The first term of the course has already been completed and Rocío Giraldo, coordinator in Huelva of the Association of Directors of the Andalusian Institute (Adián) and director of the IES Fuentepiña in the Huelva capital, takes stock of the first part of a course deeply conditioned by the pandemic.
–Once the end of a very feared first quarter due to the risk of the pandemic, is the implementation of the new measures going better than expected?
– Overall yes, from all sectors. There was a lot of fear and, above all, a lot of uncertainty, although the management teams spent the whole summer organizing the new course. We had to prepare many things, for example the adaptation of spaces – for which a budget line arrived. In addition, the Covid protocol had to be drawn up, subsequently endorsed and approved. With the go-ahead, it should be practically ready in September at the IES for the extraordinary tests and the completion of the course planning. We did not know if it was going to be effective once all the students, teachers and staff working in the center had been incorporated. It was something new and there was fear despite the hard work, resources, and commitment. The associations involved in education recognize and value the effectiveness of the protocol as positive. Obviously, it has been the result of the effort and commitment of all members of the educational community to continue the presence. This protocol is very complete and worked, the recommendations of the Ministry of Health have been collected, and each educational center has been contextualized. Thanks to all this we have arrived in quite positive conditions. The general incidence of infections has been very low and the vast majority have occurred outside of them. In few centers a complete classroom has been closed.
– What are the main difficulties that students transmit to comply with the new norms?
– The students in general have responded. At IES Fuentepiña there are students from 1st year of ESO, aged twelve, to adult students, and as a whole I want to acknowledge that they have complied with the rules quite well. Circulation is very difficult, perhaps, we have established lanes for each direction and accesses or exits have been respected. Some go back and forth together to the center but that has not meant a greater transmission.
–How has the older students of the center responded?
–We have a lot of students of legal age, of higher cycles and even middle grade, 17 and 18, from the capital and from other municipalities in the province. They have notified through their tutors or through the center not only in case of contagion, because that information would come through Epidemiology as well, but they have also been confined as prevention and have always warned us. In these cases, an attempt has always been made to maintain contact with the educational teams so that they keep track of the classes.
– In the current situation, who do you consider that a greater commitment is required?
– Perhaps at the beginning, before starting the course, there was a certain mobilization of directors at the Andalusian level. It was not very clear the degree of responsibility that we would have in the event of a possible contagion even with all the measures implemented. But a management team has an intrinsic responsibility and the teachers have made a great effort, they have had to accept all the rules, work with a mask and maintain that constancy in compliance with the rules. Later, the Ministry stated that the responsibility for contagion, if all the measures have been put in place, cannot fall on an individual level with the management. As the evolution has subsequently been positive, that has reassured us.
–Where do you see the greatest risk of contagion, inside or outside the educational centers?
– I am the Covid coordinator of my center and in it the incidence has been very low. The infections have all occurred outside, in the family, in the social sphere … I think that is where we do not have a protocol, in areas of comfort such as family or closest friends, in those possible encounters in which one tends to relax with the mask and in closed spaces without ventilation, where infections have mainly occurred. In the centers, with the protocols we have, contagion is very difficult. The data are giving us the reason and indicate that they work.
“The positives have occurred outside the centers, in areas of comfort where there is no protocol”
– What degree of awareness do families have?
–They have acted in a very responsible way because they have immediately communicated the results of the tests. In some cases, even before the liaison nurse, who runs many centers and cannot have that immediacy or the same time availability. In general, the level of awareness is quite high, they have taken us into account to facilitate the tracking and determine possible close contacts within the center. They are obviously concerned about health, it is a year in which education and training have had to be looked at, of course, but for health as a priority.
– Do you consider the extraordinary endowment of personal and material resources sufficient for this course?
