EOIs – Madrid vs Andalucía (edited)

So far I’ve learned a few things: EOIs in Andalucía are OK for teachers, as compared to the working situation in Madrid, which has evolved to all kinds of damage. For students, there are two very clear advantages: in Madrid the course costs about 300 euros a year, and in Andalucía, 50 euros. Most importantly, if you fail one of the four exams (skills) in June, you only have to do a resit for that skill. In terms of lessons, although it has been increased to 5 hours a week in two lessons (to have teachers working more teaching hours, as you know – 1 teaching hour = 3 hours of other kinds of jobs, according to the OIT, Organización International del Trabajo, at least what they used to say, wonder if that has been distorted too), LOGICALLY, there is a 15 min break per 2h30 lesson (so, yes, the lesson is 2h15′ — that’s ok, right?), which teachers and students can agree to take as best suits them. Another relevant issue is that in Andalucía they haven’t turned adult language education into a school-like thingy of exams every three months. They have February to teach about Exam Format and they CAN use past exams to do so, LOGICALLY!

Almost forgot: another key point is that Andalucía hasn’t imposed 6 years to certify a B2 or Upper Intermediate. They managed to establish Intermedio is just one year, so they have 5 years for a B2. As you probably know, 4 years is the usual time it takes to reach a B2 in English.

So it seems not all the Autonomous Communities have the intention of destroying public education…

😦 🙂

PS: Some things changed for the worse, too, though: some Fridays, teachers have to go to the school just to pretend they’re working (because the fact is that teachers work long hours at home, where they have their own resources), which is humiliating and absurd, and then, there is no lesson reduction if you have to be the Head of Department. That is why nobody wants to be HoD!!! That is why it’s going to be ME!!! 😀 (roughly speaking)