What is the MYP English learning program?

Euskaraz irakurri: Zer da PAI program eta zertan datza Nafarroako Parlamentuak onartu duen egitasmoa?

The Government of Navarre launched the learning program in English, better known by its abbreviation MYPduring the 2011-2012 academic year According to the then Minister of Education, José Iribas, the aim of the program was to ensure multilingual education and that the level of English of the students “does not depend on the income level or where they live”.

The program, applied from the second cycle of the Early Childhood Education stage, covers the curricular content of non-linguistic areas developed in a foreign language (40% of subjects and of the schedule are offered in English During the first academic year, the program was implemented in 40 centers and new centers were established in the 2013-2014 academic year, reaching a total of 60 schools. It is currently offered in 116 centers of the public and coordinated network.

It raised doubts from the start. The unions expressed concern about the lack of training of staff to conduct classes in English. The nationalist parties, for their part, saw in the program an attempt to weaken “model D”, which is on the rise.

In 2013, the Navarrese president Yolanda Barcina lit the fuse with some statements on a television channel, in which he boasted that he had discontinued registration for model D: “Now we no longer have a demand for Basque, perhaps because we offer English and therefore we have less progress in that model of what was previously asked in the Parliament of Navarre”. The UPN leader had to appear in the Foral parliament to clarify her words.

Since then there has been little criticism. In 2021, the government of Navarra authorized for the first time the departure of the program of the Dos de Mayo school in Castejón. According to the center’s management and school council, “the MYP does not work in the educational reality of the center”.

PSN Bill

The bill’s proposal alone, presented by the Socialists in early April, has brought the program back to the fore. According to the PSN, “the Iceta law” (which requires the stabilization of public employment) “reveals the need to consolidate the positions of the 350 interim PAIs” and the proposal presented on April 8 was the “only” possible way.

The regional law provides as: requires the requirement of English C1 to access the seats. However, Spanish law allows only one of the official languages ​​to be required (in this case, Spanish or Basque). In the debate on the proposal at the table of spokespersons, the PSN insisted that the government of Navarra should assert its self-government and “take advantage of Navarra’s powers” in this matter. However, both Geroa Bai and Podemos Ahal Dugu have expressed doubts about the legal feasibility of the regulation and have asked the Council of Navarre for advice.

Without waiting for the report, the PSN continued processing and took the proposal to the plenary. It was approved on April 28 with the votes for the Socialists and Na+.

To implement the norm, the socialists had to: pay the toll demanded by the right-wing coalition: Javier Esparza’s group has tabled three amendments to the bill, which the PSN had to accept with yes or yes in order to add votes. The first demanded that MYP teaching positions could not “change into Spanish or Basque positions” in the future. The second required the conversion of this program to a linguistic model, equating it to model D. Likewise, and as long as this becomes a reality, “families who choose the PAI program in Navarra will do so under the same conditions, with the same rights as those who choose other models”. In practice, it will payment of transport and food to some families.

According to the unions and groups that have not supported the provincial law, the law “lacks legal certainty” and likely to be appealed So it remains to be seen how far this recently passed law has gone.