Page 98 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 98
ear ly school leaving: contempor ary european perspectives
Education & Training frameworks of 2010 (European Commission, 2002)
and 2020 (Council of the EU, 2009). Indeed, ESL rates in Spain are some
of the highest in Europe and, despite relative progress made since 2000,
the rates remain far above the European target of 10%. Yet Spain reached
the national target for 2015 already in 2014 and is thus on the right path to
achieve the national target for 2020 of 15%. However, the large discrepan-
cies between regions, males and females, and native and foreign-born re-
main a challenge.
Spain is also one of the few countries with a comprehensive nation-
al strategy in place to tackle ESL which may be translated as the ‘Plan to
reduce ESL’ and the ‘Programme to reduce ESL in education and train-
ing’, with both providing a clear framework for policies, projects, propos-
als, regional plans, actions and measures. For example, the two documents
establish that all professionals working in schools are responsible for pre-
venting ESL and require the collaboration of different professionals. The
involvement of various professionals in multi-professional teams within
the school and the education and career guidance structures is thus legally
compulsory and well-established. Moreover, the school structure has fur-
ther links with professionals from other institutions (inter-agency partner-
ships). Hence, while several actions and recommendations for cutting ESL
levels exists in Spain, the need remains to increase investment in education
and national research on ESL, better acknowledge and manage diversity as
an intrinsic trait of quality education, make school timetables more flexible
so as to allow part-time jobs and smaller class ratios to enable more person-
alised attention etc. (for details, see Vallejo & Dooly, 2013). To conclude, de-
spite the long way Spain has come in tackling ESL, it is necessary to contin-
ue the efforts and focus to ensure further progress.
References
European Commission (2002). Communication from the Commission: European
benchmarks in education and training: Follow-up to the Lisbon European
Council. Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=COM:2002:0629:FIN:EN:PDF
Council of the EU (2009). Council conclusions of 12 May 2009 on a strate-
gic framework for European cooperation in education and training (“ET
2020”). Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal–content/EN/TXT/
PDF/?uri=CELEX:52009XG0528(01)&from=EN
Aula Mentor (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mentor.mec.es/
98
Education & Training frameworks of 2010 (European Commission, 2002)
and 2020 (Council of the EU, 2009). Indeed, ESL rates in Spain are some
of the highest in Europe and, despite relative progress made since 2000,
the rates remain far above the European target of 10%. Yet Spain reached
the national target for 2015 already in 2014 and is thus on the right path to
achieve the national target for 2020 of 15%. However, the large discrepan-
cies between regions, males and females, and native and foreign-born re-
main a challenge.
Spain is also one of the few countries with a comprehensive nation-
al strategy in place to tackle ESL which may be translated as the ‘Plan to
reduce ESL’ and the ‘Programme to reduce ESL in education and train-
ing’, with both providing a clear framework for policies, projects, propos-
als, regional plans, actions and measures. For example, the two documents
establish that all professionals working in schools are responsible for pre-
venting ESL and require the collaboration of different professionals. The
involvement of various professionals in multi-professional teams within
the school and the education and career guidance structures is thus legally
compulsory and well-established. Moreover, the school structure has fur-
ther links with professionals from other institutions (inter-agency partner-
ships). Hence, while several actions and recommendations for cutting ESL
levels exists in Spain, the need remains to increase investment in education
and national research on ESL, better acknowledge and manage diversity as
an intrinsic trait of quality education, make school timetables more flexible
so as to allow part-time jobs and smaller class ratios to enable more person-
alised attention etc. (for details, see Vallejo & Dooly, 2013). To conclude, de-
spite the long way Spain has come in tackling ESL, it is necessary to contin-
ue the efforts and focus to ensure further progress.
References
European Commission (2002). Communication from the Commission: European
benchmarks in education and training: Follow-up to the Lisbon European
Council. Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.
do?uri=COM:2002:0629:FIN:EN:PDF
Council of the EU (2009). Council conclusions of 12 May 2009 on a strate-
gic framework for European cooperation in education and training (“ET
2020”). Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal–content/EN/TXT/
PDF/?uri=CELEX:52009XG0528(01)&from=EN
Aula Mentor (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mentor.mec.es/
98
