In the Basque Country, there is no commitment to Philosophy

Until now, the Spanish Law of Philosophy as an optional subject in secondary school was compulsory and obligatory in the first of Bachillerato. Now the optional disappears and it will be compulsory in the first and second years of Baccalaureate, but it must be remembered that not all pupils reach Baccalaureate.

If the Community Administration so decides, it is possible that among the optional options there will be Philosophy, but in Hego Euskal Herria there does not seem to be any intention to do so, as explained by Professor of Philosophy, Iñigo Martínez Peña: “The law leaves the loopholes for each community to make the adaptations if it wants and there are some who wager on Philosophy, but in Hego Euskal Herria it is not. On the other hand, in the student’s educational trajectory Philosophy does not exist and suddenly appears in the Baccalaureate, as a parachutist and for a few, it has been isolated”.

Martínez Peña hoped that the Government of Spain would accommodate Philosophy in the new design of the law, “and somehow pressure the governments of Hego Euskal Herria to do the same”, but Madrid has not taken that direction.

The professor himself answered why it is important to give philosophy in school: “The philosophy is that we do not know the whole motor between the recognition and the hunger we have to know, something characteristic of people. Sharing our questions, gaps, and weaknesses in philosophical dialogue has an interesting political value, because otherwise, as we see today, only experts and economic managers speak, as if they were the owners of knowledge. Socrates said that the word of whoever is in favour of power must be called into question and says that knowledge is in his hands.”

New subjects and five branches in Baccalaureate

The offer of Religion by the centers will be mandatory, even if it is an optional subject for the students.

The rest of the amendments can be summarised in two. In high school there will be new subjects (Technology and Digitization, Training and Personal and Professional Orientation...). In the Baccalaureate, instead of the current three branches (Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences and Arts), students will be able to choose from five branches: Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, Plastic Arts, Musical and Performing Arts, and General Baccalaureate, which will include the humanistic and scientific areas.

The law proposed by the Spanish Government has already reached the regional governments to start the contrast, but the last word is Madrid. Changes are to be launched at the beginning of the next course.