The regional government is hoping that it has managed to avert tomorrow's teachers' strike after backing down over its controversial scheme to teach the national government's new Citizenship curriculum in English after months of unrest and public protests.

The decision, which means that schools are now free to teach the subject in Castilian Spanish or Valenciano, directly affects 47% of the region's 550 schools.

Gemma Piqué, a spokeswoman for the Platform for the Defence of Public Education that called the strike has described the regional government's decision as a satisfactory "first step," but added that "if there is consensus, the strike will be postponed until January or February, but, under no circumstances, are we prepared to call it off at this stage."

Thousands return to streets to protest against 'Citizenship in English' scheme
By: thinkSPAIN
Sunday, November 30, 2008

Tens of thousands of disgruntled parents, teachers and students marched through Valencia city centre yesterday evening in the biggest protest march to date against the regional government's insistence that the new Citizenship curriculum be taught in English.

Stretching back over two kilometres, by the time those at the front had reached regional government headquarters those at the back had still not left the starting point in the Plaza San Agustín with protesters filling the calles Xátiva and Colón, the Plaza de Alfonso el Magnanimo, the calle de la Paz and the Plazas de la Reina and la Virgen.

Organisers claim that at least 80,000 took part in the demonstration, making it the best attended in the city since the anti-Iraq war protests back in 2003 though Valencia police estimate the total at nearer 10,000.

Inspectors label Citizenship in English scheme 'absurd'
By: thinkSPAIN
Thursday, November 13, 2008

School inspectors from all over Spain have described the Valencia regional government's scheme to teach the new Citizenship course in English as an "educational absurdity."

At the 10th Federal Conference of the School Inspectors Association in Zaragoza last week, it was agreed that the initiative lacks "objective justification," and to roundly reject the regional Education ministry's "attempt to use school inspectors to impose such absurd and arbitrary obstacles in the path of teachers and schools trying to teach the Education for Citizenship curriculum."

By insisting that the new subject, which is the government's alternative to the Catholic Religious Studies courses traditionally taught in Spanish schools, be given in English, the PP-led Valencian administration has made it practically impossible for the region's teachers to cope.

In turn, this has led to an increasing number of public protest demonstrations - the second photo shows parents and teachers outside the regional government's Valencia headquarters building earlier this week - and has even attracted the interest of a BBC Radio 4 investigative news team, who have been in the region conducting interviews with those affected by the political stalemate for a programme to be broadcast next December 4th, according to a report on the 20minutos website yesterday.