The Plenary of the Consell has approved the decrees of the new regulations of organization and operation (ROF) of Primary and Secondary that provide more pedagogical, organizational and management autonomy to the 1.420 public teaching centers of the Valencian education system that provide the compulsory teachings of Primary, ESO and Special Education, as well as Infant Education, Baccalaureate and FP.
The Primary and Secondary ROFs, which had not been renewed for 22 years ago, intend to influence the increase of autonomy for the teaching centers, but maintaining a high level of participation of the different sectors of the educational community of each center through of the cloister and the school board.
Likewise, they are also a commitment to open public educational centers to society in order to facilitate the knowledge of their training offer so that they become permanent training centers within the reach of citizens.
The two decrees regulate the participation of the educational community in the organization, government and operation of educational centers and the facilitation of teacher coordination through a series of coordinating bodies.
Likewise, they establish the framework for the management of the centers and set the competencies of the management teams, as well as those of each of its members.
The new regulations promote parity between women and men in the governing and teaching coordination bodies. In addition, it also urges that, for the specific denomination of educational centers, names of women who have stood out in various disciplines be promoted, in recognition of their contribution in all fields of knowledge and in major events. The objective of this measure is to increase the number of educational centers with female names and make visible the task of women.
The ROFs establish the bases for the exercise of autonomy by the educational centers from different points of view: pedagogical, by means of the elaboration of the educational center project (PEC); Organizational, through the rules of organization and operation, and management of resources, through the management project, all this included in the annual general programming (PGA).
Within this general annual program, a special importance is attached to the action plan for improvement (PAM), which specifies the educational intervention that will be carried out in the educational center.
In this sense, the centers, for the fulfillment of their educational projects, may propose qualification and professional training requirements regarding specific jobs, in accordance with the conditions and limits established by the Department.
Another novelty is that from now on the number of weekly teaching hours for the management teams to develop their functions will be assigned globally in the center and in the direction, in the exercise of their competencies, they will have autonomy to distribute them between the members of the management team.
At the same time, it is established that during the school day the presence of at least one member of the management team must be guaranteed.
Strengthening of the management teams
The new ROF reinforce the management teams, since they generalize, in the case of Infant and Primary, the creation of the figure of the head of studies for the centers of 6 to 8 units and that of the deputy director for all secondary education institutes.
The two decrees also develop the operating regime and the legal status of the school board and the faculty staff. Thus, among the new functions of the school councils is the fact of appointing a person for the promotion of real and effective equality between women and men.
Another notable change, which will improve the functioning of school boards, is that elected persons may be dismissed when the number of repeated unexcused absences from sessions convened during an academic year exceeds 50% of these. In addition, specialized non-teaching staff supporting inclusion, such as educators, may participate in the cloister, with voice but no vote.
Regarding the appointment of tutors, it is indicated that, both in primary and in first ESO, the people who exercise the tutoring will be, whenever possible, teachers with a final destination to the center.
In addition, in the case of Secondary, Baccalaureate and FP, the tutors will have to make a minimum quarterly meeting with the fathers and mothers, and will be obliged to inform the students and families of the evaluation criteria, the tests to be performed , the objectives and contents, the evaluation period, as well as the programming and the rights and duties of the students.
With the philosophy of favoring the autonomy of the centers, the management teams, heard the cloister and the school board, will be able to assign to determined teaching staff of the center the accomplishment of other necessary tasks for the organization and the proper functioning of the center in accordance with the criteria established by the faculty staff, and proposed by the head of studies.
This, for example, opens the door to creating new figures such as the coordinator of the school library, or those that the center considers appropriate to develop its educational project. The hours of dedication of this staff to the new tasks assigned may be carried out by the global number of weekly teaching hours established for the different coordinations.
Letter of educational commitment to families
Regarding participation and social collaboration, it is highlighted that the centers will promote commitments with families for the development of activities in order to improve student academic performance and promote democratic participation, they can establish associative links with different volunteer networks, cultural associations or other social agents.
In this section it should be noted that, in application of the educational center project (PEC), each public school or institute must formulate an educational commitment letter with families. The letter of educational commitment will express the commitments that each family and the center agree in relation to the principles that inspire it, and that have to be those necessary to guarantee cooperation between the educational actions of families and the educational center in an environment of coexistence, respect and responsibility in the development of educational activities.
The new ROFs also regulate the figure of school volunteering, which according to the two decrees was created in order to promote the opening of educational centers to the environment and to improve the offer of educational activities carried out by the centers. These links with volunteer networks must be previously authorized by the school board.
The ROFs also include the recognition of the importance of the evaluation of the centers, with the purpose of providing all the agents involved in the educational system with reliable and sufficient information to support the judgments, decisions, practices and teaching policies that favor the learning and the formation of the citizenship. An evaluation that will be both internal, in charge of the same educational community, as external, by the Department of Education.
The two decrees contain different transitional provisions. Thus, in the case of Secondary, it is necessary to mention those that indicate that it will be of supplementary application by the Adult Training Centers (FPA) and by the integrated public Vocational Training centers (CIPFP), as well as the centers that teach artistic as long as the organization and operation of these are not specifically regulated.
The two decrees will enter into force on the 1 of September of 2020, except for the fourth transitory provision of the Primary decree, which will be made the day after its publication in the 'Official Journal of the Generalitat'.
This provision refers to the maintenance of the authorized day, for centers with a specific plan for the organization of the school day, or of the day that have the course 2019-2020, for those who do not have this specific plan, while the Department of Education does not publish a new regulation of the school day.
