Part of the beauty of traveling is learning about different cultures—language, food, clothing, dances, history, etc. During my three-ish months teaching in Spain, I was able to gain a unique view of the Spanish culture that most tourists don’t get to see—the education system. While there are some similarities between the American schooling system and the Spanish schooling system, there are also quite a few differences. Of course, I am writing based on my limited experience of one school in Spain so it may not be your exact experience but it was still really interesting. Here are the top five differences I noticed while abroad:
Less Restrictive Hallway Rules
One of the most interesting things I noticed while in Spain was the children’s level of freedom. One day after leaving the bathroom, I ran into three 4-year-olds playing in the hallway by themselves. When they saw me, they got really excited and started playing with me, laughing and screaming the whole time. At that moment, I realized “An American school would never!” I’m sure most, if not all, American students know that getting permission to leave the classroom to go to the bathroom is a whole ordeal and hall passes are the forbidden keys of freedom. Teachers would never allow us to casually leave the classroom and walking the halls without aimlessly will almost always get you in trouble if caught. And making excess noise in the hallway? Forget about it! So to see the little kids so loud and happy with no concern in the world and no teacher in sight was astounding. That moment made me realize that this was not the first time I had seen unfazed children in the halls and unbothered teachers letting a student step out for a moment and it definitely wasn’t the last. Not to say that the Spanish schools are completely right or that American schools are completely wrong (I’m sure pros and cons could be found on each side), but it was definitely interesting to see that this school was definitely less regimented than mine growing up.
Primary School: Preschool to 6th Grade
I believe most American students don’t go to an elementary school until they are 5 years old and leave when they are about 11 years old (kindergarten to 5th grade). However, my school had children as young as 3 years old and ended at the equivalent of 6th grade. I actually really enjoyed working with such a wide age range! The 3-year-olds were adorable!
Teachers Change Classrooms
In elementary school, I had one teacher for all major subjects and had separate extracurricular teachers that the class was scheduled to go to. In middle school, we started switching classrooms for every subject while the teacher remained in place. In Spain, however, the teachers were the ones that moved around while the students stayed seated. This also included the English teacher and the Art teacher. The only time students left their location was for gym class. This setup also impacted the classroom decorations since it “belonged” to the students rather than the teachers.
No Lunch Break or Large Cafeteria
Spaniards traditionally eat lunch between 2 pm and 4 pm. This means that there is no need for an official lunch break at many schools. Instead, the students can go home at the end of the day and eat lunch there. Because there is no lunch break, there is also no need for a large cafeteria space. My school did have a small room for students to eat if they could not go home immediately but that was really it. Don’t worry though! That does not mean you go through the day starving. In American, lunch is at about 11 am and snacks are eaten around 3 pm. In Spain, it is flip flopped, so the students took a snack break around 11 am and went home for lunch by 3 pm.
Snack Break/Recess
As previously mentioned, the school had a designated 30 minute snack break around 11 am. During this time, students were free to go out to play, talk, snack, etc. This includes being able to go out to the courtyard area if the students pleased. This is one aspect ‘I was really jealous of! I don’t remember the last time I had recess time at school, in fact, I’m not sure if the concept even exists anymore in America. Very unfortunate.
Have you ever taught abroad? Did you notice any major differences?
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