Schools in Andalucía are starting the new academic year with fewer students and the lowest pupil-teacher ratio on record

Youngsters enrolled in secondary schools and vocational training, meanwhile, will be back on Tuesday 15 September.

The main change is that this is the school year with the fewest pupils on record in the region, and it comes alongside a reduction in class sizes for the youngest children. Andalucía is seeking increasingly smaller class sizes in order to try to improve the quality of teaching.

In fact the goal of a maximum of 22 pupils per class has been established, instead of the 25 that had been the norm until now. This measure will allow for more time to be spent with each pupil, greater capacity to identify learning difficulties and better support for pupils with special educational needs, says the education authority.

This measure will mean that Andalucía, according to the Regional Ministry of Education headed by Carmen Castillo, will fall below the ratio of 25 pupils per class set by the central government. This measure will be implemented gradually, increasing year on year. In other words, this September it will start with three-year-olds, but by the next academic year it will reach four-year-olds, and so on. Within three years, it will cover the entire second cycle of pre-primary education or infant (three to six-year-olds). It will then extend to primary education.

Why is this reduction in class sizes being implemented? In reality, it is possible because the fall in the birth rate has made it so, but at the same time, this reduction in class sizes means that new classes will have to be created.

This reduction in the pupil-to-teacher ratio has led to the creation of new classrooms for the first year of pre-primary education (three-year-olds) in a total of 232 schools inalleight provinces.

The birth rate in Spain has been falling steadily in recent years. Since the 2018/2019 academic year, Andalucía has lost more than 14,000 new places for three-year-olds in nursery schools, solely due to the slump in the birth rate. This academic year, which is now beginning, will see the lowest number of children on record.

The academic year, which was officially opened by the president of the regional government, Juanma Moreno, at a ceremony in Almeríia - while in Jerez and El Puerto it was postponed due to the Vuelta a España cycle race - also brings a number of new developments at almost every stage of education.

In the case of early years centres (up to three years old) - which opened their doors last week - the main change was that free nursery places were extended to one-year-olds, whereas until now free education began at two. This measure led to an increase in the number of children attending early years centres. In fact, last Thursday, 92,400 children under the age of three started the academic year, an increase of 3,024 compared with the previous year, with the majority of this growth coming from one-year-olds, taking advantage of the waiving of fees.

As for secondary schools, which will resume face-to-face teaching from the 15th, significant changes are also expected for teachers.

In fact, for secondary school teachers aged 55 and over, there will be greater flexibility and they will be allowed to work from home doing administrative tasks for at least two hours a week, provided that this does not interfere with form-tutor duties.