On time education

Over the past few decades in Catalonia, there has been much debate surrounding school hours in many areas of the educational community. Some of these discussions are included in documents such as In support of school hours: pedagogically positive, professionally reasonable and socially satisfactory, compiled by the MUCE (Marc Unitari de la Comunitat Educativa) in 1993, or the reports from the CEC (Consell Escolar de Catalunya) on the school calendar and working day (2002 and 2009). In recent years, however, the debate over school hours has been heavily conditioned by the struggle to uphold the traditional timetable with a lunch break in the middle, or establishing a continuous morning schedule, with the start and end time of classes and the location of the lunch break as the main point of contention. It is a choice that all too often overlooks the existence of other possible options.

With the aim of helping to renew the debate on the school timetable, the Fundació Jaume Bofill and the Federació de Moviments de Renovació Pedagògica have compiled a document with proposals to define a new horizon of school hours for the country, reflecting the educational and social challenges of today.

The document aims to make a valuable contribution to configuring an equitable and quality school timetable, within the framework of educational transformation, following the advances that have been made in other parts of Spain (such as Aragon) and in neighbouring countries (Portugal, Germany and Denmark, among others).

The project provides criteria for defining new school timetables in order to achieve comprehensive education, equality and the well-being of children and adolescents, while trying to adjust to the needs of families and providing an opportunity for improvement for teachers and educators. An updated model, which is flexible and adapts to educational, social and territorial realities.

The proposals are intended for the entire education system, from the second stage of nursery school to the end of Compulsory Secondary Education, including primary schools, secondary schools and colleges. Given the territorial nature of the proposal, we also present some governance criteria for the model.

https://fundaciobofill.cat/els-futurs-de-l-educacio