A new front is opening up for the Catalan education sector. Municipal music schools, with more than 50,000 students throughout Catalonia (15,000 more than 15 years ago) and under the management of city councils (in a system similar to nursery schools), are making yet another cry for help. With a new demand addressed to all parliamentary groups, the Catalan Association of Music Schools (ACEM) is calling on the Generalitat to substantially increase its budgetary allocation "for proper funding".

We have serious problems in Catalonia and Spain. And we have arrived where we are because we have not mobilized identified solutions. Planning problems does not solve them, but it creates hope for a solution; it changes the perception of them. Let's list the present problems:Housing: price and accessibility. Education: deterioration of quality and conflict with teachers. Commuter rail: poor service and unresolved management problems, excessive unionism and lack of investment. Environment and agriculture: climate change, fires, outdated food supply chain, excessive bureaucracy. Distribution of public funding between autonomous communities and the central government: insufficient resources for autonomous communities with the largest part of current expenditure. Judiciary: in conflict with the executive and legislative branches. For these problems there are solutions.Housing. Municipalities should be able to transfer land to autonomous communities for 30 years, with the possibility of purchase at the end of the transfer. A public-private company (50%) builds and rents. Public capital provides a 30-year loan at 3%. Private capital, an investment with a 5% indexed remuneration. An 80 m² or 100 m² dwelling built on land transferred by a municipality costs approximately €150,000. The annual costs of a property under these conditions would amount to €7,500: €1,250 for loan interest; €2,500 for capital repayment, and €3,750 for the private investor's dividend.The annual income of a low-to-middle income family, after deducting income tax, is €25,000. Housing costs should be less than 30% of income: €7,500/year. It fits. This is the solution adopted in Austria – 100 years ago – and in the Netherlands – 40 years ago.Education. Resolving the conflict requires management and direction, not bureaucratic practices. The problem is not money – there has been an increase in teacher remuneration – nor the reduction in teacher-student ratios, which have decreased. The problem is the management of schools and the improvement of teacher training: the scientific component must be increased to promote an increase in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) vocations. Today, these studies represent 18% of university students, when they should represent at least 21%, to maintain harmonious development with R&D policies and the modernization of the economy. And students decide what to study while they are in secondary school.In the 2024-2025 academic year, there were approximately 39,000 primary and early childhood teachers in Catalonia, and around 43,000 in secondary and post-compulsory education. After the agreed-upon reforms, this represents an annual expenditure of 5.9 billion euros, to which 2.2 billion must be added for subsidized education. The problem is not economic: there has never been so much money. The negotiation has been union-based and not professional. The authority of school principals is reduced while the selection and promotion of teachers becomes more rigid; the opposite of what is needed. Having teachers as civil servants, and discontented, is a mistake. We are harming ourselves on an issue that is our future. The strength of Catalonia, Spain, and Europe lies in its people, and not excelling in education has a high cost. We are seeing it.Rodalies. The service is bad. In Catalonia there are two networks, with two different gauges that facilitate disintegration: the UIC gauge – which, in communicating Catalonia with Spain and France, must be the responsibility of the central government – and the Iberian gauge. Only commuter and regional trains (and freight that will cease to run in the future) run on this second network. There is an investment deficit of 15,000 millions of euros in this network over 40 years. If we add the new coast line – the current one is precarious – and the garages and workshops, the necessary investment is 20 billion euros. An expense of 2 billion euros over ten years is affordable.Renfe and Adif must be eliminated from Commuter and regional services. They are public companies of the central government, controlled by a corporate union, and in which the maintenance of union power will always be superior to the improvement of the service. This has been seen in recent months. This union, which defends its interests to the detriment of citizens', has fewer than 1,000 members in Catalonia. Overcoming this resistance to establish a new company to manage regional and commuter trains is feasible, despite union opposition. It is better to hire new staff than to "convert" the current ones. Those who do not wish to can stay at Renfe and Adif.An easy and urgent initiative is a train traffic information service that reaches users' mobile phones and allows them to know, in real time, the actual train schedules for that day. It would save thousands of hours for citizens and reduce the annoyance of not knowing when trains will arrive at stations. With current technology, the cost is practically nil.Environment and farming. We need a change in food production to improve efficiency and reduce the impact on the environment. We must increase plant production over animal production, which consumes more water and pollutes more. Eating habits cannot be changed suddenly, but they can be changed progressively with a 20-year policy.Financing. The new financing plan for the Autonomous Communities, pending approval, involves a transfer of €21,000 million per year from the central government to the communities. It is not enough, but it is a step in the right direction. If we don't do it, it will be for reasons of "narrow path" policy.Judiciary. There are more than 5,000 judges in Spain. How is it possible that there are almost no sanctions for inappropriate conduct? Although the majority are competent and carry out their activities professionally, it is not possible for everyone to always do everything well in a group of this size. A reform of the system is necessary, which, today, is politically impossible.I will leave for another article the issue of healthcare – a high-quality but overloaded and unsustainable service, a future problem that needs to be addressed now – and tourism – excessive concentration in peak months, need to reorient the offer towards less quantity and higher quality–. For the rest, it is clear that in many areas – not all – what needs to be done can be done. Politics must serve to solve problems, not to argue. Voters must be clear about this.

