Few surprises in the bill passed this Tuesday by the Governing Council. The main changes and points that have been made regarding the draft law that generated a great stir are:

Basque Public Educational Service

The law (and the Education Agreement signed by PNV, PSE, EH Bildu and IU-Elkarrekin Podemos) is based on the concept of public service: any centre responding to public and concerted obligations will receive 100% public funding. The Government worked on the preliminary draft, but these obligations were barely known, and that is what was widely criticised. On this occasion, the bill lists the principles that must be followed to be part of the public service: “Non-discrimination; transparency; lack of profit; attention to vulnerable students and the diversity of students; democratic participation of the sectors involved in formal education; commitment against segregation and commitment to inclusion, equity and equal opportunities; respect for the educational curriculum and the evaluation mechanisms established by the Basque Government;

It seems that the centres should progressively comply with these principles. It remains to be seen how they understand these obligations, what criteria and how they are to be measured, and what the political will is to fulfil them.

Segregation and balanced schooling

The scarce dimension of the preliminary project to deal with student segregation was also a source of criticism. The new text contains a number of measures that we have already seen in the registration process for the next year (and which have raised powders): for example, that schools reserve a certain number of places for the most vulnerable students (for those with special needs, for those with a delay in language, for those who are late in the education system, for those with a difficult social situation…) and indications about the vulnerability rate.

With a view to balanced schooling, they have added a significant phrase that was not in the draft: “Oversupply and undercover will be avoided”, and, as was done in the previous text, the bill confirms the mechanisms for ensuring balanced schooling and the commitment to guarantee public places. The key is how these guarantees materialise. Because in the registration process we have recently seen, for example, that the existence of a public center has been guaranteed in each area of influence, but, as several agents have denounced, they have done so by expanding the scope of influence (and therefore, in their municipality not, in their neighbor can adapt the public square, arguing that the neighboring locality is within the area of influence).

Also noteworthy is the deletion of the draft to the final text of the phrase “It is for parents or legal guardians to exercise the right to free choice of centre within the available educational offer”. The bill talks about freedom of choice of centre, but it loses its role in the previous text.

Religion and secularity

One of the principles that all the centers of the Basque Public Educational Service (i.e., providing them with 100% public money) must comply with is that the center has to be secular, but we are aware of the weight of the Christian School in the CAV, and in the initial draft special attention was paid to two issues: on the one hand, it was required “to develop an educational model based on secularism, respecting the very specific phrase of the private schools”. Now, this second part (“respecting the proper character of concerted private centres”) disappears (although there is another point that the centres will act “without giving up their own character”) and the law defends secularism and indoctrination; it is a mere mention and does not delve into what is understood behind this secularism.

On the other hand, the Educational Agreement established a limit for the subject of Religion, since the Spanish law obliges to offer the subject of Religion, so it was agreed that the minimum number of hours established by Spain is the maximum of hours available in the CAPV. Well, the initial text did not limit the subject of Religion. In this second, however, the agreement recovers: “In the subject of Religion, the minimum established by the basic legislation will be the maximum that the centers can offer”.

Euskaldunisation

As expected, and despite the fact that the amendments and arguments presented by various actors called for the overcoming of current models A, B and D and the establishment of a model of widespread immersion in all centres, it has not been included in the bill. The model outlined in both the Agreement and the preliminary draft is maintained: “Multilingual system focused on Euskera”. Compulsory education students must complete the B2 level in Basque, for which each institution will decide its linguistic project according to its context. The Administration commits itself to the evaluation and monitoring of each linguistic project of the centres.

It is not specified that the Basque language is the only vehicle language, which is also of concern in the field of Basque culture, the number of hours to be taught in Basque and the number of other languages. The Council of Euskalgintza has made its request immediately: “The document does not specify how to interpret the multilingual system, nor what the time exposure of each language will be. Therefore, the law must gather as accurately as possible that the Basque language will be the general vehicle language”.

As stated in the initial draft, the Institute for Learning of the Basque Country and Languages will be created and the training of teachers to achieve the C1 level in Basque will be “promoted”.

Educational decentralisation

The decentralization of education and its translation into the local and regional reality was one of the pillars of the Educational Agreement, for which more competencies were required for municipalities and the creation of municipal educational councils was announced to develop community educational projects in synergy with the administration and ensure a balanced education of students. The law allows the creation of these Educational Councils in towns and cities, but several agents criticized that the first draft flooded their functions and competencies. The final text did not represent a special change to the draft and the councils are given the function of advisor: "Municipal education councils will be consulted on these activities and contents (...)".

The bill is on its way. This article explains its trajectory in the Basque Parliament and the relationship between the parties to the Educational Agreement.