Baccalaureate of excellence: everything you need to know
The Excellence Program in Baccalaureate appears to offer the most advantaged students an alternative to the conventional curriculum. The Baccalaureate of excellence It is a new model of education that is designed for students who complete Compulsory Secondary Education with a good academic record and who wish to take the Bachillerato with a high level of demand.
The Baccalaureate of excellence it has been implemented, above all, in some public institutes of the Community of Madrid - currently there are 13 centers that offer it - although many other communities are beginning to adopt this new plan. It supposes a higher level, both in the subjects taught and in the demands of the students themselves.
Baccalaureate of excellence, the road to university
In addition, this type of educational excellence helps the student prepare his way to the University. Now he must attend with greater responsibility to his obligations as a student, in a manner similar to what will be required in the university environment. Although they are still high school students, they are required enough to know firsthand what they will find in the stage immediately after they are.
Who can access the Baccalaureate of excellence
If there is something that characterizes these children of the Baccalaureate of excellence is that they are scholars and are very interested in what they are doing. For the rest, that is to say, outside the academic, they are normal boys, with their personal virtues, their problems of adolescence, their strengths and their weaknesses.
Specifically in the 2012-2013 academic year, at the IES San Mateo center - a pioneer in this field of educational excellence - there was only one gifted person diagnosed, who was enrolled in a course ahead of his age, and, despite the fact that many of them they are specially equipped for Mathematics, only one in particular had twice reached the national phase of the Mathematical Olympiad.
In short, these centers are not vetoed for non-gifted students. On the contrary, it is accessible to all those who consider that they can develop their Baccalaureate studies with a higher level of demand than the curricula currently in force.
3 conditions of admission to the Baccalaureate of excellence
1. To have done the tests of the Extraordinary Awards of Secondary Education.
2. Have obtained an average grade equal to or greater than eight in 4th of ESO and credit it.
3. Willing to take the baccalaureate with the required level of requirement.
Differences between center of excellence and classroom of excellence
This program poses two options: the first, the Centers of Excellence, and the second, the Classrooms of Excellence. What differentiates one from the other is the number of students. The Centers of Excellence they dedicate their facilities solely and exclusively to this new methodology; that is, no other course is taught, and all students who study there reach the required level of demand.
On the other hand, the institutes that present Classrooms of Excellence they maintain the conventional system of studies but, in Bachillerato, they add another classroom: that of Excellence. This is formed by groups of about 20 or 30 people who have decided to be part of it.
In 2011, when this new system was implemented, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports explained that this baccalaureate should be called "demanding": "it will be demanding both with students and teachers. students who are leaving the system, but we never did anything for those who were in the lead [...] and deserve it ". But, both parents and students fear that the average of the students will decrease because they demand more, and in this regard, from the counseling they explained that the teachers chosen to teach these classes are those who value the students and take into account that they are being taught. demanding more than the rest of the youth of his age.
Advantages of the Baccalaureate of excellence
1. In many centers, Excellence Classrooms are installed so that students who want to continue in their usual center do not have to change and can complement their education.
2. The requirement of these centers prepares them the way to the university, making them attend in a more responsible way to their obligations as students.
3. Separating students avoids school failure. Good students would no longer be influenced by those who upset the pace of the class.
Disadvantages of the Baccalaureate of excellence
1. If they want to complete the Baccalaureate of full excellence, they must change centers to be able to take it.
2. When the requirement increases, the average of the students decreases.
3. Some parents believe that avoiding heterogeneity and diversity of students is not positive for students.
Sara Pérez
