Teaching exams coincide with the C2 Catalan exam: "It's incomprehensible"
Teachers will need to speak Catalan, but they are also called to take part in the tests to obtain a civil servant position on April 26
BarcelonaThe tests to obtain a position as a teaching official and to obtain the C2 level of Catalan coincide on the same day, April 26, 2025. This would make it impossible for teachers who want to sit the exams and do not yet have this level of language to be able to take the exam in this call and would have to wait to take the C2 the following year. The paradox is that the decree on the language regime includes the obligation to have the C2 for new teachers from the 2025-26 academic year, although this is a law provisionally suspended by the TSJC. Therefore, for the moment, it is possible to work as a teacher with the C1 level but, as the C2 will end up being mandatory, many teachers had already registered.
The Department of Education and Vocational Training has "regretted" the coincidence, because Linguistic Policy had already committed the date in advance (exams are always around Sant Jordi), but alleges that they are conditioned by the calendar of destination allocations to be able to start the 2025/26 academic year. The department confirms that they have realized the coincidence late and that they will try to fix it: "We are going to look for the solution in coordination with Linguistic Policy and try to coordinate better in the future," they say. Educació opens competitions for 495 secondary, high school and FP teaching positions.
"We don't understand why they haven't reached an agreement. Neither of the two departments has given in to the modification of the dates, it's incomprehensible. It's very surprising that they're placing the exams on that date when they know that many people are signed up for C2, and now we don't understand why the dates aren't changed so that people can take them," USTEC spokesperson.
"There should be coordination on the part of the Government —laments the teacher and trade unionist Jesús Martín (UGT)—. You can't ask for a requirement and not make it easy for it to be met, and even more so with such a sensitive issue as the language skills of our teaching staff." UGT defends the existence of the C2 requirement, but asks for facilities to be provided: "That the date be changed" and "that many more places be made" for Catalan —For the moment, the Government has announced a thousand new positions and more calls.
For the moment, it has only been made public that teachers who have registered for the C2 level could recover the fees or use them for the next call, in which they would have priority if the dates are not definitely changed. The C2 certificate is not only valid when the Catalan requirement is mandatory, but also counts for having merits in the event of a transfer competition.
UGT estimates that between public and private teachers we have "170,000 teachers and everyone will have to certify the C2", according to Martín. Currently, only a third of secondary school teachers and one in five primary school teachers have it, according to data from the ACN. "We must make society aware that teachers must be linguistically competent, you cannot have the same level as the student, who in theory finishes compulsory secondary school with a C1", says the UGT representative.
