The CAV's preliminary draft law on education has provoked demonstrations and two days of strike. Kuriously, the first draft of the preliminary draft drafted by the Department of Education of the Basque Government is based on the educational agreement and all the signatories state that this text needs changes. In short, there is still a way to the adoption of the final law – see chronology step by step at the end of this report.

In the words of the majority of the parties involved in the agreement, the preliminary draft is too diffuse, there has been a emptying of the contents of the agreement to the preliminary draft, and the law must include in more detail the points agreed in the agreement, in particular the requirements for access to the Basque educational service, the measures to deal with segregation, the steps to decentralise education – and to give more prominence to municipalities – and the measures to focus the school.

The text presented by the Basque Government is too flexible, because an open law has been sought, the framework is laid down, and then, at least theoretically, the agreements are to be developed by decree and ordination. In the words of Leixuri Arrizabalaga, of the PNV, for the law to have a long life – it is easier to change decrees and orders than the law – and “for example, if any party that has not signed the agreement never gets the education department to change the law”. The other members who participated in the agreement (EH Bildu, PSE, IU-Elkarrekin Podemos) see this very differently: “A law will not reach the level of concretion of a decree, but it needs sufficient precision to set and guarantee the direction agreed in the agreement, but the direction will be subject to the management of the corresponding Department of Education. Nuclear and core things defined in the agreement must be well defined in the law.”

Despite the good definition of contents and measures, various agents of the educational community, such as the Association of Parents EHIGE and the Euskal Eskola Publikoa Harro platform, have expressed their concern: many of the points agreed in the agreement are already included in the current regulations, but are not complied with. We ask politicians whether the executive mechanism should not take the laws either. “Now there are also mechanisms, but they are not used, as we have seen, for example, with the payment of quotas. Despite everything, we have agreed on mechanisms in the agreement and yes, they must be included in the law and in the decrees, but then we must have the political will to ensure that they are complied with – says Iñigo Martinez Zaton (IU-Elkarrekin Podemos). This is precisely what gives rise to a lack of confidence in this law, because we are increasingly hearing more news that shows us that there is no political will.” It also stresses the importance of collecting corrective mechanisms (EH Bildu): “The mechanism for monitoring compliance with the centre’s obligations may be, for example, the creation of a special inspection service, but others, public audits, etc. may also be agreed.”

How will the Basque educational service affect practice?

One of the pillars of the law and one of the main sources of conflict is the so-called Basque educational service (any centre responding to a series of obligations, both public and concerted, will receive 100% public funding). With a view to the leap from the preliminary draft to the law, one thing is certain: obligations will become more concrete in the text, responding to what all the parties are calling for. Leixuri Arrizabalaga (PNV) told us that “it is true that the obligations that the centers must guarantee to be in the service of Basque education have not been expressly included in the first draft and has generated mistrust, but I am sure they will be collected”.

Even if these obligations are fulfilled, it is difficult to believe that any center that decides to integrate into this service will remain in practice outside; is it not a hostel that includes the concerted network? “Yes, it is hard to believe that someone will be left out, especially in view of the demands, these are not difficult requirements to meet, if there is a will,” the representative of the PNV replied. The EH representative Bildu understands the concept differently: “The conditions that must be fulfilled for the provision of the service must be well defined and to do so a planning must be designed to be part of this service at the progressive level of the center, because right now, if we analyze all the requirements to be part of the service, I dare say that few centers meet all these requirements 100%. Therefore, we will do so progressively, providing the necessary means.” Also for the representative of the PSE, that a school centre is part of the service cannot be considered to be completed, it should be something to achieve: “In reaching an agreement, we in the PSE did not feel very satisfied with this concept, because we understand that at the end of the day the public network is equipped with the concerted network, and we can see this service as a destination, establish obligations, ensure that they are fulfilled and, if so, be part of this service, but we do not see it as a starting point, because in the preliminary draft it seems that all the concerted are part of the social service and are centres of interest.

The representative of IU-Elkarrekin We wanted to clarify that with the educational service no new formulas have been created, that the LOMLOE is included in Spanish law and that what is included in it has been done only to insert, and that does not equip networks: “There are public schools and there are centers that offer this service, because the public school does not reach everything. For us they are not the same and the priority must be the public school.” So we asked him, is the distribution of the two networks not over? “No, but if we implement measures of agreement, we will have measures to gradually strengthen public schools, and that is our goal.”

“We like to talk about the Basque public education service, add the public and highlight it, because the service will be public,” says the representative of the PNV. For EH Bildu, on the contrary, “in the future this public service would be created, which for our part would have a shared ownership (by legal institutionalization), but in this initial situation, in which there are centers of different ownership and those qualifications are maintained, who are going to participate in the service and what are the requirements they must meet, it seems dangerous to call public. It is one thing to give public service, and on that we agree, but putting those names into service is not the best.”

