On Wednesday June 7th we visited the IES Ramón y Cajal. We deliberately chose this high school because it is one of the very few high schools that offer a research and excellence high school diploma in the field of languages. Furthermore, the IES Ramón y Cajal regularly takes part in Erasmus+ programs, so that the teachers are familiar with this topic, which has led to a productive/fruitful exchange with our project.
At the beginning of our meeting we were introduced to the school and its special features. In addition to middle and high school, the school also offers middle and higher vocational training. The Spanish education system faces numerous challenges, such as regional differences in educational quality and the need for greater integration of new technologies in teaching.
We then presented our project and debated the topic of reflexivity with the teachers at the IES Ramón y Cajal high school. It turned out that the term reflexivity is known to colleagues, but that it fails when it comes to implementation. Reflexivity should become more important because it could prevent many problems in everyday school life. The Spanish teachers cited, among other things, a lack of time resources to deal with the challenges and a lack of materials and further training opportunities for a lack of reflexivity. This is where we could use our toolbox to enable teachers to engage with reflexivity.
Our exchange ended, as is often the case in Spain, with a coffee together in the school cafeteria.