Sánchez reverses his educational policy and now advocates strengthening Mathematics and Language after the disaster of the PISA Report

Marta Belver La Coruña

Olga R. Sanmartín Madrid

La Coruna

Madrid

Updated Sunday, January 21, 2024-13:09

Pedro Sánchez announced this Sunday the implementation of "an important reinforcement plan" in Mathematics and reading comprehension.

"This is how Spain unites, with rights, with respect, being aware that this country can only be governed in accordance with a common project, not with cuts," the President of the Government stressed during his speech at the closing ceremony of the Political Convention that the PSOE held this weekend in La Coruña.

The announcement comes after the poor results obtained in the PISA Report.

According to the Ministry of Education, the measure will be applied between the third year of Primary and the end of ESO, will benefit 4,700,000 students, will have a "very important" budget allocation, which has not yet been detailed, and includes three legs : classroom splits during school hours, support teachers for students with difficulties and training plan for teachers.

It will have to be coordinated with the autonomous communities.

Sánchez's announcement represents a clear turn in his educational policy, since the reinforcement of instrumental subjects such as Mathematics and Language is a line that the right has always defended and has been disdained by the pedagogical positions encouraged first by Isabel Celaá and later by Pilar Joy, more in favor of the practical application of knowledge than of knowledge itself.

But the disastrous results obtained by Spain in the PISA Report have led Alegría to precipitate this change of course, which is also occurring in other countries that have seen how pedagogism has worsened the learning of their students.

This is the case of Finland, whose Minister of Education announced this week that students will have two more hours per week of Language and one more hour per week of Mathematics starting August 1, 2025.

This shift by the Government already began to be felt before the summer, after the PIRLS report indicated that 10-year-old students are almost one grade behind the English in Reading.

In July, the PSOE presented an electoral program for the general elections of 23-J in which, seeking the vote of the center, they opted for a certain meritocracy in scholarships and proposed a reinforcement of Mathematics and Language.