Last night I saw, once again, at about nine o'clock, that announcement of IKEA that blames the duties of diminishing family dinners in Spain. At first I was not going to pay much attention to him, but of course, in addition to the editor of Decoesfera I am also a high school teacher and I thought about it
I believe that education is a complex issue on which lately it is frivolizing, in many cases, without knowledge of cause and without resorting to expert analysis. I wouldn't know if the announcement seems opportunistic or inconvenient, coinciding precisely with the month of duty strike. Perhaps the problem is precisely at the moment, but there are at least 7 reasons why I consider it inappropriate and that I briefly summarize.
The first thing that is not being taken into account, and that is fundamental, is the distinction between different educational stages. The duties in kindergarten, primary, secondary or high school education cannot be the same. Hence, a generalized opposition to duties is totally absurd. The logical thing is that the time of homework increases as the level increases and if any father or mother considers that their son or daughter's are not suitable for their age and course, what they should do is mutiny riding a strike during Dinner talk with the tutor or the corresponding tutor.
The professors have, we have, that comply with the current education law, the famous LOMCE collects: the objectives, contents, criteria and learning standards that must be evaluated in each subject throughout the school year. In secondary and high school education there may be more standards of learning in the law that sessions have the subject in the course, that is, the teacher does not do in class what he wants, does what the law indicates and has to comply with the agenda that mark the curriculum much longer than the IKEA catalog in a timely manner.
Fundamental is also to keep in mind that one of the fundamental pillars of education is The attention to diversity. Generalization is not possible in education, all students are different and have different needs, some of them very special educational attention needs. I never see in that IKEA ad, in the video under these lines, boys or girls with Asperger or Down syndrome, or in a wheelchair or blind ... but there are in the classrooms. Classes last 50 minutes and on many occasions there are more than 30 children, nor two minutes do we have per student. Physically, as much as the professors try, it is impossible to perform all tasks in a personalized and individualized way.
Not all schools have the same means and resources And no, not all children have a tablet with internet connection in their home. It is very nice to talk about an ideal educational center where there is one laptop per student with a fantastic browsing speed and many colorful unicorns, but that is not the reality. Hopefully! What is possible is done and although, as in all sectors, there are people who are more involved and others who are less involved, it is usual for teachers to want and look for the best for their students every day and if you propose some activities, Many times volunteers, to complement the work of the classroom at home, I assure you that it is not to annoy.
We also go through a complicated transition situation in education with a newly implemented law questioned by most of the educational community and politicians already throwing the tackle at the head in the search for a pact for a new law. There are active teachers who have worked with five different education laws and are likely to have to work with a sixth. Education laws in whose preparation, the opinion of the educational community and the real needs of schools and students are rarely taken into account. The entire educational community, in fact, is a victim of the political power struggle in which the parties have turned the issue of education and on which it is almost impossible to build something solid.
Shoemaker to your shoes, you are very good at making furniture, but you don't dedicate yourself to educate. It is very easy to talk about the work of the teacher or the teacher when you have not read any education law, you have never been in a classroom, you have not known closely the different circumstances in which the student lives and you do not live the different situations that they give in each educational center on a daily basis. That a firm like IKEA implicitly supports with its publicity the duty strike called by some fathers and mothers this month, questioning the work of the teaching staff, seems to me to be a very dangerous game somewhat reckless. What would happen if IKEA made an anti-vaccine announcement, questioning the work of health professionals, because we don't like having so many punctures? Think about it ...
And also add, because it was the first thing I thought last night when I saw the ad, that there are many stores, like IKEA, that close their doors every day at 10pm in Spain, yesterday the announcement was issued several times before that time. Obviously at ten o'clock at night the boys and girls should have had dinner, so before blaming the duties of having few family dinners, let's review, for example and among many other things, work schedules of their parents and their mothers.
And finally to say that, in my opinion, there is a basic error in the interpretation of duties by many fathers and mothers. The idea is not that the students make them perfect and much less that they are the fathers and mothers who make them. It is about the students trying to solve the activities by themselves, then in the classroom we will see what went well, what is not, what objectives we can take for granted and for which we have to continue working.
And I could still give more reasons why this IKEA campaign does not seem very well focused, there are children who have no family, there are also those who do not have much to eat dinner ... But I do not want to depress you either. Just to point out that with this I do not mean that I do not agree with IKEA's proposals for family dinner or integrate educational activities in the context of family activity, something that seems fantastic and most advisable, eye.
So, IKEA, the ideas for the household to contribute positively (adding and not subtracting) to the academic development of children and the acquisition of welcome skills are, but don't tell the teachers of Spain how we have to do our job, just as we do not tell you how to prepare your Swedish meatballs, because we assume that it is you who knows how to cook them better.
Photos | IKEA
In Babies and More | Why join (or not) the duty strike: Which side are you on?