Several educational agents have emphasized the publication of the centres, and also the demands for strikes called for by the unions, have called for forceful publication processes for private ownership centres to be integrated into the public network. In the preliminary draft, this option appears briefly as an additional provision. The signatories to the agreement tell us that the door is open to the integration of the agreed centres into the public network and that it is a voluntary decision of the centre. “We believe it is OK where it appears in the preliminary draft, because the purpose of this law is not to publish the centers of the system, but there is possibility,” says the representative of the PNV.

What is the strengthening of the public school?

The public network is recognized by all parties as a protagonist, but to what extent will it be reflected in the law? It is not clear whether the question of investment and infrastructure should be covered by law or developed at other tables and standards. Leixuri Arrizabalaga of the PNV recalled that “and this is not said by the unions, that last May they agreed with the Department of Education a very important agreement: more resources have been put, more professionals in the service of the public”. For Ikoitz Arrese of EH Bildu, “regardless of whether the laws are received, it is clear that the Basque public school is at a disadvantage in terms of infrastructure and that it needs a sound investment and infrastructure plan.”

IU-Elkarrekin Podemos and the PSE have focused on planning, measures to ensure and increase public places. “The very specific measure we put forward in the agreement is, for example, that the supply of seats does not depend on demand, that the market logic is broken,” explains Iñigo Martínez Zaton. The law must ensure that in all peoples there is at least one public school (at the moment it is not guaranteed) and that in urban centres there is a growing public school, because in Bilbao, for example, we already have more concerted than public schools. And this is key, when demography is going down: in the concerted, the ratios have gone down (that is, they will be allowed to keep classrooms open with fewer students), while in the same locality public centers have not covered places. It makes no sense to lower the ratios to the concerted than to the public.” “There can be no lack of viability (closure) of some schools that may lead to a drop in birth rate,” adds Alfredo Retortillo.

A generalized immersion model yes or no?

It is a demand for returning agents from both Basque education and culture: to implement a generalized model of linguistic immersion in all centers in front of the current models A, B and D, and that the Basque language is the only vehicular language. Well, speaking to each other, we can say that surely neither will be laws.

The “multilingual Euskera-centered system” is the model that gathers agreements and laws, not the immersion model or the generalized model D. “It’s important for us to keep what we have, not go further and try to go further,” says Leixuri Arrizabalaga. According to Ikoitz Arrese, “asking students the exit profile B2 at the end of compulsory education is in practice to jump to a model of generalized teaching”. But is it not too flexible to make available to each center the linguistic project to reach that B2, taking into account the sociolinguistic context of the school? “We don’t interpret it as flexible, because all centers have to guarantee B2, and that will have to be justified by a concrete evaluation,” Arrese says. In order to ensure that the centres are genuinely moving towards this objective B2 – and in order to allocate more resources to a school with difficulties – continuous evaluation is perceived by all as something fundamental, but the preliminary draft is not contemplated and the politicians take a different view, is reflected in the law or then set out in rules; in the debate in the coming months it will be one of the points, the safest.

As for the flexibility of linguistic projects, according to the agreement, the vehicular language will preferably be the Basque language, but not the only vehicular language. Thus, although there is no document so far – although some have spread the opposite – that ordinary subjects will use a language other than Basque (the teaching of society or history in English, for example, as is already done in many centres), the law will leave open the door for the centre that decides to do so.

Parental segregation and freedom

The measures and criteria for balanced schooling will appear more and more in detail in the law than in the preliminary draft, which we can also envisage talking to the political parties. Not for nothing, segregation has been one of the main protagonists of recent years and also of this process, when we talk about education, but in the preliminary draft it does not delve so much into the agreement, rearguing that the issue will develop not in the law but in decrees, regulations, etc. To what extent can these measures be implemented in law? Ikoitz Arrese explains that the Catalan Law gives an important clue: “The Basque law must take measures to deal with segregation, at least those contained in the Catalan law.”

Solutions to tackle segregation have been repeated on many occasions, but under the law “it is up to parents to exercise the right to free choice of centre”, and politicians have been asked whether planning for a balanced education is in line with this principle. “The right to choose parents has always existed and will continue to exist, we have always defended it and the Basque society recognizes it – Leixuri Arrizabalaga has claimed – but another factor that comes into play is segregation, which can cause the percentage of the first choice parents have made to register their child to be reduced to what they had as a second option. Today it also happens.” On parental freedom and balanced schooling, Iñigo Martínez Zaton stresses the importance of local schools: “There the children should be enrolled, not directly in the schools, and they would distribute the students from those offices. The agreement gathers these offices, but the key is how it is done, whether they are only going to be information and advisory offices, or whether they are going to have more powers.” Alfredo Retortillo considers that the right of parents to choose the center is not always well understood: “In any case, this right cannot condition the planning of the administration, for example the reservation of public places”.

