valencian state schools strike april 28 2009

12 yellow roses for Mr Blackberry Spring

Free education for 0-3 year olds

• The provision of free school places for  children aged 0-3  for 2009-2010. (Really free, not nominally free, as in subsidised schools)

Language teaching for 4-5 year olds

300 foreign language teaching posts to allow effective foreign language instruction at the beginning of  next academic year for all  four and five year old children.

New “schools map”

• A  new “schools map” that will  reflect the changing needs of our education system.

• This map should be negotiated with parents, teachers and everyone involved before next academic year.

Teacher Training Programmes

• Proper, updated, teacher training programmes to replace the 1997 ones, especially for Valencian-medium schools due to the scarcity of properly qualified staff.

Fairness and diversity

• Catering for special needs kids and newcomers in all government-funded centres.

• A regulatory body to guarantee fair allocation and registration procedures.

Truly trilingual

• Measures to ensure that students are competent in the two official languages as well as at least a foreign one at the end of their compulsory schooling .

Help the dropouts

• Design,  execution and evaluation of much needed programmes to curb our alarming school dropout rates.

Our future workers

• Specific incentives for our alternative Secondary Education schools (Professional Formation) to qualify future workers of an important part of our economy and social development.

Independent Inspectors

• Immediate dismissal of politically-appointed  inspectors and aides.

• Establishment of a new, fair and accountable  recruitment system which will regulate access  in terms of equality, merit and capacity.

Democratic directing boards

• The firm commitment on the part of the education authorities to stop partisan performance aimed at controlling school directing boards .

Citizenship in its own right

• The immediate withdrawal of the bizarre  “Citizenship in English” plan and all related measures enforced against teaching staff or boards of directors.

Grants and scholarships

• A wide array of scholarships and grants to cover lunch, transport and schooling expenses in order to ensure that no child is left out throughout  their compulsory education.