Just Another Normal Return To School

It hardly seems any time since the youth of northern Mallorca were descending on Puerto Alcúdia for their end-of-school-year drinkathon in June. The long hot summer has all but passed the island's minors by. Return to school. "Vuelta al cole" is just around the corner.

The start of the school year is always given a great deal of prominence by the media. One is tempted to think that this is due to the fact that some schooling is actually taking place for once, though, as has been pointed out (not least by myself), total school hours in Spain aren't that far behind those in England where annual school hours are among the longest. And as a reflection of this media prominence, I, as has now become traditional, add to the column inches.

The return to school is fascinating because of its ritualistic nature and because of all the raft of statistics which are trotted out and political statements which accompany it. The greatest ritual is to declare on the day of the return to school that  it has been "normal", which has long led me to wonder what would constitute an abnormal return to school. Thanks to the regional government, education minister Rafael Bosch, stroppy parents, stroppy teachers, the endless language argument, Catalan bows, the Balearics Institute of Family Policy and the rise in IVA, we are about to find out.

By the start of this school year, or so said Herr Bosch at this time last year, there was meant to have been equality between Catalan and Castellano in Mallorca's educational system. This less than normal state of affairs, given that Catalan has dominated, is not about to come to pass. The wholesale introduction of "free selection" of language was watered down, the free selection where it was to be applied (infant and early primary) has been largely rejected by parents who continue to favour Catalan, and where there is to be equality, the teachers for the most part seem unsure how it is going to be implemented.

The language argument may seem to have dominated the educational agenda, but the teachers have other concerns which are just as controversial. They are expected to teach for longer, to teach larger classes and to be paid less. Which sounds wonderful for morale, as indeed does the fact that the government have been less than forthcoming in handing over money to schools since April this year.

It is the purely educational matter of class sizes and teaching resources that has inspired a campaign known as "Así no empieza mi hijo" promoted by the parents federation. It means that some parents are threatening to boycott the start of the school year by keeping their children at home, which does sound decidedly abnormal.

Into the fray on this particular abnormality has entered the Institute of Family Policy. It has denounced the parents to the ombudsman, claiming that fundamental rights of children will be violated by this boycott. Which is all quite interesting; an institute for family policy denouncing families, but such is how things work here. But then, the institute is an interesting body. A couple of years ago it was to the fore in seeking to ban topless sunbathing (rights and protection of children and all that). If you can be bothered to (and I have), some judicious Googling can reveal some just as interesting associations that this institute has. Let's simply say that it isn't exactly liberal.

I'm not sure what the institute has to say on the matter of IVA but there are plenty of families in Mallorca and in Spain that have been presented with a greatly increased bill for this school year. If you think a three per cent rise on the general rate is steep, then it is nothing compared with the 17% rise (4% to 21%) for school material (with the exception of books).

So, what have we got? Teachers hacked off, larger class sizes, schools not getting money they are owed, the language policy in disarray, parents being denounced, cost of sending children to school increasing. Enough for you? Well, there is also the matter of the Catalan bows hanging outside some schools to be made more of an issue of, a minor issue in truth when compared with the continuing poor performance of the state education sector in Mallorca, a problem which consultants McKinsey have been addressing by arguing in favour of the adoption of an English system (God help the local schools if this means performance league tables).

Yep, the return to school sounds as though it will be perfectly normal.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.