AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY OF ANDALUSIA Sebastián Cárdenas Zabala Agencia Andaluza de Evaluación Educativa Consejería de Educación de Andalucía Language and Literacy Andalusia is located in the south of Spain and is one of its 17 autonomous regions, having a status of historical nationality recognized by the 1978 Spanish Constitution.1 As the most populated and the second largest region, Andalusia has significant standing within Spain. The official language in Andalusia is Spanish, specifically its Andalusian linguistic modality, the use of which is recognized and protected by the Statute of Autonomy of Andalusia (2006).2 Just as in other European countries, the number of schools in Andalusia that have adopted a Content and Language Integrated Learning curriculum, in which some of the curriculum subjects are taught in English, has grown considerably in the past decade. Emphasis on Literacy Since 2007, the Education Department has been developing the Reading and School Libraries Project in educational centers. The aim of this project is to promote the use of school libraries in an effort to increase reading habits among students. Schools play an essential role in fostering positive attitudes toward books and reading and can structure mid or long term global reading projects with the help of adapted and systematic action plans. Schools have some resources via school libraries, which are indispensable for an adequate education of students in a society that demands citizens with skills in research through various information sources, critical selection of information, and autonomous knowledge building. Overview of the Education System The Spanish Constitution of 1978, in accordance with the autonomous territorial structure of the state, has allowed for a great degree of decentralization of education. The central administration is responsible for overseeing legislation, basic structure, and foreign relations to guarantee the unity of the education system. Andalusia, like the rest of Spain’s autonomous communities, is responsible for all other aspects of the education system, such as financial management and management of teachers, schools, and curriculum in its territory.3 The process of transferring responsibilities to the autonomous communities concluded in 2000 (some years earlier in Andalusia). Subsequent education legislation PIRLS 2016 ENCYCLOPEDIA AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY OF ANDALUSIA 1 has attempted to reconcile this distribution with the interregional cooperation necessary to guarantee a coordinated effort in developing educational policies throughout the state. The Organic Law on Education of 2006 modified by the Organic Law for the Improvement of Educational Quality (known by its Spanish acronym, LOMCE) of 2013 guarantees the necessary basic homogeneity and unity of the education system and highlights the broad legislative and executive frameworks available to the autonomous communities to achieve the goals of the education system.4,5 This law includes a proposal for regional cooperation among the education authorities in order to develop projects and programs of general interest, share information, and benefit from best practices. According to Andalusian Education Department statistics, public expenditure on education totaled €5.6 billion in 2014.6 This expenditure is distributed as follows: preprimary, primary, and special education (43.19 percent); secondary and professional education (38.78 percent); and artistic education, adults, and other (18.03 percent). According to 2016–2017 data, 1.83 million students are enrolled in these types of schools (public and private) in Andalusia, excluding universities.7 Public schools are owned by a public authority. However, the majority of private schools also are publicly funded, since the autonomous community finances their operational costs under the general system for grant-maintained schools in return for the public education service they provide to society. The basic structure of the Spanish education system was established in 1990 by the Organic Law on the General Organization of the Education System. The system is organized into stages, cycles, years, and levels of education. The levels include preprimary (ages 0 to 6), primary (ages 6 to 12), comprehensive secondary (ages 12 to 16), baccalaureate (ages 16 to 18), and vocational (ages 16 to 18 at the intermediate level and age 18 and older at the higher level). Primary and comprehensive secondary education are called basic education, which is compulsory and free of charge and lasts 10 years, generally from ages 6 to 16. Secondary education is divided into comprehensive secondary education and post-compulsory secondary education, which includes the baccalaureate level, the intermediate level of vocational education, the intermediate level of vocational education in arts and design, and the intermediate level of sports education. Higher education includes university education, higher arts education, the higher level of vocational education, the higher level of arts and design, and the higher level of sports education. The primary stage comprises six years and typically includes students ages 6 to 12. The goal of this stage is providing all students with an education that allows them to consolidate their personal development and well-being, and for students to acquire basic cultural skills relating to oral expression and comprehension, reading, writing, and numeracy. Primary education also focuses on the development of social skills, work and study habits, and creative and emotional growth. The education provided in this stage must integrate different experiences and knowledge, and adapt the instruction to individual students’ needs. LOMCE has established objectives that describe the student competencies to be developed for the primary stage. The primary stage emphasizes responding to student differences and supporting individual students, preventing learning difficulties, and putting remedial mechanisms into place as soon as difficulties are detected. PIRLS 2016 ENCYCLOPEDIA AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY OF ANDALUSIA 2 The preprimary stage of education is not compulsory. It is organized into two cycles (ages 0 to 3 and ages 3 to 6), the second of which is free of charge. Language/Reading Curriculum in the Fourth Grade Reading Policy During the primary stage, students are given general instruction of the communicative practices necessary to live in 21st century society. The goal of instruction in the language and literature area is to achieve competence in the linguistic skills of speaking, listening, taking part in conversations, reading, and writing. The main purpose of the language and literacy curriculum is to introduce students to reading and understanding literary texts. The starting point for linguistic education is the use of language that students have acquired at the beginning of the primary stage, and the role of primary education is to broaden this linguistic and communicative competence so students are able to participate in the different social spheres they will become involved in. Article 19 of the Organic Law for the Improvement of Educational Quality (known by its Spanish acronym, LOMCE), which applies not only to Andalusia but to all of Spain, mandates a period of time to be devoted to reading instruction each day to enforce positive reading habits.8 Article 19 also states that although reading comprehension is specifically included in the language and literature area, teachers of other subjects also must cover reading. Finally, Article 113 of the Organic Law for the Improvement of Educational Quality states that every school must have a school library.9 Summary of the Autonomous Curriculum Reading is included in the language and literature section of the curriculum. The Organic Law for the Improvement of Educational Quality defines “curriculum” as the set of objectives, key competencies, content, pedagogical methods, and assessment criteria for each type of education. Reading, as an interactive process between reader and text, always implies an active reader reading with a specific purpose, whether in a mother tongue or a foreign language. The initiation and development of learning reading requires a continuous functional approach to any reading—students should live with reading as a pleasant experience and an important tool for the transmission of values and language. Hence, texts selected for children must have a practical function and be connected to the nearest environment of the students. Additionally, the school library is a resource center to create reading experiences that lead to reading habits. Content Reading should be a process of understanding the world. Hence, it requires the collaboration of studentsʼ families with school and progressive skills regarding the processing of verbal and nonverbal languages (e.g., Braille, sign language). Reading should involve enjoying ideas, stories, and experiences in different space and time contexts. Children must read in a variety of formats (e.g., paper and digital, individual and shared) and know of the existence of nonverbal languages (e.g., Braille, sign language). Reading must imply PIRLS 2016 ENCYCLOPEDIA AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY OF ANDALUSIA 3 understanding different types of texts and their purpose, intention (implicit or explicit), and mode of production (e.g., personal, official, journalistic, political, religious). Reading in school, finally, also must be a privileged means of discovering the unknown. The curriculum in Andalusia specifically deals with the following