Let Growing Blog parent education and educators

Surely many of you have chosen the cole of your children for next year, but, How do you know if the choice was the right one?

In today's post I leave some fundamental keys to choosing a center for your kids.

1. Public, private or arranged.

The type of center is something quite relative when choosing. Later we will see that the criteria that you must take into account should focus on other more important aspects such as the pedagogical line, the number of students, etc.

From my point of view the type of center will not limit the quality of your teaching.

The main difference between one and the other is who the management depends on.

In the case of public centers, the management depends entirely on the Administration, this makes their services totally free.

In the case of concerted centers, we are talking about private centers that enjoy public subsidies, so the cost of tuition is lower than that of private.

It is an intermediate model between public and private education. Generally, only mandatory levels are often subsidized and parents must finance the cost of services such as school transportation, dinning room, reinforcement classes, extracurricular activities, etc.

In the private centers the education model is funded by parents. And the center is authorized to implement its own teaching ideology, as long as it complies with the requirements of the law. They are also free to set their own admission rules..

2. Educational project or pedagogical line.

Personally, I consider this point to be essential when choosing an educational center.

The educational project is the teaching-learning method used by the center and this will largely delimit the learning of your children.

You must inform yourself very well of the didactics of the center, that is to say, how the different areas work, the weight of languages, arts education, physical education, if the center places a lot of importance on homework, etc. It is essential that there is coherence between the work done at school and at home, you agree with this pedagogical line.

Further, you can search information on the academic results of the center. What results have they obtained in selectivity and in the elementary content tests.

If you are considering a center with an alternative methodology, It is essential that you make sure that it is certified by the Ministry of Education.

3. School ideology.

When choosing a center, it is also very important to know their ideology.

Like the educational project, as parents is It is important that you share the ideology of the center in which your child will spend a large part of his day.

Religious or secular, they are usually the two great "classifications" that you will find, although you must inform yourself well because within each one of them there are always extremes.

I honestly do not believe that in this case there is a better option than another. Ago 50 years, religious schools were the ones that gave the best training, generally because they were stricter and because they were the ones who devoted the most time to study and research. Today it is no longer like that, the quality of education is found in the different alternatives. As I said above, The fundamental thing in this sense is that you share the same ideology of the center, so that there is coherence between the child's education at home and at school.

4. The number of students.

Although many insist on insisting that the number of students does not matter, it matters a lot. The fewer students per class, the more personalized the attention.

In this sense, it is also important that you inform yourself of the existence of a psychopedagogical office, to attend and dedicate time to students who need it.

5. The dinner room.

It is essential that if your children are going to eat at school you inform yourself of what the food is like. Some schools have a catering and others with their own kitchen. But what is really important is the menu type, make it a balanced diet, complete and varied. Food affects a lot not only the physical development of children, but also to their intellectual development, your mood, etc.

6. The distance and the schedule.

These are two fundamental factors for make school compatible with parents' schedules.

If the school is too far, the child will have to get up earlier, taking away hours of sleep, something fundamental for its correct development.

The time of departure and entry are also essential if we want to prevent the child from spending time with other people than the parents, as caregivers, or having to pay for extension hours at school.

7. The installations.

Many cabbages boast wonderful facilities but, What are good facilities?

When I speak of good facilities I am not referring to a large sports center and auditorium. Obviously if the school has these facilities better than better, but what is really important and that you must take into account is whether classes are spacious, they are comfortable, they are safe and clean, that's where your children will spend the most time. It is also essential that the school has spaces for leisure, like courtyards and sports fields. An important point in the latter is the security, children spend time playing in these areas and they should be areas that meet the safety conditions to avoid unnecessary scares.

The study areas are also very important, for example a good library (fundamental if we want to infect children with the love of reading) and a laboratory.

There are many schools that already have the new technologies in their day to day. This is important since computers, tablets and whiteboards are tools that your children will grow up with and knowing how to use them from a young age is essential.

8. Extracurricular activities.

A good offer of extracurricular activities is also very important. Especially the sport-related activities, music and languages. Within school hours the sport, just like music, they do not usually have a very leading role, therefore, have extracurricular activities like music, basketball, karate or soccer helps the better development of children, while developing other skills and abilities that are sometimes forgotten.

The quality of these activities is also essential. Many schools offer them without worrying about achieving a minimum quality, simply to provide a service to parents. But considering that they are usually paid as an extra and that many parents have no choice but to leave their little ones because they cannot pick them up before, is an issue to value..

This is an indisputable issue. We all know how important it will be for our little ones to master at least English. Therefore, it is a very important issue when choosing a school.

Inform yourself well of the number of hours taught in the language, what subjects and the training of the teaching staff.

10. How is the day to day of the center.

The only way to know this is visiting it. Most schools offer tours and, further, They usually have open days at the end of the course.

I personally believe that several centers should be visited before making the final decision. It is essential that you see what climate is breathed in the center.

It is not only important to look at the facilities. Fijaos in how the classrooms and hallways are decorated, Is work done by students used?; how is the relationship between parents and teachers; how the parents association works; fijaos in how the children leave the center, Are they happy?

You can stop by and see who takes care of the patio, what is the attitude of the teachers towards the students. The latter is very important because the teachers will be the ones who spend the most time with your children. I always say that a good school is thanks to its teachers, and this obviously goes through a good selection by the management of the center, but also for a good work climate, a motivated and constantly trained teaching staff. A motivated teacher is synonymous with greater dedication and involvement and, therefore, increased learning by children.

Another very good way to know how a center works is directly asking parents who have their children there. Come to the exit of school and ask the parents, You can also contact the AMPA.

If in addition to all this you want more information, Here are two links that can come in handy.

Scholarum.es is a search engine and comparator of all the schools in Spain.

In addition to this search engine, punctured you here You can download the free guide with the best schools in Spain 2015.

In conclusion, It is essential that you do your research before making a decision about the educational center in which your children will study. Do not get carried away by opinions and be yourselves those who, through observation and research, make your own decisions.

I hope this information will be useful the.

Thanks for being there!

 

“From the first steps of his education the child must experience the pleasure of discovery.”

Alfred North Whitehead

Tags: subject, center, school, to choose, extracurricular, schedule, ideology, best, methodology, child, faculty

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 24th, 2015 at 5:37 pm and is filed under Means. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.