Excursions, study trips and activities outside the classroom could be reduced in some schools and institutes from Aragón with the new regulation that will begin to be applied this year. This is the warning issued by CSIF, which rejects the regulation promoted by the regional government on the grounds that it multiplies the bureaucracy for teachers without providing sufficient staff to take on the new demands.
The order will come into force after its publication on Tuesday, August 25 in the Official Gazette of Aragon and will establish for the first time common criteria to organize complementary activities, extracurricular activities and educational outings in public centers. Among other issues, it incorporates eight annexes, protocols for incidents, authorisations, specific assessments for certain students and indicative ratios of accompaniment.
CSIF WARNS OF A «DISPROPORTIONATE BUREAUCRATIC BURDEN»
For CSIF, the problem is in the volume of documentation that the centers will have to assume. The union considers that the new regulation entails a «disproportionate bureaucratic burden» and criticises the fact that numerous documents, individual evaluations and protocols are required to plan activities.
«The requirement of numerous documents, up to eight annexes, individual evaluations and different operational protocols is an administrative burden that is difficult for schools and teaching teams to assume,» says the president of CSIF Educación Aragón, Gema Tomás.
The union also questions the process followed to draw up the regulation. He assures that there have only been two meetings during the summer and denounces that there has been no «real and effective negotiation» in the Sectoral Table of Education on issues that affect the responsibility, dedication and working conditions of the teachers who participate in these activities.
THE FEAR: THAT THE CENTERS WILL ORGANIZE FEWER ACTIVITIES
CSIF places special focus on the surveillance of students. The regulation establishes as a general rule a minimum of two teachers and indicative ratios of one person responsible for every 15 students in Infant, 23 in Primary, 30 in Secondary, Baccalaureate and Vocational Training and three in Special Education, although it allows the number of companions to be increased depending on the characteristics of each outing.
The union considers that these ratios will not always allow for adequate surveillance and demands that the new obligations be accompanied by more human resources. Otherwise, he fears that the documentation, responsibility and time needed to prepare each activity will end up discouraging the centers.
CSIF thus warns that some schools and institutes could choose to reduce or even stop organising certain excursions and trips, which, in its opinion, would end up directly harming students: «This regulation may end up reducing the educational opportunities of students outside the classroom».
