More efficiency, less teaching load and more well-being in the next school year in the Canary Islands

The Ministry of Education, Vocational Training, Physical Activity and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands will seek, for the next school year 2024/2025, greater efficiency in schools, less teaching load for management teams and improve the well-being of students.

This is clear from the joint resolution of the Vice-Ministries of Education and Vocational Training and Professional Qualifications, which dictates the instructions for the organization and operation of the school year that is about to begin in the non-university education centers of the Canary Islands and which was announced this Wednesday in a statement.

In this way, the management teams of the educational centers of the islands will be able, in the 2024/2025 academic year, to "further alleviate their teaching load to dedicate more time to carrying out the functions of their positions", according to this Education resolution.

The measure responds to the results of the consultation raised in November with teachers, as well as the numerous meetings held in recent months, which revealed that one of their biggest problems in the management of the centers was the bureaucratic burden, so it was necessary to adopt measures to facilitate that work, Education has stated.

Another of the objectives set by the Ministry for the next school year is the improvement of the climate and interpersonal relationships and, to this end, it will reinforce school coexistence and improve assistance in conflict resolution, managing the anti-harassment protocol more effectively.

The educational community also demanded an increase in the weekly hours that the coordinating person for the well-being and protection of students can dedicate to their task, a request that Education has listened to, which has also announced that from the next course all educational centers in the archipelago will have a coordinator for equality and another for natural, social and cultural heritage of the Canary Islands.

Among the novelties included in the instructions, Education has highlighted, is the consolidation of digitalization processes to facilitate teaching management tasks, in such a way that evaluation sessions can be carried out remotely, with the exception of the last one, which will be mandatory in person.

To improve the functioning of educational centers, aspects such as data protection, communication with the educational community and other agents, and information security are regulated.

Regarding Vocational Training, and given that the implementation of the new dual modality establishes that the hours of practice in the company are equal to those of teaching throughout the course, the resolution includes the elimination of the weighted schedules of FP teachers, reducing the number of teaching hours in specific periods of time.

In addition, autonomy in the management and decision-making of the centers themselves is strengthened to configure the staff of their teachers according to their needs and expectations, the Ministry added.

In this case, the centers will have to create three hourly pools: firstly, for the coordination of functions and own projects; secondly, for the prospecting of existing professional families, and, finally, for the implementation and monitoring of Dual FP.