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Strategic Review of the EDUCO ProgramJuly 2010that the contracts would ensure the possibility of receiving accumulated severance payments every threeor five years, a year-end bonus, and access to loans. New teachers would be hired for five years as atrial period, which would involve renewable one-year contracts that would include annual severancepayments and year-end bonuses. At the end of the five years, appropriate performance reviews wouldbe done and the contract would be renewed. In this case, teachers would have the option of attaininggreater job stability, but without severance payments, or remaining on a system of 3-5 year contractswith severance payments. In any of these scenarios, teachers would be paid through MINED.Another type of contracting, for some teachers who might prefer it, or if there are no other optionsbecause of a lack of positions, would involve the teacher being an employee of the community, which isalready the case in some CDE middle schools. In contrast to the ACEs, however, entering into this typeof contract would occur by mutual expediency, and would not be an essential part of the new governancesystem, as it is with the ACEs.A fundamental point in the option proposal is the establishment of performance standards for teachersand principals. These performance standards would be shared by the overhauled community participationstructure, which would use them for evaluations. There would be periodic reviews. MINED wouldclarify its labor relationship with teachers and would absorb the hiring and payment of teachers (exceptif it were decided to permit the option of the community directly employing some teachers, as currentlyoccurs in some cases), unify its relationship to community participation, and would make its internalstructure much more effective and efficient.General Considerations on Option DStrengthening the education system by unifying its school administration entities is a large-scale proposition.It would signify an enormous change in policy and in the system, which would require beingimplemented carefully over an extended period of time. The implementation of this option assumes anenormous administrative, financial, organizational, and legal commitment, together with the politicalwill of the stakeholders in the education system.The policy change and transition process could be confusing for all schools, independent of their currenttype of school organization. Parents, principals, teachers, and students, together with public opinion ingeneral, would be looking for and expecting specific information about what the unification of the systemmeans for each of them, based on their roles. For the purpose of reducing problems, a substantialinvestment would be needed in a plan for consultations, public relations, and communications.This change in system would affect over 4,000 public schools, their teachers, students, families, principals,citizens in general, and MINED itself. Because of its magnitude, and because of the importanceof education to the country, and as a democratic and transparent practice, it is necessary to consult thoseinvolved in the changes. When there is certainty that what has been consulted on has the support of thecitizens, because it was done in a representative way with the citizenry itself, and if this is spelled out in50
Strategic Review of the EDUCO ProgramJuly 2010the prioritization of the plans, it is more difficult to renege on agreements. There have been significantexperiences where consultations to inform, offer opinions, and then prioritize have served to consolidateinitiatives to monitor the commitments made, including, therefore, citizen oversight of accountability.Inviting other actors, such as universities, the private sector, mayors and governors, the press, the internationalcommunity, among others, can bring forces together and build significant consensus aroundunifying the education system.To achieve the unification of the education system to improve learning of all students, ensuring a cultureof equity, it is fundamental to work together with the teacher unions, so that they will be builders of thischange, which will ensure strengthening the teachers and their pedagogic role and their incentives, forthe clear purpose of improving learning. Administratively, MINED would have to look at each teacherindividually to determine their status for including them in the new system.Unification of the system provides a valuable opportunity for MINED to reorganize its structure, makeit more streamlined and less bureaucratic, and able to quickly respond to the needs of the students andtheir schools, and to concretely implement the new way of working contained in the ‘Vamos a la Escuela’(Let’s go to School) Social Education Plan. MINED can invest in a strong social auditing system,accompanied by a transparent, efficient grievance and complaints system, which would enablecitizens, parents, teachers, principals, and students to feel that their grievances and complaints are beingaddressed by MINED entities, following clear procedures, with time limits on responses. The systemwould require reviewing, in the light of clear teacher performance standards, the role of the TeachingProfession Boards and Court, so that these bodies can be effective.It would also be necessary to develop a large-scale support and orientation program for advisers, schoolprincipals, teachers, students, and parents, so that they can understand the implications of the change,be proactive stakeholders, and internalize it. When speaking here of training, the concept is inadequatefor what really should happen. MINED’s goal would be for its teams to support the schools effectivelyand efficiently, not only on pedagogical issues, but more importantly, in the transition and during the firstyears, on issues of management and governance. MINED teams at the departmental level and the advisorsare the ones who “will take the message and put it into daily practice” with the schools.Finally, this option requires an in-depth review of the legal framework: overturn the EDUCO ExecutiveDecree, amend the Teaching Profession Law, review the applicability of the regulations for basic educationand for the conformation of the council of teachers, and other MINED standards and regulations, toensure a clear route for MINED guidelines.It is worthwhile underscoring that implementing the foreseen changes can be costly, and therefore resourcesbeyond MINED’s capacity are needed. Due to this, it is possible that there would be potentialpartners interested in supporting this type of change with technical assistance and even with financing;this could be attractive to some cooperation agencies and the private sector and society in general.51
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