Emeritus status for retiring teachers: still serving education

When they are called up to help with a particular activity, they do not hesitate to return to their old school. They stopped working, but the link with teaching is not lost from one day to the next. After decades teaching in classrooms or workshops, it is difficult to disengage from what, for many of them, is a true vocation. In schools and colleges there are programmes whereby academic staff can remain linked to the school in some way or other.

Now, the Junta's department for educational development is trying to formalise and regulate these random collaborations through the creation of the title of emeritus teacher and a tighter definition of what that will entail. Currently in Spain, if teachers have amassed enough years of service paying into the system as civil servants, they can retire at the age of 60. They can also, if they choose, extend their working life up to the age of 70.

Wooden pergolas have been erected in the gardens of La Rosaleda secondary school to serve as a meeting point for pupils, for reading, for exchanging books and for recharging electric scooters. In addition to input from the teachers of the woodworking department, Miguel Cardona and Esteban Guillén, now retired, have also pitched in on assembling this facility. These wooden constructions are part of the Aulas Verdes Abiertas project ('open-air, green classrooms'), for which they received funding from the regional education ministry and whose main objective is to create greener spaces in publicly-owned educational centres that are then put to educational use. Miguel and Esteban are two of the retired members of the association of former teachers who continue to collaborate with the school.

Miguel Cardona retired at the age of 61. He delayed his retirement because students from his department were selected for the SpainSkills vocational training championships, and he did not want to leave his students without the necessary help to better prepare them. Miguel is of the view that, at his age, "we can contribute our experience of so many years of work." That is why he continues to collaborate with the Aulas Verdes Abiertas project.

Esteban Guillén has also been a teacher in this same carpentry department at IES La Rosaleda. He retired in 2020 at the age of 61. He says that his profession "is difficult to learn, so when you reach maturity and knowledge, it is a shame that they are lost upon retirement." Esteban shows his willingness to "help in any way necessary", as has been the case with this project to build wooden pergolas in the school's open spaces. "For me it is a privilege to be able to continue contributing my knowledge after 39 years of work."

Through the association of woodworking teachers, they continue their collaboration with La Rosaleda, such as their recent participation in an international fair in Valencia. "This allows us to keep in touch with the reality of the sector, even though we are no longer active," he says. He also considers the initiative of the regional ministry of education to lay down what constitutes an emeritus teacher to be a good one. "It's good that everything is standardised, we can contribute a lot, but this has to be controlled so that there are no problems."

After 35 years of teaching Isabel Cardona retired in October 2019 from her last position at the public school, Nuestra Señora de Gracia, where she worked as an infant teacher for 14 years. This school of compensatory education is organised as a learning community for all pupils, regardless of their abilities or disadvantages, and it has a prominent role for families. Isabel participates in the volunteer programme and comes to the school one morning a week.

She reads stories and books with the children, as well as holding discussions, in which a book is read and the children then comment on their impressions of the story. "I take advantage of my many years of experience in education to try to contribute what I can," she says. For her, spending those hours of the day with the children at school "is very gratifying, I have a great time, it's a pleasure to be with them and without the responsibility of being their teacher."

Andalucía's 2007 education act already caters for the regulation of an emeritus role in education. However, it was not until last May that it was activated with the drafting of a decree. The aim is to give some prestige to the teaching profession by harnessing the talent and experience of emeritus teachers for the regional education system through their collaboration with schools and families.

Voluntary, unpaid collaboration is envisaged for a maximum of ten hours per year. Appointing an emeritus teacher will entail following a procedure of calls for applications for these collaborations with schools, which in turn will have to be approved by the school council and the teaching staff.

Emeritus teachers will be able to support novice and trainee teachers with their experience, participate in teacher training and carry out mediation activities or provide guidance for the resolution of possible conflicts in order to improve harmony in the teaching and learningn environment.

They can also collaborate in the revamping of school libraries, among other projects. In Andalucía an average of 3,000 teachers retire each year: to be eligible for emeritus status, teachers must have been actively teaching in the classroom for at least 15 years.