Rubalcaba focuses on education in first speech as official Socialist candidate

Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, now officially the Socialist prime-ministerial candidate for next year's general elections, tried out his new role on Sunday by taking a stand on the issue of education. In a speech delivered in Valladolid, he proposed introducing an examination and internship period for schoolteachers modeled after the MIR taken by physicians.

Under this system, education graduates opting for a teaching position at a public school would have to first sit a national examination and then complete an internship period in the classroom.

Similarly, the MIR puts medical graduates through an examination; depending on the grade, candidates select a specialization and a center where they will train. Upon successful completion of this internship, the physician obtains a position at a public hospital. The system is widely praised across Europe.

Rubalcaba, himself a former teacher and education minister, said he would address poor school results by targeting primary education. "It is important to make the education system flexible," he said. The deputy prime minister also talked about the importance of retraining school drop-outs who have returned to the classroom, flooding the vocational training system.

"Social exclusion"

One solution, he said, would be to encourage distance education. Reducing drop-out rates, he said, is "vital" because not doing so can lead to "social exclusion" for youngsters who left school to take advantage of the jobs to be had during the real estate boom, and now find themselves uneducated and unemployed.

Rubalcaba toyed with these ideas in a public speech last November, insisting later that his words were "more of an academic reflection" than a firm proposal. Now that he is the party candidate to run in elections due next March, his thoughts on education are taking on the shape of a campaign promise.

Education is the first item on his agenda, he said, because it is the key to take Spain out of the crisis. For the past decade, the proportion of youngsters who quit studying right after compulsory education has been around 30 percent, a fact some experts say is dragging the Spanish economy down. International studies have given Spain mediocre grades in recent years.