– From the management we value the extraordinary endowment very positively. I understand that these are extraordinary economic items of the Ministry and we must highlight, for example, the reinforcement of cleaning. In the IES, the students of the first years attend the classes in person on a compulsory basis and the Covid reinforcement of the teachers – the number of extra teachers has been proportional to the units of each center – has allowed the unfolding of classrooms, classes, and thus lower the ratio. But this is a permanent demand from the management and the association and in this line we continue to believe that the ratio should be lowered. Not only because of the sanitary conditions, but also because they guarantee interpersonal distance. Furthermore, this increase in teachers improves the attention and learning process of each student and their educational needs. Where there are many students it is very difficult to attend in an hour.
– Has communication been fluid with Education?
– In Huelva it has always been good. This year is special, but generally we hold a quarterly meeting with the delegate and with the heads of service to raise our problems at the provincial level and they really always take good care of us. There are matters that are in the hands of the Delegation and others depend on the Council. At the regional level, meetings have also been held. Lately, I don’t know if, due to the current circumstances, less is done, but almost everything is done less. In Adián we are going to request a new meeting between the president and the counselor. But in Huelva there is a lot of accessibility, not only with the current delegate, but also with the previous one. In other provinces this is not the case, but here we value that attention. Sometimes you can give us an answer, sometimes not, possibly because it is not in your hands directly.
– In this case it is different because we do not have a direct meeting. There is an Education and Health commission to which its members will bring the feelings of the Covid coordinators or the directorates, but it is not a meeting in which the directors are represented. Our direct contact is with the liaison nurses, with whom there is a high level of satisfaction, these health workers in turn are in contact with Epidemiology. The center goes to the liaison nurse, to her we send the information on possible close contacts and she is in charge of calling the families and the students to give the result. Afterwards, he stays in communication with members of the educational community. Our work in the center is directly with the utility and then follows another path.
“The reinforcement of the Covid teaching staff has allowed the ratio to be lowered, a permanent demand”
–How is the flexibility of schedules allowed from the last courses of ESO being developed?
–On September 3, the Ministry distributed a circular for this course that allows curricular flexibility through three models. Each cloister, depending on the characteristics of its center, has chosen one. At IES Fuentepiña we implement blended learning from 3rd year of ESO, although some training cycle maintains the face-to-face model by number of students and also 2nd year of Baccalaureate, a course that is the end of the stage and whose students must face the PEvAU. The blended model works but maintaining a work rhythm from home is very complicated, with the added difficulty of completing the syllabus. We have been on alternate days in groups and the teachers have made a great effort to make the most of the time that the students are there, in addition to monitoring the tasks on the platforms. On the part of the student, he has the commitment to organize himself almost as if he were in person at the center. At an age that makes it difficult. It is a reviewable model and at the moment we are doing well, there have been practically no infections and we have been able to regain presence. The greatest difficulty is in the vulnerable students, since it requires their maturity and responsibility and a family that has to support a lot, they have to be vigilant.
– Are current means sufficient to alleviate the digital divide?
– More means will be needed. We have received computers for teachers and a few weeks ago we were asked for information on students affected by the digital divide through a questionnaire in Seneca that has already been completed. The arrival of material for them has been announced and we hope that it does indeed arrive. In addition, the centers have some tablets that we must distribute establishing priorities because there are not for everyone.
– One of the demands of the management teams to the Ministry of Education was that of a clearer normative regulation, on what specific aspects?
–Especially in relation to the flexibilization of schedules because in the writing the model is not very clear, which is new and exceptional in this course. A more unitary criterion is requested and perhaps the writing was hasty because it is from September 3.
“We need a pact for education and stability, that is not achieved with laws that change so much”
–In addition to all the instructions that had already been given previously …
–We have had instructions from June and July with which we work and when we already had the course moderately organized, the circular arrived on September 3 and we had to review those models, approve them with their organizational consequences … Perhaps it was a bit hasty and there is no very clear.
– What do you think about us going for the eighth educational law and that they are approved without consensus?
– Anyone understands that an organic law that affects a fundamental right such as education, so, so essential for any country and any society, should always have consensus. And also a forecast for the future, because what path will it have, which will happen in four years. You can’t work like that because we have eight. We need a pact and stability to work and see results and implement improvements and that is not achieved in laws that are changing so much.
