The taboo of public schools: choosing teachers
When we talk about educational quality, we often focus on curricula, methodologies, or academic results, while a key factor is overlooked: the autonomy of schools in assembling their teaching teams. The ability to select the teachers who will staff public schools is constantly questioned and often blocked, acting as an invisible barrier that limits the development of teams that truly meet the needs of students. However, education requires time, stability, and connections with students and families—elements impossible to guarantee when staffing levels are constantly changing and teachers are assigned to schools without any understanding of the educational project.
In Catalonia, the 2009 education law clearly favored school autonomy. However, in practice, public schools have very little room to maneuver in shaping their staffing levels: most positions are decided centrally, based on individual criteria, without considering the educational context or the educational projects of each school.
Looking at the European context, this situation is unusual. In most European countries, public schools actively participate in teacher selection through open and regulated processes, often in collaboration with the administration. This model is more similar to the one already in place in charter schools in our country than to the highly centralized civil service system we have in public schools.
Today, school autonomy in managing teaching teams is strongly challenged by the outright opposition of the major teachers' unions, which reject any decision-making power schools may have in teacher selection. This resistance, focused primarily on defending the individual rights of civil servants, ignores a crucial reality: without stable and cohesive teams, it is impossible to guarantee sound educational projects.
At Clam Educatiu, we believe that defending school autonomy is not about attacking teachers' labor rights, but rather understanding that these rights must be compatible with the needs of schools and the education system as a whole. Well-regulated, with transparency, accountability, and administrative support, autonomy in the management of school teams can be a powerful tool for improving the quality, inclusion, and equity of education. It is necessary to move towards an autonomous and transparent school system that can be held accountable within the public regulatory framework. The union's perspective maintains that allowing the selection of teachers is tantamount to "handpicking" and fostering cronyism, unfairly discrediting school leadership teams and their commitment to educational projects.
The role of unions is undeniably legitimate and necessary when it comes to defending labor rights and working conditions. But often this voice transcends that sphere and enters directly into decisions that are, essentially, pedagogical. And it is here that a significant part of the educational community neither understands nor agrees with some of the movements being promoted. The outright rejection of the staffing decree is a prime example: a regulation designed to strengthen the continuity of educational projects and the cohesion of teams is being attacked as a threat to collective rights, without acknowledging the real effects this opposition has on schools and students.
Part of the union discourse is shielded by a constant appeal to democracy, as if invoking it were enough to legitimize any position. But democracy is not a slogan: it is a practice, and not everything proclaimed democratic necessarily is. To label as undemocratic a school's ability to decide what professional profiles it needs to develop its educational project is a self-serving oversimplification that impoverishes the debate. This is especially true when these same organizations make internal decisions (such as the appointment of full-time union representatives) using their own criteria and profile selections. Democracy cannot be a rhetorical weapon used only when convenient to block any margin of pedagogical decision-making in schools.
At Clam Educatiu, we firmly believe that if we want to improve public education, we need schools with the real power to decide on the composition of their teaching teams. In the current educational climate, we cannot afford to continue blocking the processes that allow us to have stable teams aligned with the real needs of schools and, therefore, of students.
