Spain

Earlier this month I had an e-mail with some commentary and details on the home education situation in Spain.

From Lisa E Mitchell, with permission to share:

I wanted to clarify the situation in Spain, where I live.
Our situation in Spain, fortunately, is not the same as Germany, where they have Hitler's law prohibiting homeschooling.

There are no laws in Spain that specifically prohibit homeschooling, so it's not that we can't homeschool in Spain, it's that it's in a legal void for lack of previous experience.
It's Alegal (not illegal) = one cannot prohibit something that has not, in law, been prohibited.

However, they are still at the stage where they equate school absenteeism to parental neglect,
hence the current persecution of a number of homeschooling families in different parts of Spain.

The Pat Farenga blog post about Spain, in reference to the "Constitutional Tribunal" Ruling last December, 2010
http://patfarenga.squarespace.com/pat-farengas-blog/2011/1/19/homeschooling-is-officially-illegal-in-spain.html fails to include the fact that in weeks following that ruling in reference to the Spanish Constitution (a ruling that was highly criticised by many, including Madalen Goiria and another homeschooling lawyer mom in Spain, Laura Mascaró, for being highly incoherent, that the legal language in itself was hard to follow, and contradicted itself)

There were several cases of homeschooling families that were found "not guilty", and the judge ruled in favor of the families. Of course the media fails to diffuse this news!

The Clonlara liason in Spain's comment in the comment section underneath the post is correct.

And I now see that Pat corrected his post and acknowledged he had made an error in his statement that it was "illegal in Spain" in this later post: http://patfarenga.squarespace.com/pat-farengas-blog/category/spain

In Cataluña, where I live, they passed a reform on the education law in 2009 that recognized "non-presencial" education, saying that it was up to the education board to set up a "regulatory body" to deal with that, create a register of homeschooling families, etc, and we are still waiting for updates in that regard.

I just read on one of the homeschooling blogs last night that in September there will be some movement from the education board in this regard (setting up a register).

Interestingly enough, I also came across a link to one of the Spanish political parties, the "Partido Popular" election information documents (we have national elections at the end of the month), which I am attaching that states on page 85, under the title "Strengthen the relationships between families and schools,"the following "commitment":

"The introduction of the possibility for education in the home, providing a guaranteed appropriate legislative frame and rigurorous follow-up on the contents, socialization and advances of the students that are in this schooling modality"

"Potenciar las relaciones entre las familias y las escuelas
• La introducción de la posibilidad de la educación en casa garantizando para ello un marco legislativo adecuado y un seguimiento riguroso de los contenidos, de la socialización y de los avances de los alumnos que estén en esta modalidad de escolarización."

Of course reading things like "rigorous follow-up" makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck,but I find it interesting that the PP has specifically included this reference to homeschooling (and therefore obviously is seeking votes from homeschooling families....!)

I am relieved that we have people like Madalen Goiria and Laura Mascaró (who was recently voted president of the Spanish Asociation for Homeschooling and then only a few days later resigned over the "can of worms" she encountered (she had been given due warning but thought it was worth giving it a shot just the same). A true shame to lose her input and proactive effort, indeed) ...both lawyers and homeschooling advocates...

A follow-up, also from Lisa:

Here's a link to a blog in Spanish in Spain dedicated to sharing information on the issue in Spain.
and a link that makes specific references to the legal parameters in Spain that would be the ones cited by homeschooling families to support their legal right to choose:http://homeschoolingspain.blogspot.com/search/label/Legalidad