“Here every child has their ability and their place”.
To reach Madrigueras you pass through miles vineyards, fields of almond and olive trees. Leaving behind rows of the low compact houses typical of La Mancha. You would not expect that in this town of 4.650 inhabitants, situated 30 kilometres from Albacete, inside the red brick walls of Instituto Público Río Jócar there is an innovative educational laboratory. The teachers are the key, at 11:30 one Thursday in October, eight of them are sitting around the Head’s desk preparing a group reading of Don Juan Tenorio, a 19th Century work. They decided to use the text as a way of approaching the feelings of adolescents about themes such sexual equality.
In Castilla-La Mancha the school is known for its original system of organisation, based on groups of teachers of different subjects which develop interdisciplinary projects and implanted more efficient teaching methods years before the new Education Law. Participating in these groups is voluntary, but 85% teachers have joined them.
The centre’s popularity means that every year many educators visit it attracted by the less traditional system that tries to achieve success for every pupil. It is one of 3.657 centres that participate in Proa+, a programme to improve educational achievement that has been re-established after a decade, when the PP Government stopped it, even though it was successful.
Proa+ has a budget of 120 million euros per year, each school deciding how to invest the money within the general objectives of improving the pupils’ achievement and supporting them. In 32% schools the money is used for after school classes, typically in Maths and Language.
Other formulas have been developed, with programmes working with the students’ families, improving the libraries and opening them to the local population, individual classes for pupils that need them or personal development for teachers who require them. For the first time in the centre between 20% & 30% of the staff change one course for another because grants are available.
Proa+ targets schools with complex problems, such as socially deprived students or pupils geographically dispersed. Río Júcar belongs to the second group, it attempts to improve the pupils’ social and emotional conditions through a “Social Education Teacher” in the Vocational Orientation Department. Firstly, the students’ psychological condition is monitored and the links with Health services are improved.
Alicia Magan, Social Education Teacher, explains that the pandemia had brought an increase in anxiety, self-harming and suicidal thoughts.
Since then they have developed activities, such as dance, table tennis, cooking, etc.) during the holidays, as well as ensuring that the nursery pupils meet with other children from their town. In Río Jocar Institute this involves around 500 students from the seven municipalities of the La Machuela region.
El Pais – Educacion
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