The general principles of Primary Education They refer to the pedagogical foundations on which the stage is based. Although they have a pedagogical nature, however, they are regulated by educational legislation, specifically in the legal development of the Organic Law for the Improvement of Teaching Quality, LOMCE. The general principles of Primary Education refer to different aspects that we are going to develop. Next: the purpose of the stage, the principles for the organization and development of the curriculum and the principles related to teaching and all educational action.
The General Principles of Primary Education are the map
The principles have a generic character that establish references to follow, criteria to guide limits, trends… They are the reference map. In short, they set the style to follow, although it is necessary for educational centers, in their planning process, to specify them in more defined actions.
I am going to develop the principles, taking as a reference the legal development that appears in the Curriculum Decree of Castilla-la Mancha, the community in which I currently live, but the development should be similar in the rest of the Spanish communities.
1. The purpose of Primary Education
The first of the general principles of Primary Education is to indicate the purpose of the stage: facilitate students’ learning of oral expression and comprehension, reading, writing, calculation, the acquisition of basic notions of culture and the habit of coexistence, as well as those of study and work, artistic sense, creativity and affectivity, with the in order to guarantee comprehensive training that contributes to the full development of the personality of the students and to prepare them to successfully complete Compulsory Secondary Education.
2. Principles related to the organization and development of the curriculum
The second block of general principles of Primary Education refers to how educational centers should be governed in their organization and in the development of the curriculum; They will do so in accordance with the principles of equityeducational inclusion, standardization and quality of teaching for all its students.
3. Principles related to programming and teaching practice
The third block refers to the processes and practice of teaching, the action and practice of the teaching staff. In this block, the general principles of Primary Education say that teaching will be based on the competency-based learning approachthat the programming and teaching practice will guarantee the global and integrative character in the areas of knowledge.
Also proclaimed as general principles of Primary Education in this block are attention to the diversity of students, individualized attention, prevention of learning difficulties and the implementation of appropriate reinforcement mechanisms.
Referring to educational action It is said that the integration of the different experiences and learning of the students from a competency point of view will be sought. It will adapt to your work rhythms, learning styles and specific needs, based on the principles of personalized education and tutorial action.
Finally, teaching practice will be based on the principle of coordination between teachers that teaches these lessons at the center, with the teachers of the Early Childhood Education and Compulsory Secondary Education stages.
4. Transverse elements
Regarding the development of the curriculum, a transversal treatment will be carried out, that is, that involves all subjects in the following elements: reading comprehension and reading habit, oral and written expression, audiovisual communication, information and communication technologies (hereinafter, ICT), entrepreneurship, physical activity, road safety education, civic and constitutional education, and relative values to freedom, justice, peace and equality.
5. Other aspects
Lastly, the need to adopt measures to ensure that physical activity and balanced diet form part of children’s behavior, promoting the daily practice of sports and physical exercise by students during the school day.
Recapping
In summary, the general principles of Primary Education referred to in the regulations, taking the Castilla-La Mancha curriculum as an example, are:
Principle of equity. Educational inclusion. Standardization. Teaching quality. Approach to learning by competencies. Global and integrative nature of the areas of knowledge. Attention to diversity. Individualized attention. Attention to difficulties. Personalized education. Tutorial action. Coordination between teachers. Transverse treatment.
I hope that the article helps you better understand some aspects of Primary Education and its legal regulation.