Start of course: recover the trust

This summer, at a small musical evening in a village in the Alta Segarra, two girls aged 7 and 11 went up on stage and recited two poems learned at school and two of their own. They had stage presence, good diction and good pronunciation, and two clear, cheerful voices. The image made me think about the educational crisis we are experiencing. Amidst all the difficulties that education carries, two girls found enough courage to expose themselves in front of a large audience. The poems they had written were original and funny, and they built a personal narrative. "Do you go to the same school?", I asked them afterwards. "No –they told me–, but we have had the same teacher and tutor: we like him a lot!". Behind it all there was, then, a teacher who had helped them discover that they could write, think, have a voice and be heard.This is one of the greatnesses of the school. And also one of the reasons why it is very worrying that distrust is spreading like wildfire: between families and centers, between teachers and the administration, between managements and the system. It is the resounding symptom of an educational crisis that the country must face.The school year will begin with a strike. The unions celebrate the agreed-upon improvements but want to continue negotiating and continue to denounce working conditions that hinder teaching work: lack of time, unbearable heat in the classrooms, bureaucracy, exhaustion, difficulties in attending to diversity, and an inclusion that is often proclaimed without offering the necessary resources. They also demand that Catalan be defended without ambiguity, politically and normatively, to ensure that it is the language of learning, reception, and cohesion of the educational system. It is not a new malaise, nor can it be resolved by simply appealing to the responsibility of the teachers. If we want a good school, we must guarantee the conditions so that professionals can do their job well.

The Government has announced significant improvements. These are necessary measures. But it is not enough to add resources; it will also be necessary to know very well where they are most needed, how they should be organized, and what impact they have. The system has problems that the data have highlighted: persistent inequalities, insufficient results, learning difficulties, and a limited capacity to compensate for the students' social background. In some areas, a shock plan is needed. No more general diagnoses are needed, but rather concrete, sustained, and evaluable decisions.The PISA episode has aggravated the crisis of confidence. The “icing on the cake”, as Antoni Bassas said in this newspaper a few days ago, is the “bitter cake” that education has become in this country. All of this reveals that the Department of Education needs to be reformed. It is not enough to point out and sanction those who have made the mistake, because it has been confirmed that the guarantee mechanisms of a bankrupt system have failed, which needs reliable data to make decisions.

Data, our own data! We cannot continue accumulating reports without building an appropriate culture of evaluation. Catalonia needs an independent evaluation agency, with real autonomy, technical capacity, and sufficient resources. We need reliable data to regain trust, to improve, and to demand accountability from those who govern. It is also advisable not to think so much about new reforms without using what we already have. The Education Law of Catalonia established an ambitious framework: school autonomy, educational leadership, professionalization of school management, evaluation, and accountability. The problem is that this model—due to a lack of political and union agreement—has never been able to be fully deployed. An agreement is needed to address an even deeper issue: artificial intelligence will force us to rethink what schools should teach, what learning means, and what value the transmission of knowledge has when a machine can answer almost any question in a few seconds. The most important school-related question today is what we want school for. The answer cannot only be improving results or better preparing for the labor market. School must also train people capable of thinking, living together, creating, discerning, and participating in a democratic society. In this purpose, no technology replaces the educational bond.I return, therefore, to the two girls on a stage. I return to the teacher who has helped them find their own words. In a profession subject to a crisis of recognition, conditions, and meaning, reclaiming the purpose of being a teacher is a political necessity. It is necessary to give teachers time, protect their professionalism, and make it possible for them to dedicate themselves to educating. Children and young people have the right to start the new school year with excitement and with the feeling that something new is possible. And teachers too: we need them to recover the emotion of opening the classroom door, of meeting their students again, of starting anew. To do so, it will undoubtedly be necessary to reach a pact between parties and unions that gives us stability. Please, come to an agreement, set aside particular interests, be imaginative and generous, take care of this most valuable treasure that is education.