Affable, neatly dressed, and with his unmistakable kills of white hair like snow, German Andreas Schleicher, probably the most influential person today in the world of education, is presented in one of the noble rooms of the Ministry of Education. It is Monday morning, and in a couple of hours he will present in Madrid to the press, one of ―In this case, about teachers -, which regularly publishes the OECD Education Division he directs. The best known, that this 61 -year -old German mathematician devised at the end of the 90s, and regularly shakes with their students’ academic performance classifications the educational systems of more than 80 countries.
Ask: How do you see education in Spain?
Answer: Well, today, with Talis, we look at education through the eyes of teachers, and. Most teachers are proud of their work. They are happy with their work, they have a sense of belonging to what they do, they value their relationship with students … sometimes they get angry with excessive bureaucracy, which is normal. But, in general, Spain is an exception. In the sense that a teaching profession in crisis is not observed, as in many other countries.
P. The educational reform in Spain has incorporated an approach based on competency learning, which some believe that it requires less effort and reduces the level of students. What do you think?
R. Actually, I think it’s the opposite. , something in which Spanish students used to be very good, requires much less effort to extrapolate what you know and use your knowledge to do things. Being sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher explaining an experiment is very easy. Doing the experiment is really difficult. But it requires more of teachers. It requires a good level of collaboration among teachers, in what by the way, Talis data shows areas of improvement in Spain. And not limit themselves to imparting the curriculum. Today, to be a good teacher, it is not enough to be a good instructor. You need to be a good coacha creative designer of innovative learning environments … A good indicator of the work that remains to be done in Spain is the use of artificial intelligence. In the country there is still a great gap between the relevance of AI and its incorporation into classroom practices.
P. Will Ia change the way of teaching and learning?
R. Artificial intelligence is not a magical power. It is simply an incredible amplifier, an impressive accelerator. Will amplify good teaching practices. Teachers who are already very empowered can become even better with AI. For example, when analyzing what students are doing and supporting them well. But it can also have a negative effect if, for example, teachers become slaves of the school plans generated by AI. That is, it can also be an unpacking force. You can amplify biases or moderate them. That is why it seems important to me that teachers are in the design center of these tools. That the thing is not simply limited to acquiring a software and send it to schools. Teachers should be part of the process, designers, instead of only users. And we still don’t see that in Spain.
P. Spain What would you advise you?
R. As I said, Spain has a good starting point. Teachers, something rare in other countries, speak well of their salary, and quite good about the organization of their work and the work environment. On the one hand, I believe that the reform should promote a deep professional collaboration. That teachers work together to structure good practices in the classroom, share experiences, participate in research, and in the design of new technologies. And, on the other, although the student-professional relationship is good, and Spain has a good number of teachers per 100 students, they should ensure that more talent teachers teach in the most complex classrooms. The country does not yet have an based on the classroom. I refer to building relationships with families, and with students, particularly in disadvantaged contexts. Again: today good teachers must also be good social workers, good psychologists, good mentors.
P. Isn’t it better to incorporate other professional profiles to school?
R. Some countries have done so, have outsourced those responsibilities. They have said: you, teachers, teach, and apart we will hire a social worker or a psychologist. And that is not necessarily something positive. I think the teacher should see the student as a person, not only teach science, history or mathematics. And that requires a change of mentality in teachers and a support structure around them, particularly in disadvantaged schools. Especially in Spain, and of.
P. What advises Spain: reduce the ratio of students by class a bit throughout the system or lower it intensely in those centers or classrooms with more vulnerable students or in need of educational support? .
R. I do not believe that Spain achieves much, in terms of results, with the first option. If you come from a privileged context, you will always find open doors in your life. Someone will always help you take the next step. If you come from a disadvantaged context, on the other hand, you only have one opportunity, and it is to find a good teacher and a good school. If you lose that train, everything else will conspire against you. Therefore, I believe that the system must find resources for those disadvantaged centers and classrooms. The only nuance I would do is that it is not just about more resources. France, for example, has doubled teachers in these environments. But that is only part of the answer. Another, perhaps more important, is how to make the best teachers, the most experienced, are in the most difficult classrooms. How to make it intellectually attractive. If you are a surgeon, you do not want to operate appendicitis every day, you want to do more challenging operations, and society recognizes you for being able to do so. In teaching we do not. We consider to go to a difficult class or school, and that must be changed.
