A few days ago, the results of the basic skills tests for sixth grade primary school and fourth year secondary school were released. As usual, the focus has been on the decline or stagnation in results. But perhaps we should go beyond the numbers. Not to minimize them, but to understand what lies behind them. Because student results are not only their responsibility. They also speak to the education system we have built—or that we have allowed to develop.
Catalonia has experienced a succession of Education Ministers that has left little room for the continuity of sound policies. Since 2007, there have been eight. Each change has brought new priorities, new discourses, and, all too often, the scrapping of previous projects. If we add the changes to education law with each change in the Spanish government, it all adds up to a great deal of instability, especially when compared to more consistent education systems, in which strategic lines are maintained for decades, regardless of the government in power. How can long-term improvement be sustained without stability and time to consolidate changes? Education cannot keep pace with legislative periods.
The Catalan system also suffers from a structural deficiency: the lack of a rigorous and useful system for teacher evaluation and development. We lack a teaching career with incentives for improvement. Once teachers have entered the teaching profession on a permanent basis, except for initial periods such as internships, there is no systematic evaluation for public school teachers. This is perhaps one of the differences with the governance model of charter schools.
Undoubtedly, the educational environment is increasingly complex—more poverty, greater diversity in the classroom—and the challenges for teachers are multiplying. International research is clear: the teacher in the classroom is the most important factor for student learning. But Spain and Catalonia remain an exception in Europe. According to the report, Teaching careers in Europe (Eurydice, 2023), we are one of the few countries that do not have a regular system of teacher evaluation once teachers have taken up their post. Meanwhile, most European countries have established stable mechanisms for feedback, peer observation, and professional monitoring. Portugal, for example, has linked classroom observations and training support with opportunities for professional advancement. This has strengthened both the recognition and accountability of teachers.
During a visit to a London school in one of the poorest neighborhoods, I had a long conversation with the principal. What has the school done to reverse its poor results and become a benchmark? Her first response was: open the school to families. But she immediately spoke about supporting teachers. She told me the case of a math teacher who was struggling. What had they done? Observation of how the teacher behaved in the classroom, an improvement plan, visits to other teachers to see how they did, monitoring how they corrected... Two years later, she told me, she's the best math teacher she's ever had at the school.
Why are we still so far from practices that are common in other European countries? Not receiving any incentives for improvement throughout their careers also impacts teachers' discontent, leaving them trapped in routine and lacking opportunities. Teachers' resistance to the competency-based learning model is also due to a lack of professional training. Globalized and project-based work has become widespread, and not always with the training or support to do it well.
The department has taken important steps, such as defining the framework of professional competencies for teachers. How will they ensure this is implemented in schools? The role of management teams is key. A well-trained and recognized leadership team with pedagogical leadership skills will actively contribute to improving teaching teams.
Nothing needs to be invented. The Catalan education law already provided for a decree on teacher evaluation: it was drafted, but has never been implemented. And not for lack of arguments, but for lack of political courage. We've been waiting for an urgent decision for too many years. Because the results of the competency tests are a challenge, yes. But we're right about the diagnosis: it's not just the students who are failing. It's the system, which has missed too many opportunities to do things better.
