Speak the Culture: Spain: Be Fluent in Spanish Life and Culture

332

1. Identity: the
   building blocks of
   2. Literature
   and philosophy
   3. Art and
   architecture
   4. Performing
   arts
   5. Cinema
   and fashion
   6. Media and
   communications
   7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
   the details of

Could do better

There’s a real clamour for education in Spain. Ever since

democracy gave them a sniff of opportunity in the 1970s,

the Spanish have thrown themselves into learning. It’s no

surprise: under Franco an elitist system gave precedence

(and most of its funding) to secondary schools and

universities that groomed a male dominated clique to run

the country. Reforms in the late 1960s looked good on paper

but did little to actually right the imbalance. With democracy

came a change in ethos. Education was made – and remains

• admirably egalitarian. A series of reforms established a
  two-tier system that sees children through compulsory
  schooling from age six to 16. And yet, despite parental
  enthusiasm and a vast, ongoing improvement on the Franco
  days, Spanish schools still lag behind the EU norm. Funding
  remains among the worst in Europe, teachers aren’t always
  well trained or adequately paid and too many teenagers leave
  school under qualified. Spanish modes of teaching have been
  criticised as being too rigid and too theory-based, and some
  say a generation of graduate level workers with little
  vocational aptitude is paying the price.

History lessons

Under Franco, school textbooks paid little attention to the

Civil War.They mentioned Republicans burning churches and

Franco rescuing Spain from anarchy, but little else.The

Generalísimo was painted as a modern day El Cid and his

moralising, conservativeweltanschauungmade sure that

young Spaniards, girls in particular, knew their place. History

lessons recalled a glorious past that placed Franco in the

Reconquistacontext of theReyes Católicos. Jews, children

were taught, had drunk Christian blood, while the Moors

harboured spies and conspirators. Since Franco shuffled off,

history classes have paid more attention to the recent past,

with teachers instructed to address the negative impact of

Civil War.

The Spanish school year,
split into three terms,
runs from mid September
to late June. Christmas
brings a two-week
holiday and Easter a
one-week break.

Class sizes in primary
schools are limited to 25,
and to 30 in secondary
schools.

Over 55 per cent of
students remain in full-
time education until
aged 18, when 25 per
cent enter vocational
training and over 30 per
cent pack their bags for
university.

Despite an increase
of 16 per cent in the
education budget in
2006, Spain still only
invests some 5.3 per
cent of its GDP in
education. The UK
invests 5.6 per cent,
Germany 5.8 per cent
and France 7 per cent.

Study notes

8.6 Steep learning curve: education