers are constantly required to follow this scheme and inspections of their work are frequent. Furthermore, teachers risk having their salary reduced if goodperformances are not achieved. For this, a league table has been created and every teacher is assessed according his students' performances. This generates a strong discontentment among the teaching staff  which in the end it is no good for the students.

        On the other hand, Spanish educational system is more flexible and allows teachers to follow the method they consider the most suitable. For instance, a typical secquence of steps are:

• The teacher starts with the homework of the previous day; if the students had any difficulties in doing them and if necessary  to correct them to solve any doubts.
• Then, the teacher explains new contents
• Afterwards, she asks some questions to check the comprehension ofthe new topic.
• Finally the students are required to do the homework for the next session in order to practice the contents studied in class.
• Specialised teachers usually fetch students with SEN and work with them for some hours outside the class.

     Some teachers follow a published textbook; others have produced their own material. 

     Diagnosted disabled students are usually given different work to do in class since they are not able to undersand the contents explained in class. 

    Some teachers work with small groups but most of them follow a traditional frontal method or in other words a teacher centred-instruction.

    Inspections of  the teacher's work seldom happen, and obviously there is no salary reduction if  the students don't reach the espected level.

      As we can see both methods have pros and cons. 

• To prepare a task with three levels of difficulty is a good idea; this will decrease the anxiety of some students and the instruction will be more adapted to them  and therefore they will learn more, they will be less disappointed and there will be less disruptive behaviour. However, this means time and therefore, it should not be compulsory but only highly recomended.
• Some research studies have shown that teacher centred-instruction is not as good as other methods where students adopt an active role in class. However more exhaustive scientific research needs to be done.
• If a educational system is too controlled, there is no option to creativity and this results in monotony. Creativity methods should be promoted and more freedom is needed in class in order to offer changes and different activities and to avoid  students' tediousness, 
• Frequent inspections are good as long as the goal is to improve the teacher's skills. In Spain, inspectors are usually more concerned about paperwork than about what really happens in class.
• League tables are an unfair idea. First of all, we have to take into account that not all schools and classes are similar; ther are sociological factors that the teacher can't control and which are the reason of different levels of performance, independently of the teacher's skills.

       In conclusion, we need to find better methods of teaching, more adapted to the diversity of students and more flexible to promote creativity and supervision is a good tool only if it aims to counsel and improve teacher's skills.