Will hours of religion be limited?

The agreement was clear: The LOMLOE forces the educational centers to offer the subject of Religion, and the minimum number of hours devoted to this subject the signatories established as the maximum number of hours of Religion to be part of the Basque educational service. However, this limitation is not observed in the preliminary draft, and several agents have requested a better definition of what is laicism, understanding that it appears in the text in a rather diffuse way. The preliminary draft says that indoctrination is forbidden, but reading the text, a center can be secular and Christian at the same time: it asks “to develop an educational model based on secularism, respecting the proper character of private concerted centers”. We must not forget that the Christian nature of a significant proportion of these private concerted centres.

Going back to what was agreed, IU-Elkarrekin Podemos and EH Bildu are going to demand that the law regain the limit of hours of Religion for the PSE “is not the issue that concerns us the most”, and the PNV believes that, now not in the law, “then they would be issues that need to be developed in regulations”. It seems that in the coming months this point will open a debate, especially given the forcefulness of Education Counselor Jokin Bildarratz when asked: “There has been no change here and there will be no change, all centers will be able to maintain their identity while respecting the student’s identity.”

On other points there is also salsa and debate. For example, taking into account the autonomy of the centers developed through program contracts, or educational decentralization. While the agreement attributed an important role to municipalities and municipal school councils, in order to bring education closer to the place, these functions and competences have been greatly flooded in the draft law, it will have to be seen what its final form is.

The interviewees also wanted to highlight the achievements of the agreement, such as the gratuitousness of the Consortium’s Haurreskolas – an ancestral demand that will become a reality from the 2023-2024 course – the transformation of segregation in the front line and the debate about the process of growth of the public school.

Does the law have social legitimacy?

Criticism, mobilizations, days of strike… The environment is very good and we ask them if the law will have enough legitimacy in the educational community. Everyone considers it essential that the law be supported by society and the agents, and they say that steps must be taken in this, inform the citizens well about each step, listen to the agents… In addition, Martínez Zaton added that the agreement reached by the parties in March was a minimal agreement, “it is not the educational proposal that we would do, but as a starting point we see it well”. And Arrizabalaga of the PNV asks for confidence: “There is mistrust and misinformation about the process. With the agreement the same happened at the beginning and for the end many agents showed their satisfaction with the result. Some appeared against, but some are always against, no matter what you do. And now we also have a first draft, the road is long and trusting, be participative, among all, to enrich the bill and reach the maximum possible consensus, because that is the goal. It is true that each agent defends its scope or its corner and will not be able to collect in this law everything for its corner, they have to leave a few things behind to reach an agreement among all, that is the basis of an agreement, and I think they should make an effort to do so, considering that the goal is very good for our society.”

 

CHRONOLOGY OF THE EDUCATION ACT

The Committee on Education of the Basque Parliament heard 100 hearings or presentations from agents of the educational community to collect their contributions. Subsequently, in late March 2022 an educational agreement was signed between PNV, PSE, EH Bildu and IU-Elkarrekin Podemos. 43 measures were agreed to define the educational policy to be developed by the Department of Education in the next twelve years. The final vote on the agreement was held in the Basque Parliament on 7 April.

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In the leap from the agreement to the law, the first step has been the draft bill prepared by the Department of Education on the basis of the agreement. In mid-September, the preliminary draft was publicly audited, opening the way for everyone who wishes to contribute: They have received contributions and allegations from 34 agents.

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The second draft wants to reach the governing council by the end of December, but it will surely not give time. As the first three weeks of January are unworkable months, it seems that by the end of January it will reach the governing council as a bill, and then it will reach the Basque Parliament in February.

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Coming to the Basque Parliament of the bill. In the first phase, the educational actors involved in the legislative paper on a proposal from the parties will contribute; in the second phase, each parliamentary group will make its amendments to the draft law, negotiate and discuss each amendment and vote on whether or not it goes ahead, the text will follow its course until the final law. The law can be approved between September and December 2023.

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At the same time, the meeting of the Commission to monitor the parties involved in the agreement will continue, with the aim of ensuring compliance with the agreement and contrasting the development of the agreed measures.

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When will the law apply? Education counselor Jokin Bildarratz has expressed his intention to apply it in the 2023-2024. However, in the rules, decrees, etc. We are already applying the spirit, according to the counselor.