One year after its birth, the Platform for Educational Freedom (PLE) has three complete sections of dissemination on High Capacities, Homeschooling and School System. All areas have in common the defense of providing adequate education to each child, depending on their personal circumstances. We offer truthful information and examples of real experiences so that each family can decide what is best for their children, '' explains the president of the initiative, Laura Mascar Rotger.
Below is the interview that Positive News held with the president of the PLE:
Positive News: How and when does the platform arise?
Laura Mascaró Rotger: The PLE was founded at the beginning of 2012 by a group of parents concerned about the situation of homeschooling in Spain since, not being regulated by law, some families have problems both administratively and judicially. Likewise, we realized that many families, in Spain, educate at home because they have not found in the school system the attention that their children needed (either for having special educational needs, for having been victims of bullying or for being unjustifiably school failure ) So we decided to extend the objectives of PLE also to these cases. So now we have three sections that work independently but interconnected: homeschooling, high capacity and school system.
We focus our attention on the things we consider to be doing badly in Spain in these three areas and, of course, we offer alternatives, that is, we try to make it a constructive criticism. We do not intend to tell anyone how to educate their children and we do not judge anyone by the decisions they make.
N +: What activities are you carrying out to promote a reform in the Spanish education system?
MRL: On the one hand, we try to collaborate in the diffusion of this educational model through the media and the Internet, mainly. On the other hand, we have made a small report on what the current situation is and proposing up to nine reforms in different areas that would serve to decouple homeschooling from both school absenteeism and family abandonment. We have presented this report to several education and culture departments, to several prosecutors (including the State Attorney General) and to some deputies. As a lawyer, I have first-hand information about the proceedings against homeschoolers and, therefore, I have a very clear idea of what kind of reforms would be necessary to end this persecution.
Later we will do something similar but referred to the school system and some of the basic things we consider should be reformed, including the legalization of the so-called free schools.
N +: What are the most common criticisms that homeschooling receives? What is your answer?
MRL: There are three criticisms that are almost always made: one, that home-educated children do not socialize properly; two, that parents are not trained to educate at home (for that there are teachers and educators); and three, which is not legal.
The only criticism that has a certain basis is that of legality, since Spanish legislation certainly provides for 10 years of compulsory schooling and that schooling is understood to be face-to-face. However, rather than an act that is strictly illegal, it would be an act contrary to law, which is an important technical nuance. Therefore, there are many families that have never been persecuted for this and many others that have been but have obtained prosecutorial decrees or court orders favorable to them.
Regarding training, two things can be said: one, that you cannot talk about homeschooling using the same terms and parameters as when we talked about school. It is as if an airplane pilot is speaking to you in terms of car driving on the road. Has no sense. In addition, we can object that we are not nutritionists and yet nobody doubts our ability to feed our children. The important thing is that parents who decide to educate at home are proactive and know how to find resources for their children. Education or can be reduced to a mere transmission of knowledge, but goes much further. It is not necessary to memorize data that we can access with a single click on the computer.
Finally, the least meaningful objection is that of socialization. In the first place, because school children spend most of their time with other children with whom the only thing they have in principle is the year of birth. And, in addition, they are held in a center that is not at all representative of the reality of society. Home-educated children, on the other hand, have the opportunity to interact with people of all ages on a daily basis and, more importantly, to choose who they relate to and with whom they do not, as we adults do. However, those who say that homeschoolers are not properly socialized usually refer to the fact that they have no relationship with other children of their ages, which is radically false, since we do many meetings and activities in common with other families educated at home, we use extracurricular activities and we have a relationship with neighbors, relatives, children of friends, etc.
N +: What is a typical day like for a child who learns at home?
MRL: Each family has its own style of home schooling. Some devote mornings to academic study and afternoons to other activities. Others do not differentiate between academic and non-academic but try to learn at all times and places. To people who are interested in knowing what day-to-day life is like, I recommend that you visit homeschoolers family blogs, as many of them keep an online journal in which they record the activities they are doing.
N +: Is there any positive memory you would like to share with N + readers?
MRL: Every week we receive messages of thanks from families who did not find support until they reached PLE, that motivates us to continue working every day. Some international organizations have also contacted us to be interested in what we do and help us to spread the situation internationally, not only of homeschooling but of education in general, in Spain.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
http://www.lauramascaro.com
http://libertadeducativa.org
(Image: Courtesy of PLE)
