There are still those who awaken to the sound of roosters at dawn in Lanzarote, their calls filtering through green windows and doors, amidst white walls and surrounding sands. Traditionally, access to education in these rural areas of the island has come through unitary schools, small educational centres with one teacher instructing a small group of children, often mixing students from different academic years. Despite the population growth the island is experiencing, these unitary schools continue to operate in some villages.
A few years ago, Lanzarote had a total of seventeen unitary schools located in rural villages. Currently, only thirteen remain, catering to around 320 students, following the closure of those in Órzola, Máguez, Teseguite, and Tiagua. All are part of a collective known as the Rural Schools Network or CER Lanzarote, coordinated by Chano Acosta. This organisation supports these educational centres, which are distant from large investments and infrastructures like conventional schools, but still maintain the same academic content as their counterparts.
Initially, a single teacher teaches the core mandatory subjects, excluding English. Later, specialists trained in Music, Physical Education, Therapeutic Pedagogy, Emotional Education, and Creativity take turns in instruction.
Since 2017, the educational team, alongside family members and representatives from the Cabildo and the corresponding Town Hall, have embraced sustainability through activities tailored to each unitary school involved in the Biosphere Schools project. Additionally, the Juan Brito Foundation collaborates to support the conservation of cultural heritage by organising artisan workshops and intergenerational exchanges.
Mercedes Morales and the Passion for Teaching
The first time Mercedes Morales taught was at the unitary school in Mala. Five years later, she repeated the experience at another small educational centre, where she was assigned the last free position at the unitary school in Las Breñas. There, she took over the management of the centre while simultaneously teaching all the students. She eventually retired from this school.
Ms Morales joined the unitary school in Las Breñas in the 1991-92 academic year, teaching six children in Early Years education. The youngest of the students were four years old and created their own world with miniature toys: they combined flat pieces and plastic blocks to build structures. In this space, they learned domestic and everyday tasks, such as shopping in a shop, moulding figures from modelling clay, painting, drawing, reading books in the library, and playing with boards of letters and numbers.
Despite the distance of the educational centre from her home in Teguise, this teacher refused to request a transfer to a closer school. “You end up staying, loving what you do,” she enthusiastically acknowledges.
Three Former Students, Three Memories
The traces left by Mercedes extend across multiple generations. Carmen Umpiérrez, a former student and now a mother of two children at the unitary school, emphasises the family-like atmosphere where siblings and classmates of various ages coexisted. Mercedes de León, Merche, recalls the community involvement in festivals, outings, and carnivals. Cristina Alisedo, who arrived from Galicia at the age of five, transitioned from that small classroom to CEIP Playa Blanca without any trauma, strengthened by the trust and creativity nurtured in Las Breñas. Today, she studies Philosophy and says she retains “that vast and immense interior” which her teacher fostered.
All three share a common portrait of Morales: patience, understanding, and respect for individual learning paces. Merche describes her as “the adult every child needs for secure attachment.” Cristina considers her “the best teacher,” while Carmen highlights how she instilled originality and the value of handcrafted work.
Beyond fond memories, they advocate for this educational model: Merche cites the topophilia of Yi-Fu Tuan as a powerful sense of belonging and love for the environment, advocating for the care of spaces; Cristina emphasises the importance of learning to manage emotions; and Carmen prefers human closeness over being “a number in the CIAL” (Unique Student Identification Code).
The Case of CEIP Mararía
The future, however, is uncertain. Verónica Marrero, the director of CEIP Mararía in Femés, knows this well. With six years at the school and four as its head, she oversees the centre alongside another teacher. There are hardly any local children; most come from Playa Blanca, where families seek a learning environment close to nature.
To Verónica, a unitary school is “the queen on the chessboard,” but she warns that they risk losing the identity of each village without institutional coordination. Meanwhile, she and her team continue teaching, resisting, and hoping that rural education does not become an echo of the past but a forward-looking commitment for Lanzarote.
