Going nowhere

THE Balearic government jumped the gun and is attempting to introduce the new language learning system on the cheap without providing teachers with even basic training in English. You can´t expect a teacher with limited knowledge of English to teach maths in English. It is a recipe for disaster. The three language system, classes in English, Spanish and Catalan, may have looked very nice on the government´s election manifesto but they forgot to provide the necessary help to the teachers. For too long in the Balearics the education system has been a political football. What is needed is consensus. Agreement between all the political parties on the education curriculum. At the moment every time there is a new government the education system changes. This is not the way forward. The various political parties need to sit down and design a teaching blueprint for the Balearic which obviously needs to include English, Spanish and Catalan. By having a long-term education programme teachers can be trained and they can also plan for the future. You can´t just get up one morning and say; today we are going to start teaching you in English. Training an English teacher takes months not weeks or days. As I said in this space yesterday the government must see sence and abandon the three language system until teachers are properly trained. Also, they are playing with fire because we are talking about the future of the Balearics.