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“The respect that there was for the teacher was taken away. Students know that if they don’t respect their teachers, there won’t be any major consequences,” he laments, adding that today parents are much more involved in the school, which is not always positive. “It’s good when guardians come in with a constructive perspective.” However, “it’s less good when there are disciplinary problems and parents no longer go to speak directly to the principals, instead the parents’ lawyers go and this already happens in schools in Vila Real”.
The director reveals that he receives parents every week, who are more difficult to deal with. “What happens is that parents know a reality at home and it is not the same as what we know at school. There is a transfer of non-assumption of blame from the child to the teacher. In other words, those in charge of education ask what made the teacher make my child react like that? It is more difficult to deal with parents than with students, who for the most part are very easy to manage.”
Aware of the problems that the school faces today, the director states that the group has “invested a lot” in emotional intelligence, in school mediators and social workers.
“We go to the room, we don’t give them the recipe, but rather tools for them to come up with solutions.
I’m not going to say that bullying doesn’t exist, because it certainly does, but we try to prevent it.”
Regarding the use of cell phones in schools, Ricardo Montes considers that “it is bad in many situations”, but “there are teachers in our school who use it as a work tool and I don’t know if it would be good to remove cell phones, at a time when the school digital doesn’t work.”
CONSTRUCTION
Heading the group since 2021, Ricardo Montes emphasizes that both Escola Morgado de Mateus and Monsenhor Jerónimo do Amaral need urgent interventions. “There are two school facilities that urgently need work. We still have insulation with simple glass and the insulation in the pavilions has long since expired. What has been done is patches upon patches. I know that after the works at Liceu Camilo Castelo Branco, the municipality tells us that we are next, but we cannot commit to the deadlines”.
Regarding the Tournament School, the director said that they will “slightly increase some spaces. We want it to be a different project, which connects students, parents and the land. In other words, the community is involved in the school, and I would like to transform that kindergarten into a basic school. But I don’t know when that will be possible.”
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