please talk to me about childcare in Spain...

[dylsmum1998]

hi I'm a student parent tryin gto write an essay on childcare in spain
if any one can help i would be most grateful. i'm looking for htings along the lines of
nurseries/pre-schools/creches and childminders

do they have inspections like our ofsted? do they follow a set curriculum (and if poss where is this set from i.e government department and what is it called?)

any web links to help me find this info would also be useful if anyone has them

any info at all would be a great help.
thank you

[PuzzYuleLogs]

bump

[dylsmum1998]

thanks for the bump- please does anyone know??

[passroundflourymincepies]

Hiya

I think i can help you. I live in spain and am training to be a teacher here so here goes_

nurseries/pre-schools/creches and childminders

Really only the first exsists, Most spanish families leave their children with granparents etc. There are not really any cchildminders, nannies etc,
If no family available then they go to a "guarderia" which literally translates as "Keeping guard" There are govement subsidiised ones and private ones Most open from 7am to 5pm/6pm Mon to Fir and only close for major hols.
The govement ones range from 50 euros to 100 euros for 5 days a week per month.
My DD is 6mths and goes 5 days a week from 8am to 1pm its a private one and we pay 185 euros a month

do they have inspections like our ofsted?
on setting up the nusery there are set rules and regulations to follow (i can tell you these if you need them)
The health department do rregular checks on higiene etc and the town hall do spot checks on things like buildings, emergency exits etc but there is no OFSTED- The education department say they check nurseries 4 times a year but rarely does this happen. Its been a contoversy at mo cause there have been stories of things happening in gaurderias
Normally inspections ocurr when someone is not satisfied and puts in a complaint

do they follow a set curriculum (and if poss where is this set from i.e government department and what is it called?)

There is a curriculum called Logse and the o-3 years is the "Primer Ciclo" First cycle but its nothing like the british one

web links
article bout lack of inspections

ALot of the info is in spanish i have to attend to DD now but ill see if i can find son links in english any other stuff let me know

[dylsmum1998]

thank you so much i apreciate all your help

is Logse for children 3-6?
i would appreciate any help you can give me, the rules and regulations would be very helpful as i need to compare and contrast between the Spainish and the english, and am having trouble getting anything that is in english

[kitbit]

Key difference is that people tend not to move around the country as much as in UK, so people usually live near extended family. Because of this childminders are few and far between, as family do it. Ditto toddler groups, especially outside major cities, they just don't exist. Kids play with siblings and family, and families are well established so all know each other.

Many guarderies (nurseries) won't let you do only one or two days - it's 5 days a week for the place and that's it. They'll accept little ones for a couple of hours a day only, but if you have a place you pay 5 days no matter how much time you use. I think this is quite common. Staff ratios are different: 12 kids per adult mostly at nursery.

They start school at 3, the cut off date for year entry is January to December. ie ds's birthday is in Nov, so he actually started school when he was still 2, and his friend who is 6 weeks younger is in the year below.

Most state run schools operate 9am-2pm only and all extra curricular stuff happens in the afternoon, supervised or organised by parents. Not sure until what age this is, but I see quite a few teenagers around most afternoons so think it's quite far up the system.

The learning style is largely "chalk and talk", book-driven learning. Younger years do some learning through play, but not as much as in britain. This is the main reason we've gone for an itnernational school, because ds's learning style is very hands-on.

All of this is nothing to do with regulations, but maybe helps to have a bit of background in case you didn't already!

[kitbit]

oh, here's quite a good translation online site that I use q fair bit for getting a feel for any spanish articles you might find:

here

[dylsmum1998]

thank you for all your info ladies, especially the transltor link thats fab i'm really impressed with that will play with it for hours.
seriously tho that has really helped, i have got a starting point for this essay now, just need 3000 words to pop into my head, with adequate references, in order which makes sense to people other than me!! (not as easy asit seems )

[MrsMcJnr]

Don't know if I am too late with this but thought I'd post anyway. Where I am in Spain (Malaga province) there is also a "ludoteca" which is like a Guarderia but without all its facilities. There is a great shortage of Guarderia places here and so the government allowed this semi-Guarderias to spring up. hope that is useful.