Dear colleague,
From my modest position, a retired teacher a few months ago, after 38 years of intense service to the educational community, in our beloved public school, participating in the development of innovative projects, in schools that developed comprehensive, transformative, digital educational models, in complicity with families... I dare to address this letter to you as the highest authority of the Ministry of Education of the Government of the Canary Islands.
I must begin by expressing my agreement with the messages you convey in the letter you sent to the educational communities on March 20, among which I highlight "All this will pass and we will return to normal being better people and having realized how important care and responsibility are" and "We cannot expect the same performance from students when their conditions and circumstances are diminished by this situation." But this approach contradicts the instructions issued to teachers by your Departments, which speak of maintaining "educational continuity," with the consequent pressure that these messages produce on teachers and families. I am sure that these instructions have been taken after deep deliberation, as the teachers and families of the Canary Islands deserve, who have been confined to their homes, from today to tomorrow, in a situation of uncertainty that has become dramatic for many people. But, perhaps, you have lacked "testing" the reality "on the ground" of our centers and our families. With humility, I share some reflections:
First reflection, the truly important thing is the care of people.
We have been in a state of alarm, of confinement, for just over a week. The situations of the Canarian families are very diverse, but many have been worsening. I remind you that according to the latest Report on Exclusion and Social Development in the Archipelago prepared by the Foessa Foundation and published by Cáritas (2019), 29% of the population in 2018 was in a situation of social exclusion, which implies almost three out of ten people, and 30.8% were in a state of precarious integration, 20.1% of the Canarian population could not afford the costs of housing and 23% had to reduce the expenses of water, electricity and Internet. Thousands of large families live crowded in small apartments, where adults, children, adolescents, elderly, dependents live together, forced to share that space 24 hours a day. Many have lost their jobs, or their business, others are forced to continue working, returning home exhausted and with the fear of transmitting the virus to their family, or they telework, have children abroad, sick relatives, or elderly people in Residences? In the best of cases, all families (including those of teachers) have had to adapt, quickly and without prior notice, to a real change in our routines, which has generated significant doses of anxiety in the face of an unprecedented exceptional situation, the collective situation of greatest stress and concern that we have experienced in many years.
Can you imagine the state of nervousness and anguish that thousands of Canarian families are experiencing, who will have to remain locked in a house for at least 30 days in these circumstances while the authorities of the Ministry of Education tell them to maintain the routines, the school schedule and the situation of normality?
At this time we cannot be one hundred percent in the work, in the household chores, in the care of our sons and daughters, in the attention to their school tasks... The pace of life is different, we cannot pretend to do the same as before the alarm for the coronavirus, because the situation of labor, health and social stress prevents us from doing so. Abnormality prevails.
These days we have appreciated what is truly essential, what cannot be stopped and who does it. We refer to the care of minors, the elderly, people with functional diversity, the care of people. Telework, digital education, cannot be generalized, nor can it be applied assuming that it will always be compatible with the care of people. Is the Ministry of Education aware that it is about working and/or guiding in the study in a house, having to reconcile time, effort and energy, while the creatures or other dependent people play, ask for food, demand attention and care? On this occasion it is becoming evident how it is assumed that the productive system can and should continue on a basis of care work that is invisible. It seems that there is someone "invisible" who takes care of them, but the truth is that they are the same people who are being asked for "normality" in educational tasks, either as teachers or as parents, reminding them that "they are not on vacation", who perform both tasks. Will it be possible to sustain this level of activity for three more hard weeks, without affecting their physical and mental strength, the one that the Canarian president insists must be maintained?
Second reflection. The transition from a face-to-face education system to a digital school cannot be instantaneous.
