Do they matter in education politics? The influence of political parties and teacher unions on school governance reforms in Spain

Abstract

This article focusses on the evolution of the school governance model in Spain since the 1980s. In Spain and elsewhere in Europe, the state’s monopoly over education has softened and new forms of educational governance have emerged. This has resulted in the decentralization of decision-making authority to individual schools, municipalities, and regions and a significant increase in school autonomy. We explore from a political science perspective how partisan preferences and teachers unions have decisively shaped the reform trajectory. We show that leftist and center-right governments and different teachers’ unions have promoted different versions of school autonomy in line with their ideological rationales, resulting in a reconfiguration of the school governance model with each change in government.

Keywords:

• Governance
• education
• school autonomy
• partisan politics
• teachers unions
• Spain

Notes

1. For the PISA-related discourse and reactions to PISA, see Popp 2014.

2. The LGE (1970) prescribes that the school director still must be appointed by the Ministry of Education (Art. 60).

3. This public-private and socio-economic divide persisted long after Franco. In 2011, 68% of primary and lower secondary pupils attended public schools, while 28% were enrolled at publicly funded private schools. Nearly 80% of upper secondary pupils attended public schools and approximately 12% attended private schools (OECD 2014). PISA data show that private schools in Spain are still primarily attended by pupils with a higher socio-economic status (2011).

4. At this point in time, the consejo escolar was based at the level of autonomous communities (LODE, Art. 34).

5. From both the autonomous communities and local administration (LOGSE 1990).

6. Both the LOE (2006) and LOCE (2002) prescribe that no less than one-third of the members of the consejo escolar should be teachers (LOE, Art. 126d; LOCE, Art. 81d). In practice, teachers generally account for around half of its members.