On an Erasmus+ course in Madrid on 1–7 March 2020

Niina Kerppola, Head of Foreign Languages, and Venla Rainio, Service and Administration Coordinator, from Helsingin aikuisopisto travelled to Spain to get to know the local school system.

In the middle of the coronavirus crisis and quarantine, turning our gaze to the future or the past may offer at least temporary relief from pandemic anxiety and the longing for social contact. Do you remember the time when we still went to cafés with friends just like that? Or when we went to group exercise classes without giving it a second thought? Or when we shook hands with or hugged dozens of people at parties?

Lately, I have found myself remembering the Erasmus+ course trip we made to Madrid just before the crisis broke out. We were invited by English Matters, an organisation based in Spain that works in European educational cooperation. At Helsingin aikuisopisto, we have already hosted European groups of teachers visiting Finland through the same EU-funded project a few times, and in March we had the great opportunity to get to know the Spanish education system ourselves and visit schools in Madrid. In addition to me, our Head of Foreign Languages, Niina Kerppola, took part in the week-long course in early March.

A tight schedule ahead

In addition to us, just over 20 other participants from ten EU countries took part in the course, called Structured Educational Visit to Schools/Institutes & Training Seminars in Spain. The course consisted of three parts: lectures, school visits and cultural projects. At the end of the week, we presented the learning portfolios we had put together in small groups to the rest of the group at the final seminar.

During the first couple of days, we learnt about both Spanish education and the country’s history, while later in the week the learning took place above all in practice, as many schools opened their doors to us and we got to see and hear what was happening in classrooms and staff rooms. Overall, the week’s schedule was very tight, but the programme was so interesting that tiredness hardly weighed on us even on the long days.

In the mornings we attended lectures or visited schools, and the afternoons were reserved for culture. Led by excellent guides, we got to know the old town of Madrid, the Prado Museum, Alcalá de Henares, known as the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, and the multicultural city of Toledo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Getting to know the Spanish school system

The school visits were mainly to lower and upper secondary schools, but some of the schools also offered vocational and adult education. At least in theory, Spain aims to cherish the Nordic idea that “the local school is the best school”, as there are hardly any major differences in standards between schools, although the possible socio-economic challenges of different areas may of course also be reflected in school work. Of children of compulsory school age, 70% study in public schools, 25% in publicly funded private schools and 5% in fully private schools, for example schools funded by religious communities. 95% of schools follow the same curriculum, so only the programmes of private schools may differ. The autonomous regions, rather than the central government, play the biggest role in organising education. We also learnt that the number of bilingual schools (usually Spanish and English) is growing and that more is being invested in language teaching. Traditionally, skills in English and other foreign languages in Spain have been weak by European standards, but people have woken up to the problem and attention is being paid to the quality of language teaching.

Memorable encounters

At the schools, we met skilled and hospitable staff and motivated students. One school that particularly stayed in my mind was Centro Padre Piquer, whose students have traditionally come from low-income families and which now has a large minority of children with an immigrant background and learning difficulties. The centre includes a lower secondary school, an upper secondary school and a vocational school. On the initiative of the teachers, learning had been made more effective, for example by reorganising the teaching spaces so that large classrooms have small groups of tables for group work, separate spaces for students who need special needs education, and several teachers at the same time.

The lessons began with a mindfulness exercise, in which the students seemed to take part willingly and without fooling around. For a secular Finnish visitor, it admittedly felt a little strange and even awkward to see pictures of the Pope and crosses on the walls and to hear that prayer was part of the daily programme, but the teachers who guided us assured us that the general atmosphere at the school was very tolerant and liberal, and children of other religions are of course not required to take part in prayers.

Another school that made a big impression was the oldest school in the whole country, IES San Isidro in the heart of Madrid. Founded by Jesuit monks in the 1620s for the children of noble families, the school is now known as an inclusive institution, where LGBT students have found an accepting and empowering learning environment within its majestic vaulted corridors and halls. I was immensely pleased to see that traditional and prestigious institutions are not necessarily always conservative bastions of resistance to change but can also defend a more supportive and liberal school world. The principal wanted to emphasise to us that the change to an LGBT-sensitive school environment started entirely from the students’ own initiative and actions, as a result of which a group of staff was set up to support the wellbeing of students belonging to different minorities.

Back to everyday life

The week passed quickly, but we managed to experience and see a lot. To my great delight, I also had time to meet a few friends who live in Madrid and get an even better feel for everyday life and society in Spain through them. Looking back now from quarantine, the week feels even more meaningful, as all the bigger and smaller plans and trips for the rest of the spring have been cancelled or postponed far into the future. The coronavirus had of course already reached Madrid while we were there, but the situation only escalated a few days after we returned to Helsinki, and just four days later all the schools in the city were closed, so our school visits took place pretty much at the last minute. Fortunately, our group avoided infection, and I really hope that all the people we met in Madrid are also safe and well. Let us stay at home for now, remember the past, plan for the future and try to enjoy the spring, even if melancholy sometimes creeps up on our remote workstations.

In the words of Cervantes:

“Sir, melancholy was not made for beasts but for men, and yet if men encourage melancholy too much they become no better than beasts.”

“Señor, las tristezas no se hicieron para las bestias sino para los hombres, pero si los hombres las sienten demasiado se vuelven bestias.”

(Don Quijote de la Mancha)

Text: Venla, Helsingin aikuisopisto

Photo: Krzysztof Hepner, Unsplash