The teachers, when the state of alarm was declared, had to adapt in a few hours, "theoretically" converting face-to-face teaching into virtual teaching, revealing the enormous shortcomings of digital education in the Canary Islands, and in the Spanish State. Without transition, we have supposedly become a distance education system. Its application, in these circumstances, has shown the deep commitment of teachers to their educational work, but it has mainly materialized in sending a set of homework to students to do at home, which is supposed to ensure the "continuity of learning." Many centers and teachers have had to resort hastily to platforms and services that they had used only in a complementary, superficial or limited way, others used email or whatsapp, without really knowing what resources many students and their families had, while in many homes the tasks have been received without means, with ignorance and with growing tension.
I am sure that you will agree with me that the current crisis cannot affect, as always, the weakest links in the chain, which in this case are the most disadvantaged students and families. It is not only about dictating measures of confinement, closure of premises and activities, or telework and virtual teaching, as is the case at hand. Co-responsibility must be combined with a package of measures that is consistent with the gravity of the moment, with the awareness of previous vulnerability and precariousness and with future scenarios.
In this sense, we must be aware that the transition from a face-to-face education system to a digital school does not consist of sending by mail the activities planned to be carried out in class to be done, without further ado, at home. Neither the teachers are present in the homes of their students, nor the families can replace their function, nor the school schedule is sustainable at home, nor all homes have the necessary spaces and resources (computers, tablets, internet, etc.), or simply the use of virtual teaching cannot be learned at a distance and from today to tomorrow.
I consider, and I make the proposal for your reflection, that the approach should be to recover, as in all public services, common sense and develop the essence of the teaching work of teachers, as a social agent, in the face of the unexpected situation of exceptionality.
Third reflection. Let's prioritize, please, humanity and care.
The Ministry of Education must be sensitive to the painful reality we are living. A school, which has necessarily had to organize itself urgently in a virtual and electronic way, must be aware of the situation from which it starts and promote the best of the professional and human skills of teachers, becoming an authentic space of hope and care in times of uncertainty. Being equity one of the priority principles of the Ministry of Education, its managers must pay special attention to ensure that the digital divide does not become a factor of inequality in the education of students. It does not matter if the children and young people of this country spend three weeks sharing household chores, talking with the family, reading, painting, listening to music, dancing, cooking and eating healthily, maintaining proper hygiene, playing, doing some physical exercise as a family, talking with friends, and doing some educational task to reinforce what has been worked on in school, in connection with their teachers by the means they have at their disposal. When this situation ends, "normality" will be resumed, as in all areas of our society. Now we must contribute to families, including those of teachers, living this exceptional situation with tranquility. Let it be noted that behind the bureaucracy that has often catapulted the educational system there are people who, in moments like the present, prioritize shared care.
Many children, impressed by the empty streets of their towns and cities, ask their families every night if there is school the next day, and day by day with the concern drawn on the faces of their families, increase their concern and anguish. The situation is very complicated and academic activity should be a window of tranquility, brotherhood and hope. The communication channels available to teachers and families of each school in the Canary Islands should serve to send information or resolve academic doubts, but also for something much more important at this time: to transmit tranquility to students, to make them see that life goes on, giving them encouragement and strength. And, above all, to thank the families of each center for the collaboration they are providing and to promote their union in a common task: To continue our lives, making the pause that this virus has forced us to make, but determined that we will overcome adversity from the responsibility of all, from the response of collective support and care, each person in their role, but all united from solidarity and common sense. It is about avoiding a state of general shock.
Finally, let us trust that together with the negative data of the coronavirus infection, together with the confinement, the fear, the empty streets, the paralysis, the obligation to stop has made us aware of our vulnerability and the importance of taking care of ourselves and taking care of other people and our Planet. And that, our gaze that little by little is finding a Planet that thanks us for this respite and begins to return cleaner waters and bluer skies, people who look at their neighbors, talk to them, worry about whether they need something, sing together, join in applause for those who are on the front line, watching over us... and even governments that talk and make decisions to meet the needs of people; when we go out into the street it becomes a demand for a change of model, of budgets that put at their center what is important, the needs of people, the guarantee of the rights and freedoms of citizens, including the right to a quality public education.
Mary C. Bolaños Espinosa. Harimaguada Collective
