Exploring Education

In the U.S., university admission largely prioritizes ‘holistic’ review, considering the ‘whole person’ of the applicant. This is why most universities require letters of recommendations, personal essays, or descriptions of leadership roles and extracurricular involvement. Further, the U.S. admissions system seeks to contextualize the applicant, understanding their achievements with regards to their background— for example, a student who comes from hardship but performs far above expected might be favored over a student who comes from privilege who, while high-achieving, performs as expected from someone in their position. Of course, this is the ideal—college admissions still privilege white, upper-class students—but the opportunity for students to contextualize their application suggests that universities care about something more than pure academic achievement.   In Spain, conversely, admission is determined purely based on academic achievement. For many in the U.S., specifically...

One of the most striking differences that I noticed when I arrived to teach in Spain was the intensity of their exam period at the end of each trimester. In each exam period of two to three weeks, my students would have between 12-15 exams. What shocked me even more was the importance of these exams—my students told me that it’s not unheard of to have one exam count for the entire term’s grade! In the past post, I discussed briefly that Spain is notorious for traditional educational styles, including a reliance on exams; in this post I hope to connect their assessment culture to the broader structure of their university admissions processes.   In Spain, unlike in the U.S., admission into university essentially depends on only two factors-- test scores and GPA. 60% of their admission criteria come from their grades in Bachillerato, and the other 40% from their performance on the standardized college admissions test (Pruebas de Acesso a la Universidad, or PAU ). But the difference is...

In the first post, I discussed that despite Spain’s seemingly high level of teacher autonomy, I didn’t see the type of curricular innovation that advocates of teacher autonomy typically promise. Instead, Spain seemingly lived up to its reputation of having a traditional “by the book” instructional style, relying on rote memorization and textbook learning. Of course, in recent years educational policy has aimed to improve this—the official standards of Spain consist of ‘competencies’ to be developed and usually shy away from prescribing certain content standards that must be hit, ostensibly allowing more room for creativity and innovation. And in my personal experience, I do notice a marked generational difference among teachers and their willingness to try out new activities and ways of doing things. However, in a conversation with one of my teachers, I asked her about what she felt was the greatest constraint on her autonomy as a teacher and she answered that the expectation to...

Since deciding to start this blog, I knew that “teacher autonomy” would be my first topic. My sister Ryan and I have discussed it at length with regards to her experience as a teacher in a priority school in Nashville, where she uses a ‘scripted curriculum’ to deliver instruction. I arrived in Spain and was immediately given broad autonomy to structure my classes as I pleased, often choosing content and creating my own activities. My first impression of Spanish schools was that the teachers had far greater autonomy than their counterparts in the U.S., and I anticipated that this post would flow quite easily from this discrepancy and I could simply write about some of the positive and negative effects of teacher autonomy in Spain vs in the U.S. I was quite wrong. What followed was months of me interviewing teachers and students and researching, constantly finding myself mistaken, only to correct myself, then find out I was wrong again. So, I’ve decided to split this topic into two separ...

Before launching straight into a discussion of a particular theme, I’d like to give you all a general overview of the educational system in Spain, highlighting a few aspects that will be relevant in later posts, as well as a general impression of my experience. Education in Spain is compulsory until age 16, and is divided into primary (ages 6-12) and secondary (ages 12- 16). Secondary school is also called ESO, or escuela secundaria obligatoria. Even though it’s obligatory, students can elect to attend a formacion profession basica , which is a basic level vocational school. After ESO, students can choose to continue secondary school with bachillerato (essentially university preparation) or instead go to a formacion professional (vocational training.) My school is a secondary school and includes ESO and bachillerato .  Many of my friends teach in FP’s and their subjects can range anywhere from airplane mechanics to autopsy classes. My school has been accused of being ...

Hi there! I’m Anna Katherine, I’m currently on a Fulbright grant as an English Teaching Assistant in Vigo, Spain at a secondary school. A bit about my background: I am originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and I attended the University of Georgia where I majored in History, Political Science, and Spanish. While I never planned on a career in education, I was always taught to value my education. My parents, unsatisfied with the educational opportunities offered in Louisiana public schools, sent me and my siblings to private schools. As a result, I used to view my schooling as a material investment— I valued my education insofar as it would advance my economic opportunities in the future. I soon realized the implications inherent to this model; my parents’ purchase of this advantage required that others not afford the same option. So, I worked hard in school to make a return on this investment: anything else would be a presumption of entitlement, that I somehow deserved th...