»I'm teaching general and special music lessons at an elementary school.
During the economic crisis some jobs were not filled at schools and at the same time the number of pupils decreased in rural areas and therefore some teachers had to teach at several schools.
Spain's contemporary education system dated back to the time of Franco, that means a lot has to be simply memorized. The teacher has the opportunity to transform or to modernize the educational methods. However this always requires cooperation and seems like a risk for some. Younger children have to memorize more and more, but this system prepares the children not for the real life.
There are attempts to modernize the education system: Parents or neighbors can visit the lessons at selected schools and they can submit improvements or make suggestions. The teachers of these classes are additionally trained beforehand. School should be better rooted in the society and open for everybody though these measures. However, the old school structure is maintained. In this respect, schools in Catalonia are most up to date - Madrid is like a big ship without any wind which does not move.
In my eyes a good teacher today is someone who teaches respect and social skills to the children and promotes the children's independent thinking and cooperation. The children should learn to remain critical and the learning should be aimed at the personality of the child. Actually one should reinvent oneself because to memorize is important, but this doesn't work anymore as very different fields of work will arise in future.
We are teachers from the 20th century with a method of the 19th century and are teaching children of the 21st century. If I would have a child now who finished school here, I would advise it to go abroad to study. There is virtually no work for young people, but only placements.«