Preparing teachers

Hi again,
this week I'm  working for the trade unions and doing teacher training.

Isn't it amazing that this so important task often falls on these organizations here in Spain?

In Finland teacher training is taken seriously and millions of euros is invested every year for in-house teacher development.
The Madrid Community suspended training sessions during class time three years ago and since then training has reached an all time low.

You can travel to an English speaking country during the summer holidays with some financial help but then in one month you're supposed to come back and face teaching science or art in English with a B2 level or often less.
Our students at Jose Bergamin often reach B1 in year 6 so teachers really need to be much more proficient.

But what happens in secondary?  We have now reached the point when our primary students reach ESO and their teachers of social science,  history, geography or technology have a lower level than they do.
All these tests (habilitacion linguistica) are great but when you actually hear the level of the teachers being interviewed it is frightening.
If a biology teacher or a P:E teacher wants to keep his or her job, they know that the only way is to learn English if not in a very short space of time,  a newly qualified student teacher is going to come along and take their place.
Not an easy task if you have a family and are not able to disappear for a couple of months to England or Ireland.

The language academies are booming and a lot of the clients are teachers but not of English.
These professionals are doing their best to update but surly this responsibility should be insitutionalized and the Ministry of Education should be involved in the process. 
Results take time to show their fruits and goverments want immediate improvement to win votes for the next elections.

Jose ignacio Wert is just as short sighted as his predecessors and unlike Finland, Spain does not consult classroom teachers when modifying education laws the results of course being the chaos we find at present time.