Presentation issue 15º

With the French Revolution, the transition from the status of vassals to that of citizens takes place, and with this, to underpin the new liberal political edifice, humanity is linked to education. The freedom that is preached and the equality to which one aspires demands lights, education. For this the new liberalism will raise an administrative structure responsible for organizing, executing and managing state education policies. In this context, and not simultaneously between the different European countries, the Inspection of education as a body of control, advice and dissemination of the liberal educational policy will be born in the 19th century. From then until today, nearly 200 years have passed, which has led to a long history in the construction of educational systems, in their policies, in the processes of their social institutionalization and in school theory and practice. After this long history, and with an educational system comparable to the countries of our environment, the time has come, and especially in the current circumstances of changes in global and national perspective, to address the Inspection of education from different angles in order to contribute to delineate your nearest future.

Through all the articles of this monograph on inspection as a public service, we have tried to reflect from different topics and approaches. The article by Tomas Secadura Navarro, Inspector of education in the Community of Madrid with a broad professional trajectory, intends to serve as a framework for reflection, since the author, in a well-structured work in his reasoning, raises the inescapable need to abandon the current model of organization by another one that, conserving its identity, centers all its potentiality in the educational system, which, in turn, will cause a profound change in the inspectorate practice.

Vicente Díaz Rodríguez, Inspector of Education in the Community of Valencia, also advocates a change in the features of what he calls the Professional Code of the Education Inspectorate. It analyzes the weak professional code of the inspection of Education to explain its insufficiencies, to, from there, to venture measures that could configure an Inspection that contributes to the solution of the educational problems.

Santiago Esteban Frades, Inspector of Education in the Community of Castilla y León, delves into the nature and contributions of the Education Inspectorate as a public service. A concept that is part of the Social State of Law and that serves the author to reflect on the consideration of the Education Inspectorate, which organ attributes sufficient characteristics to be considered an essential public service of quality. An inspection that extends its functions to the whole of education, and without distinction between public and private, even when its intervention is greater in public centers or supported by public funds.

And since the Education Inspectorate should strive to work under quality parameters, Esteban Vázquez Cano, Juan José Arévalo Jiménez and José Luis Gómez Agüero, analyze the benefits of service letters in improving the service provision of the Inspection of Education. A bet of the Administration of Education, that in some autonomous communities reaches the Inspection of Education, and that in opinion of the authors will help to develop the functions and to manage their performances elevating the level of their results, the satisfaction of all, at the time that will improve internal and external communication.

Ángel Díaz Baldero, president of ADIDE federación, affirms in his article that whoever has the material competence over something also has the competence of inspection, being, therefore, the educational Administrations of the Autonomous Communities and the Ministry in the area that corresponds to them, holders of the power to inspect. It is up to the inspectors to provide the expert criteria to the centers' management and to the educational Administrations, this being one of the fundamental services that the Education Inspectorate can render now and in the future.

Francisco Galván Palomo contributes the history and evolution of the High Inspection in the State of Autonomies.

Finally, Elías Ramírez Aísa closes the monographic issue with an article with historical content: The Inspection of Education in Madrid in the 19th century. An exception to the general rule that moderate liberals were configuring. An exceptionality that starts with the enlightened monarchy of Carlos III, and that in the nineteenth century, depending on the political situation, will take different forms that will go, from the exclusive respect for the inspection rights of its municipality to levels of greater centralization around a more interventionist executive power. Exceptionality that concluded definitively in times of the dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera.

The interview with Professor Embid Irujo, Professor of Administrative Law at the University of Zaragoza, can be considered linked to the title and theme of this monographic issue, since he has dedicated notable works to the freedom and administration of Spanish education. His ideas and affirmations, contrasted by his years of research and teaching, guide us by his intelligence and lucidity.

The subject, the Inspection of Education, contrary to what it might seem, is worth it, since it does not have a long research career. It has not even aroused a special interest in the academic and professional community, which clashes with its central role in the implementation processes of educational policies. However, the study of the Education Inspection, is a relevant topic to be studied both from the academic and professional community, because it allows, by the watchtower that it occupies, to reveal the nature of the educational systems, as well as its value as a technical instrument in the construction processes of them. The monographic number tries to cover to a certain extent this deficit with a series of articles that open the debate, suggest new hypotheses and try to clarify the role of the Education Inspectorate in a composite State and in a complex educational system that converges with the countries that pursue the dream of a Europe unity.

The editorial board.