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Outrage in the educational sector at the imminent application of the LOMLOE or Celaá Law that will force hundreds of high school students throughout Spain to change their modality in the middle of this same course.
Specifically, it affects the students of the so-called Musical Baccalaureate – an option that combines institutes and conservatories – as Royal Decree 984/2021, which develops Organic Law 3/2020 , contradicts the decrees of each community that regulate the Baccalaureate.
Until last week, the Musical Baccalaureate allowed simultaneous studies of any of the Baccalaureate modalities (Science and Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences and Arts) with those of music and dance conservatories. To do this, they had to pass the common Baccalaureate subjects in any Spanish institute (Philosophy, Language and Literature and Foreign Language), a fourth core (at their choice from the Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences or of the Arts) and their corresponding studies at the conservatory. In this way, when finishing sixth of Music or Dance, the students obtained both qualifications.
Now, with the entry into force of the LOMLOE – the Royal Decree was approved last November, but it is applied now – this Simultaneous Baccalaureate can only be obtained through the Arts modality, so students who are studying this double degree in the branches of Science and Technology or Humanities must change the modality in the middle of the course.
About 1,500 students affected
Between 1,500 and 2,000 students from all over Spain could be affected by this situation which, according to the trade unions consulted, was going to begin to be applied from the 2022/23 academic year. “A law cannot be put into practice when the course has already started without first warning students, parents, or teachers,” Isabel González, spokesperson for the Student Front in Andalusia, tells THE OBJECTIVE , where more than 300 students have suffered. the consequences of this new measure.
One of the affected students is Paula Quintero (18 years old, Seville), who is studying the Simultaneous Baccalaureate at the IES Ciudad Jardín in Seville and for more than ten years has also attended the Francisco Guerrera Conservatory, where she studies transverse flute. Paula values this measure as a "disparagement" to music and hopes that a solution can be reached "as soon as possible". "We have to be heard, because we are outraged," she says on the other end of the phone.
“This is a step backwards now that we finally have an adapted Baccalaureate. It closes many doors to the students of the conservatories, that we will not be able to study the career that we want, ”says the young Sevillian.
Options
The new regulations affect all students in Spain who are studying this simultaneous Baccalaureate – some 1,500 students – however, each community has a margin to apply it, since they have full powers.
Andalusia has been the first community to be affected by this new Celaá Law . On January 25, "without notice or prior consultation", the students received a circular from the General Directorate of Educational Planning and Evaluation of the Ministry of Education and Sports that determines that the rule must be applied now, imminently.
The options, as can be seen in the document itself, are two:
Continue in the chosen modality but passing from the partial to the full Baccalaureate and complete the enrollment for the itinerary of that modality. Something, according to the students themselves, "difficult to carry due to the number of subjects" they take and the "difficulty in adjusting schedules and groups."
Abandon the modality they are studying in this same course and change to the Arts modality. This would mean enrolling, on these dates, in Fundamentals of Art I and II, with the inconvenience that this modality is not given in all educational centers. For example, in Córdoba, you only study at an institute.
"Without prior notice we have been deprived of possible options for the future and most students do not know how to deal with the situation," complains Paula Quintero, who points out that both the conservatory and the institute assure her that they are "in talks" with the Counseling "to be able to offer a positive solution that affects the academic progress as little as possible" of the students.
Students from Galicia , Madrid and Valencia have also been affected , where students in the first year of Baccalaureate have already had to change their modality or institute. However, the Valencian Community, given the inconvenience that Fundamentals of Art is not given in all centers, allows the subject to be taken at a distance. “A way to mitigate”, points out to THE OBJECTIVE a director of several music education centers in this community who prefers to remain anonymous.
Moratorium
The protests have already spread, above all, through the Andalusian conservatories. However, from the Ministry of Education and Sports of the Junta de Andalucía they assure that they have requested a moratorium from the Government applied to both first and second year Baccalaureate students. If the Ministry of Education gave the green light to this extension, students would not have to change their enrollment in this course.
For its part, according to unions, the Ministry of Education is studying a possible solution and plans to convene the Academic Organization Commission to address this issue.
Meanwhile, a petition on Change.org , which already has more than 13,000 signatures, asks to repeal the new BOE law due to the "inability" of many teachers and students "to handle the situation." "We demand change," the manifesto concludes.