I understand that the British Council and the Spanish Ministry of Education run a bilingual schools project.

Could anyone provide me with a list of locations as to where these schools are and does anyone have their kids in one of the schools?

How hard is it to get work with the British council as an English teacher?  Is it absolutely necessary to have a CELTA certificate or would teaching experience be enough to get a foot in the door?

I hope someone can help out.

Adrian

Hi Adrian,

I hadn’t heard about a bilingual schools project actually. Back when I was teaching it was unheard of to get a job with the British Council though, but perhaps that’s different with this new project.

Do you have any links to more info on that?

More information about the bilingual project between the British Council and the mec can be found here:

http://www.britishcouncil.org/spain

then click on ‘bilingual projects’ on the menu on the left hand side.

To get more detailed information click on ‘recruitment information’ and then download the application form.

This is a list of the towns which have schools:

Albacete; Asturias (Gij?n & Oviedo), ?vila (?vila & Ar?valo), Badajoz, Baleares (Art? & Mah?n), Burgos (Burgos & Briviesca), C?ceres, Cantabria (Santander), Ceuta, Ciudad Real (Ciudad Real & Valdepe?as), Cuenca, Guadalajara, Huesca (Huesca, Fraga & Monz?n), Le?n (Le?n & Astorga),  Madrid (10 schools, most of them in the suburbs), Melilla, Murcia (Murcia & Cartagena), Navarra (Pamplona & Tudela) Palencia (Palencia & Guardo), Salamanca (Salamanca & Ciudad Rodrigo), Segovia (Segovia & Cu?llar), Soria, Teruel (Teruel &  Alcorisa), Toledo (Toledo & Talavera de la Reina), Valladolid (Valladolid & Medina del Campo), Zamora (Zamora & Benavente), Zaragoza.

I live in Melilla and know quite a lot of children who are part of the bilingual project school (I’m the manager of a language school and they also come to us for lessons). Their English is usually better than kids from other schools, but obviously a lot depends on the individual child.
I have heard primary teachers from other primary schools here saying that without the project the school isn’t actually all that good and parents are beginning to mutter about the level of the Spanish language classes. How much of this is true and how much sour grapes I don’t know, but obvioulsy if half the classes are in English then something has to give. When the children move to secondary school a lot drop out of the project as the level is so high in English and they can’t keep up. The idea is that when they get to 16 years old they should have a high enough level of English to study in Spain or the UK. I’ve not seen much evidence of this though…!

As for teaching - all the info is on the webpage under ‘recruitment information’. As you are working in a state school they are looking for QTS status so without that I think it’s difficult to get in. Also they are trying to hire more Spanish teachers instead of having to rely on recruiting native speakers every year. There’s certainly no harm in having a go though, right?

Great post, thanks.

How hard is it to get your kids into one of these schools, any ideas?

Is there a charge for these schools and do they use the UK curriculum in any shape or form?

Any info would be really appreciated.

Thanks.

Adrian

The schools as far as I know are all state schools and so no charge is involved. The curriculum at primary level is the same as the Spanish curriculum but several subjects are studied both in Spanish and English, for example sciences and the environment. They first study the lesson in Spanish and then pretty much repeat it, at this point understanding the concepts, but in English. At secondary level there is also geography, drama and I think history in English. Like I said before, there is supposed to be some parity between the curriculum here and in the UK but I’m not really sure about the ins and outs of it. The best thing would be to speak to the director of the school.
As for getting the students into the school, I can’t comment for any of the other cities (perhaps other members have their children in these schools??) but here it’s very hard to get in. My daughter is entering pre-school in September and we’re trying everything to get her in but I just don’t think it’s going to happen. There’s a point system based on the catchment area, brothers and sisters in the school, disabilities and income level and we don’t have a single point for that school. We’ve tried using the ‘but she’s British’ card and while the director would be happy to let her in the local ministry of education is having none of it! I’m all for equality but not when it works out bad for me!!! Having said that, a teacher here has his 2 boys in the school and was able to get in because they entered in 4th and 5th year where there were spaces due to other children having left so I guess it depends on their age and how many places there are in that year. He’s very happy with their education and progress.

My wife (Spain) just did her teaching practicum at one of the schools here in Caceres that is a part of the British Council programme. From what she understood, the “native” teachers were hired by the BC and needed a QTS. The other teachers are supplied from the Ministry of Education here in Spain in their normal way.

In regards to it following a British Curriculum, this is true on paper. They are supposed to be following a British Curriculum while complying with the requisites of the regional curriculum. The problem is, as with most things related to education in Spain, is that it looks very nice on paper but is never quite put into practice. The Spanish teachers have little or no training and have basically had to memorize 31 topics in order to become teachers. Their actual knowledge of modern methodologies only comes from a lecture at University that they may not have even attended. Therefore even if they wanted to put the curriculum into practice, they have no guidance in the HOW. In Spain, the head of a school deals mainly with the parents, if that. Spanish teachers, once they have their permanent position are basically impossible to fire, and therefore their interest in shall we say planning, professional development etc usually become a bit lax. The “native” teachers of course are not immune to this either. With no head breathing down their neck, it becomes a competition to see who can do less. Visit any primary school and see how many teachers you actually just sitting at their desks.

My daughter went to a “private britsh school"in spain and was a total waste of time and money.
In my opinion if in Spain go to a Spanish school and if in UK go to a Btitish school.
It took my nearly 2 years and a lot of money to learn this.
Take advice from someone whos been there,takre your time and think very very hard.

I started a new thread here, as I’m interested in finding out exactly what constitutes QTS.