The failure of PISA forces a national pact

BarcelonaThe disastrous results of the PISA tests in the Spanish state, which are perfectly extrapolable to Catalonia despite not having representative data due to the blunder of student exclusions, have set off all the alarms and place us at a turning point. Basically, because in reality they were perfectly expected and for some time there have been symptoms that the current educational system is failing and not responding to the complexities of today's society. Given this situation, what is needed is to demand from the administrations, the parties, the educational community, and society in general an authentic national pact that serves to reach a consensus on a shared strategy that goes beyond electoral cycles. Education must stop being a political weapon.

There are some shared diagnoses that should be part of this national pact. For example, it is necessary to reinforce reading as an educational tool, mathematics, and scientific reasoning. If what we actually want is to improve competencies (and PISA tests are basically competency-based), it is necessary to commit to high standards and, for example, to mandatory readings, and not eliminate them as was done in the last university entrance exam for the majority of students.

Beyond the debates on educational methodologies, it is necessary to rethink whether lowering the thresholds to avoid more failures and repetitions has not ended up harming the majority and, above all, those who can aspire to excellence (Spain has a fairly equitable system but with a lower proportion of brilliant students than the rest, according to PISA). It is not a question of a return to classic pedagogies as a solution because we are not in the society of our grandparents, but it is a question of also valuing the importance of content and results.

Everyone agrees that more resources are needed to manage diversity in the classroom, which has increased enormously in recent years, especially due to immigration. The goal must be to avoid the consolidation of a double network, one for the locals and another for the newcomers, which would be detrimental to future social cohesion. But if it is to work, the inclusive school must be an absolute priority in terms of means. Regarding the organization of centers, it is necessary to strengthen the autonomy of management, both in terms of internal management and hiring.

All changes, however, will be useless if the teachers, who are the ones who have to implement them, are not taken into account. And in the same way that more quality, more teacher preparation, and more accountability must be demanded, society must make an effort to value the work that teachers do and recognize them as they deserve. Trust in the system has been broken in recent years, and this has caused the teaching staff to accumulate a high degree of unrest that has exploded in recent times with mobilizations and protests. The PISA crisis should serve to redirect the situation and open a sincere and productive dialogue. Teachers and professors must be respected again.