More than 120,000 people ask for the rationalization of duties in Spain
School returns and a daily routine returns: the homework. Spain is the fifth OECD country in which children have more duties, a place against which many have risen arguing that children also need time to play and rest. The latest initiative has already achieved more than 120,000 signatures: seeks the rationalization of duties in the Spanish educational system.
It was six months ago when Eva Bailén launched this initiative through the Change.org platform, and soon it became a great echo. In his writing, he assures that the burden of duties of each child of school age "depends fundamentally on the teacher that corresponds", so in many occasions a child is touched by a teacher who sends many tasks for home and "Does not understand why he or she can not play, rest or be with their parents", he complains.
Excess of duties
"An excess of duties is a great frustration for a child who wants to complete the assigned work and he sees how it surpasses him and fatigue does not allow him to continue studying ", laments Bailén, who assures that the performance of children worsens" if the school day adds an excess of time for homework ".
It is not that this woman is asking for the elimination of the duties, but a rationalization of them: "There is no justification for a child to dedicate so many hours of his time after the school day to performing tasks many times mechanically and that they hardly foster competencies", he adds in his writing on said platform.
In this way, he mentions that the Royal Decree establishing the basic curriculum of Primary Education includes the learning of: learn, social and civic competences and a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial spirit, some issues that, in his opinion, are not achieved with eternal tasks.
"Finalize the agenda of textbooks and proposed exercises in them they should not be the main academic objective ", criticizes Bailén, who assures that the number of teaching hours to meet this objective" may be higher than those available in a school year ".
For this reason, he regrets that since there is no teaching time for this, "chores are done at home to the detriment of children"" What really matters should be teaching while respecting the rhythm of children, their needs for juice and rest and their emotional well-being, "he says.
Stressed family
Bailén assures that the "abusive" duties end up having another negative consequence: "conflicts in families". According to the promoter of the initiative, families, because of the excess of tasks, "they see in the conciliation of work and family life a utopia"since the long working hours" are still harmed by the abusive school tasks, "that make parents" can not share their time with their children "or that they share it but" to exercise as teachers ".
For Bailén, "Spanish children can not continue to be burdened with homework". In his opinion, "it is not admissible for Spanish children to spend three hours a week more on homework than Finnish children whose academic results, according to the PISA reports, are among the best in the world."
That is why he has launched the petition through this digital platform. The objective: that the duties of Spanish students be rationalized, with the establishment of guidelines for the tasks to be developed in a reasonable time and that are consistent with the student's age. "We ask that abusive duties be eliminated as soon as possible."
In his writing, Bailén thinks that the duties should be agreed upon between the different teachers of the same center and they should be aware of the time involved in each task "and the set of duties that students have each day so that do not be excessive as a whole"he concludes.
Angela R. Bonachera
