Education and school day; Conflict of interest between teachers, parents and pupils.

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the teachers. The continuous school day is a granting from the faculty in order to improve the workday and has nothing to do with an improve of the education.

A set of circumstances that generate conflict in the educational community take place[2]:

- By the ‘autonomy’ of schools, families are allowed to modify the school day of their children’s schools (the establishment of the continuous school day must be approved by a majority of parents)

- Children’s school day determines, also, teachers’ workout day (when parents vote in favour or against continuous school day, they are also approving or denying to teachers of that school their continuous workout day.

- The continuous workout day is a teacher's and their union revindication, they claim for a better schedule in accordance with the rest of the public servants.

- Therefore, the faculty is a key part in this process.

The conflict starts when teachers’ arguments to introduce a continuous school day do not convince families. The foregoing ones feel pressed to vote in favour of the change in the schedule, they consider that they are being denied of a dialogue and they detect faults in the voting process, like, for example, when they are asked to indicate their children’s names in the ballot.

Let´s take a look through some points of view of the different spheres affected by this controversy:

- RAFAEL FEITO ALONSO (Sociology doctor by Universidad Complutense)[3]:

“...There’s a convincing fact: the majority of the teachers are in favour of a continuous workday. Every work group wish to improve his/her conditions. The problem comes when this professional improvement can result in a less quality public service… It must be clear that the continuous school day revindication has nothing to do with the educative innovation…”

- MARIANO FERNÁNDEZ ENGUITA (Sociology professor of the Salamanca University):

“...No doubt the biggest misfortune and the principal problems source of this process has been the mix of a school problem (advantages and disadvantages of the different types of school day) with a labour aspiration widely expanded in the teacher profession…”[4].

“… Schedule reduction and scholar calendar has been created either in a more or less surreptitious way or camouflaged under the children comfort (...)”[5]

- P. JIMENO OSTÁRIZ (General secretary of UGT Federation in Aragón)[6]:

“...The pretension of the teachers to improve their socio working conditions in order to get an intensive continuous workday is legitimacy. But this legitimacy can’t be justified under a made-up and continuous educative model based on false nesses like the one that says that everyone has a continuous workday routine, except for some exceptions in the commerce service. The educative model can’t be based on treating the minor like a factory operator that is going to be subdued to an intensive continuous school day with a morning schedule; because teaching is an election, like choosing any other job, and if someone chooses this has to accept it with all its consequences…”

- ELENA MARTÍN ORTEGA (Psychology doctor in Complutense University and Titular Teacher in the Psychology Faculty of the Autonomic University of Madrid)[7]:

“...in the discussion about the continuous school day, the legitimacy aspiration of the teachers to improve their labour conditions has been mixed inadequately. Teachers’ schedule does not have to coincide with the schoolmates one. A part time school day

doesn’t imply necessarily just one possible schedule to the faculty.And it’s not a good idea to intertwine…”

- CODAPA-Confederación Andaluza de Asociaciones de Madres y padres del Alumnado por la Educación pública[8]:

“...continuous school day is not the better option for the pupils” and they consider that “it’s important not to confuse the workday of the teachers with students school day, and neither with the opening of the school”

3. Necessary process to carry through a modification of the school day[9]

The modification process of the school day is regulated by each of the local councils.

The different periods tend to be the following ones:

- Beginning of the process: The school council must approve the proposal to start the modification of the scholar schedule processes.

- This project must be approved by the school council in the period specified in the local council normative.

- Calling to a general informative assembly, in order to announce the project to families and start a debate.

- The most important part is the enquiry to the families for them to give their approval. The regulations in some councils specified that the vote must be

direct, secret and cannot be delegated. When the voting is finished, the polling table has to do the scrutiny that must be public.

- If the absolute majority specified in the normative is not reached, the process is interrupted.

- If the votes needed to the approvement of the change are reached, the school council must subdue to the approval of the project in an extraordinary by an absolute majority.

- School headmaster request the change in the schedule and transmit the needed documents to the Territorial Direction of education.

- The headmaster of the Territorial Direction will resolve authorizing or denying the modification of the school day.

CHAPTER II

OPINIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF THE DIFFERENTS PARTS AFFECTED BY THE ISSUE

1. What Confederations and Federations AMPAS think about the school day?

➔CEAPA - Spanish Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations: Continuous journey has more disadvantages: classes are shorter, so that teachers have less time to teach their subject; the lack of time requires it to send more homework to students, and many parents cannot help their children with their studies, because they have no adequate training. Many families are driven to