SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 22 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Minister of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands, Manuela Armas, has advanced this Friday in Parliament that early educational abandonment in the islands fell to 11.8% in 2021, the lowest figure to date and below 13.3 % of the national average, after a decrease of 6.4% in relation to 2020.
Armas assessed in committee the boosted increase in the number of teachers, which has had an impact on the improvement of student attention and the drop in ratios in the classrooms, which in the case of Compulsory Secondary has meant the limitation to a maximum of 27 students per group in 1st ESO and 30 in Baccalaureate.
In the same way, he pointed out that this good result in terms of absenteeism is also due to the expansion and diversification carried out in the offer of Vocational Training courses.
Specifically, he referred to the increase in the educational offer for the current school period, with the increase in groups in the teaching of Vocational Training, Sports, and Plastic Arts and Design and the increase in the Network of centers that offer these professional studies, picks up a note from his department.
Likewise, it was confident in the maintenance of this positive trend thanks to the implementation of new actions to reinforce the attention to the diversity of the student body in the current school year and the expansion and diversification of the offer of VT teachings, which in the The 2019-2020 academic year had 62,730 places, compared to 70,825 in the current one (8,095 more), which represents a rise of 12.9%.
Between both periods, the groups in these teachings increased from 1,955 to 2,193 (238 additional), which implies an increase of 12.2%.
EDUCATIONAL ENRICHMENT
Armas also referred to the development of the Territorial Cooperation Program for Educational Orientation, Advancement and Enrichment ‘PROA+’ 2021-2022 as another factor that explains the improvement in school dropout data in the archipelago.
This initiative, which seeks to improve school results in cognitive and socio-emotional learning and reduce the rate of school repetition, among other objectives, is based on five strategic lines that include guaranteeing the minimum conditions of educability for students and the to support him when he has learning difficulties.
For the 2021-2022 school year, 171 educational centers are participating in this program, compared to 123 for the 2020-2021 academic year.
On the other hand, the Minister of Education referred to the program of Personal and Educational Accompaniment and Guidance Units for minors in situations of social vulnerability, an innovative measure that seeks to reduce the rates of repetition and premature abandonment of education and training, promote the learning and school success of the most vulnerable students, prevent curricular lag and reduce school absenteeism.
Between 2021 and 2022, 58 units will be created, 26 more than those proposed by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, of which 33 social integrators and 25 social workers will be part.
The esTEla programme, for its part, has been launched this school year.
ATTENTION TO DIVERSITY
Emerged from the need for the renewal and confluence of previous school transition programs and the change in the educational and social needs of educational centers and students.
In addition, he referred to the Strategic Plan for Attention to Diversity (PEAD), which includes actions in terms of language support for non-Spanish-speaking students in Primary and Secondary, among others, while highlighting the implementation of school coexistence measures in 388 centers during the 2021-2022 academic year, compared to 288 in the past.
The actions for the care of students with Specific Educational Support Needs (NEAE) prevent possible early school leaving because they are adjusted, among others, to the principles of normalization of services, flexibility in the educational response, prevention in actions from younger ages and personalized attention, pointed out the counselor, who highlighted the specific programs for students with ASD, with Serious Behavior Disorder and emotional disturbances, or the Enclave Classrooms, among others.
The person in charge of the area also pointed out that this school year they are promoting both the Protocol of gender violence in educational centers and that of Accompaniment to trans students and attention to gender diversity, the teams of Zonal Equality Agents and the promotion for the inclusion of women in university studies and careers, actions aimed at preventing male and female students from leaving the school system for reasons of unequal opportunities or gender.
He also said that the Plan for Digital Education in the Canary Islands in the 21st century aims to effectively incorporate digitization in all its facets within the educational system of the islands, in addition to guaranteeing an adequate response to possible scenarios that may occur, in in the event that the student body must develop non-face-to-face teaching for health reasons, thus avoiding early school leaving and digital absenteeism.
