Panorama de la educación en la España de los cambios

Abstract

This article gives a broad brush-stroke review of the Spanish education system, with a wealth
of relevant information; the system is «complex, overloaded, sensitive and explosive». This is the
natural consequence of a society that has undergone rapid change, hasty decentralization, ideological
conflict and problematical consensus. The age-old problems that have so often faced Spanish
sociology persist in the education system. These are: inequalities, deficiencies of quality, reforms
and hasty counter-reforms. New problems have also arisen, such as the sudden arrival of «TIC’s»
in the teaching world, fragmentation or «federalization», the integration of immigrants’ children
into schooling, the decline in the study of humanities and, taking on a new aspect, the eternal
problem of quality.
A short examination of the teaching environment —school/student population and those who
must be schooled, their level of studies or human capital, emigrant presence, and the expectations of
the population— serve as a prologue to the panoramic review of the Spanish education system at
its different levels: its present structure, its economic and human resources, the teachers serving
its aims, and the logic of the student pyramid. Particular attention is paid to the «problem of the
day», which is the quality of teaching and the LOCE (the latest education reform law to be
passed): opinions for and against, opinion and appraisal of the groups concerned. This «global
panorama of education in a Spain undergoing changes» ends with a quick look at the matter of
the fairness and evolution of the scholarship system.