About a week ago, in this same newspaper we read a headline that made us proud as a country: "The most beastly Sant Fèlix". And the fact is that, to a greater or lesser extent, we are all moved by this very characteristic ability of ours to raise human towers defying balance while counting on a strength: that of building community, sticking together.The image and the praisesfor the 'verds' of Vilafranca making history for a new achievement, to a servant –who does not come from the 'casteller' world– serve as a metaphor to speak about school and the perspective that it needs. For too long, the stones in society's shoe have been entrenched within the walls of our classrooms. They have been piling up little by little, as if by chance, and now they are slowing our pace. What happens on the street bounces and impacts classrooms in a much more frantic way. But it turns out that we are playing with an exceptional variable that we cannot ignore: it is at school –though not solely– where it is appropriate to improve everyone's possibilities to live in the out-of-school.In order to adjust one's pace, sometimes it is necessary to change footwear. The "we have always done it this way" turns out to no longer work for us, neither in classrooms nor in offices. In an interview, the journalist and writer Nora Ephron said: "If the shoe doesn't fit in the shoe store, it will never fit you well." If we do not choose the right footwear for school, the shoe will not serve to walk comfortably and with guarantees.Luckily, we already know what we need because we know what works. We know that 0-3 matters a lot, we know that the language needs an urgent shock plan and that this seriously impacts learning processes at early ages. We know that the coffee for everyone formula is obsolete. We know that qualified leadership and stable, cohesive projects and teams are needed, that out-of-school is a necessary link, that the system needs evaluation processes... But neither the character limit of this article nor its purpose allow for listing everything we know.And while we talk again and again about what is already identified and evidenced, or while we generate only catastrophic headlines, we waste time focusing on solutions and continue to wallow in a spiral of discouragement and discredit. Negative messages also shape the view we have of school.

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.

Just one week remains before the start of a school year already marked by two key points: the teachers' strike called for the first day of class and the error in Catalonia's sample that invalidates the PISA test results, which will be announced on the same day students return to school. Beyond any moves the Government may make in the next seven days to try to approach a certain normality for the first day of school, the Department of Education has also announced novelties for the 26-27 academic year. Among them are 500 new welcome classroom provisions, a pilot test to incorporate the figure of a manager to assist school leadership, the incorporation of a thousand teachers, and a new guide on how students should use AI. All of this will be detailed this Monday by the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, in a press conference where she is expected to also give new explanations about the PISA error.

The school year begins with a new measure that has been long demanded by many families in recent years: a complete ban on cell phones and smartwatches throughout all stages of compulsory education, even when used for educational purposes. It was announced by the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, at the end of last year.. Likewise, the use of digital tablets is also expected to be gradually limited in early childhood education (ages three to five), although "sufficient availability" of these devices will be guaranteed for specific uses in the other educational stages. Niubó also announced a "progressive restriction" on the use of digital whiteboards in preschool classrooms, while these would remain in place in the upper stages. This restriction, however, would not apply to the laptops given to secondary school students. But how does the educational community view this?

The new school year begins, and the challenge remains improving academic performance. After the disaster of the latest proficiency tests and, above all, the 2023 PISA tests, the government's objective is to take steps to strengthen the education system so that results ultimately improve. This is undoubtedly a national project that everyone agrees on, although there is not the same consensus regarding how to achieve it. In fact, educational centers do not have it easy.

On August 29 and 30 – just a few days before teachers in Catalonia returned to their schools to prepare for the arrival of students this Monday–, more than 50 countries from around the world gathered in Chile to sign the Santiago Consensus, a historic agreement promoted by UNESCO.

As teacher And as a mother, I confess that September is my favorite month of the year. We're back at it again. I love choosing a new planner and starting the school year with the excitement of doing everything right. It's like when I was little, I'd open a new notebook, write a pretty title, and write the first two pages in beautiful handwriting. September is like that; it's the month of good intentions, blank pages, and long days that still smell of summer. Even our children are thinking, "This year I'll definitely do everything right and get great grades." We'll talk again in June.

There are families who have had September 8th marked on their calendars for days. And there are also children who are already looking forward to returning to school to see their friends and resume routines. However, there may be someone who is return becomes heavy for him, who finds it hard to get up early again, or who find moving to a different school or college a mountain to climb. That's why we're giving you some easy-to-follow tips to make returning to your routine more enjoyable.

The start of classes in Catalonia is fast approaching. We review the key dates for the 2025-2026 school year, which is marked by a significant drop in student numbers in the region's schools and secondary schools and a complete ban on cell phones in classrooms.

The 2025/26 school year will start normally. This was confirmed by the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio. The head of the department stated that after the error that has invalidated the allocation of 57,000 places The teaching staff is concerned about "the intervention of a person who made a unilateral decision" that "violated regulations." Someone ignored the department's resolutions and caused "serious incidents": 800 positions that should have been filled by civil servants were instead reserved for temporary teachers. Following complaints from some teachers, the Education Department halted the process and will announce the new assignments early next week after working all weekend to resolve the situation. In total, some 3,000 teachers out of 57,000 candidates will see their assignments change. However, according to Niubó, it will be for the better: "Given the exclusion of these 800 positions, it will improve."

The fifth wave, even if it is slowly going downhill, will have left us with a bittersweet summer and augurs a return to work and to the classroom in September that will once again be marked by health security. With the covid-19 pandemic we have learned that, just when you think you can see the end of the tunnel, there is a new twist and uncertainty returns. The mutations of the virus do not give respite. Now we have the delta variant, but coming from Peru (and expanding to other Latin American countries) the lambda variant is also beginning to appear in the Iberian Peninsula, on which there are still few studies and data. In addition, we have also seen the limits of vaccination, which despite being absolutely necessary and demonstrating its effectiveness, on the one hand it is not infallible - and on the other hand it is hard to reach the entire population: right now it has slowed the good pace of vaccination that had been achieved.