LESSON 1 PRACTICE

LAWS ON EDUCATION: LOE AND LOMCE



In the first practical we had must compare the last two Spanish laws on education (LOE and LOMCE). It was very interesting, because I did not know anything about the laws. I learnt a lot of doing this practice.

1.-What are the advantages of the LOMCE with respect to the LOE regarding the organisation and functioning of education?

LOMCE has introduced these new aspects that we think are an advantage:

Article 2

• The State school board  is the organ of participation of the education community in the general program of teaching and advice to the Government.
• The Sector conference of education is the organ of cooperation of the autonomous communities.
• The Table of social dialogue for the education is the organ of participation of the workers del sector educativo.
• The educational information system.

From our point of view, introducing these aspects in the law it’s very important because they are basic governing bodies in schools, so they have to be regulated in the law.

Article 3

• It has also introduced  basic vocational training as part of basic education.

As far as we are concerned, introducing this part of education as part of basic education is very important for those students who don’t want to go to university after ESO.

Article 6

• When they speak about the curriculum, they give the responsibility to choose the contents and the different pedagogical issues to the educational administrations, giving a bit of autonomy to each school.

We think it’s very important to give certain autonomy to each centre, because there are differences between the different areas of Spain and the different centres. So it is quite important to let the centres choose some specific issues.

Article 18

• It has been changed the name os some subjects, calling them the same way they are called in ESO. For example they have changed “Conocimiento del medio” into Natural science.

In our opinion, this gives children confidence when they have to leave Primary and start ESO, because they don’t have to start many new subjects.

Article 122

• A new article has been included about new technologies and the different uses that should be given to them in the classes.

Article 143

• The general results will be put in common between all the centres without personal details, just to compare and know what they should improve.

This can be a great advantage, because teachers can compare methodologies  and know what they can do to get better results.

2. - What disadvantages does the LOMCE have with respect to the LOE regarding the organisation and functioning of education?

In LOMCE there are some aspects that could be a disadvantage:

Article 6

• When they speak about curriculum, they don’t include objectives as a part of it.

We think that this is a disadvantage, because the objectives that teachers and students have should help them to have a goal. Without these students won’t have a clear goal and won’t know what they would like to do or be in the future. Furthermore, they won’t be motivated to achieve said goal.

Article 18

• Religion is compulsory in Primary and Secondary school or you can choose Ethical Values instead.

From our point of view, including Religion as a compulsory subject is forcing students to take another one if they don’t really want to do Religion, so they end up having an extra subject.

This didn’t happen in LOE because religion wasn’t compulsory.

Article 24

• Music has been eliminated from the first year of ESO.

In our opinion, removing this subject could be a disadvantage for children as they wouldn’t be able to express their creativity and feelings. The theoretical subjects are important but we think that subjects like Music and Art are also very important.

We have found a lot more advantages than disadvantages in LOMCE compared to LOE. This shows that LOMCE is a law based on the previous one, that has improved the worst aspects of the other one.

3. - Do you consider that the LOE and the LOMCE are influenced by previous laws? Which?

Since 1970, education in Spain has been changing, we can see it through the different educational laws that have been established during these years. Therefore, LOE and LOMCE have influences by other previous laws.

LOE is influenced by the Moyano Law and the General Law of Education of 1970 by its form of structure. The structure of the Moyano Law was divided into elementary, secondary, and higher education; and the General Law into preschool, general basic education, middle school and university education. LOE is similar to both of these previous laws because its educational structure is very alike.

LOE is based on the Organic Law when it comes to the Right to Education of 1985. The reasons is that LODE wants to guarantee the right to education for everyone, achieving a basic, compulsory and free education without any kind of discrimination. Moreover, LODE regulates the participation of the educational community and controls the performance of public centres and the maintenance of state-subsidised private centres.

In 1990 LOGSE appears. This law influences the LOE due to its free and compulsory education from 6 to 16 years. It also includes the extension of complementary services like transport or gastronomic services.

LOMCE is a modification of the previous law, LOE; therefore all the influences named above, also influence the LOMCE.

4. - What improvements could be made to the current educational system?

The laws of LOE and LOMCE make it possible for students to study during the whole academic year. There are different aspects that can be improved but it’s currently difficult to change LOE and LOMCE as there isn’t a fixed government to make it possible. The improvements that we believe are necessary are the following: During the academic year of Secondary Education, there are many subjects such as maths, biology, chemistry and physics. These subjects are put across to the students as being more academically important than others such as, music, history or different languages, such as french or english. We believe that every subject should be given the same importance as any other meaning they would be given an opportunity to improve on every subject equally.  If we were able to change a part of the actual law, we would extend Secondary Education by an extra year, in other words, it would now be a course of 5 years instead of 4. The reason we would like to do this is so that the content of the subjects will be divided by an extra year so that students find it a little easier to pass the course without losing any academic content. As it would then be easier to pass, we believe it is only fair that students should only be allowed to repeat once instead of twice.