Learning has a side effect that is rarely discussed: when we understand something, we quickly forget what it was like not to understand it. Knowledge opens a door and then erases part of the path that led to it.This phenomenon is called the curse of knowledge. When we know something, it's hard for us to adopt the perspective of someone who doesn't know it yet. What is evident and clear to us begins to seem to us that it should also be evident to everyone.A doctor explains a diagnosis using everyday words. A professor rushes ahead because the reasoning seems simple to them. A lawyer drafts a clause convinced that its meaning is clear. A manager assigns a task with two instructions and is surprised when the result does not match what they had imagined.This also happens in the personal and family sphere, at home. Someone tells a story omitting half of the background because they have it present. One expects their partner to understand the reason for their anger without needing to explain it. A father helps his son with his homework and ends up saying one of the least useful phrases in the history of teaching: "But why don't you see it?"It is not a matter of impatience. There is a very simple explanation. The expert has organized the information into blocks, connections, and categories. He no longer considers isolated pieces. He sees the whole. The beginner, on the other hand, is still trying to figure out which piece comes first.The curse of knowledge costs money. Many companies describe their products from the inside out. They talk about technology, processes, and features, while the customer tries to decipher instructions that seem like a sudoku. Specialists create incomprehensible presentations. Departments use acronyms that exclude everyone else. The more an organization knows about its activity, the more it may cost to explain it simply.It also affects innovation. Someone who has been working on an idea for months assumes data that the public does not know. Then they interpret the lack of interest as resistance or lack of skill.That's why the best communicators remember the doubts they had and turn them into the very order of their entire explanation. Now that's mastery!But doing so requires a conscious effort. It is necessary to recall the initial questions, eliminate unnecessary vocabulary, and observe at what point the other is lost. Explaining well implies reconstructing a path that we already travel without looking.Knowing a lot helps solve problems. Remembering how we thought before knowing helps explain them.I hope I have explained myself well!

There are fewer and fewer people willing to dedicate themselves to teaching. And, honestly, it's hard to be surprised. Being a teacher today is much more than entering a classroom and imparting knowledge. It is managing conflicts, enduring constant pressures, and working in a system that often seems to turn its back on them.For some time now, the school has been undergoing a profound transformation. Teachers no longer just educate: they also take on social and emotional issues that were previously outside the classroom. All this, while having to coexist with bureaucracy, lack of resources, and a growing sense of burnout.The most worrying thing, however, is the progressive loss of respect for this profession. There are still those who repeat the easy discourse that "they work little" or that "they have many holidays," ignoring the invisible hours of preparation, meetings, and corrections. Meanwhile, their demands remain the same: better working conditions, decent salaries, and a real commitment to public education.And now, given the increase in conflicts in schools, proposals are emerging such as incorporating plainclothes Mossos d'Esquadra into schools. Perhaps what education needs is not more surveillance, but more support, resources, and listening. Because when teachers and professors get tired of fighting alone, it is society as a whole that ends up losing.

This morning, sports, Barça, gave us a reason to create a cheerful cover, that of theThe result has been another night of celebration for a fanbase that, unlike what happens in so many other aspects of the country, has high self-esteem. We hope that the adherence to Catalan identity that Barça has provided in a society of immigration continues to function thanks to these successes and the identification with this very young and very normal team. Another good piece of news: the PCR test on the Catalan woman who has been in isolation at the Hospital Clínic since Saturday has come back negative for hantavirus. The woman was admitted for quarantine because she had been in the same plane for a few minutes with the Dutch woman who contracted it on board the cruise ship and who ended up dying.The woman continues to show no symptoms and, in accordance with epidemiological surveillance protocols, will remain confined and under observation at the Clínic for prevention. In seven days, another PCR will be performed to confirm the negative result.And here we return to the harsh reality: from today onwards, the Rodalies service is once again subject to a charge. (It has always been subject to a charge, of course, we all pay for it: we are referring to the user's direct payment). Payment in exchange for what? The trains run when they want, the timetables are an intention, but of course, in many journeys, the train is a bus. The improvement of the service is being slow. It is clear that due to the harsh reality of education. A week of strikes in schools and institutes begins. Relations between the department and the unions are very tense. The only thing missing was for the unions to find out from the radio that the counselor wanted to see them on Thursday. They will meet on Thursday and, on top of that, we have the scandal of the infiltration of two Mossos agents into a teachers' assembly that we already talked about last Friday. Now that more details are known, apart from what it has of authoritarian regime espionage, it is even more humiliating that the police were discovered on such a simple mission.Let's see if it solves things a bit that we have budgets for this 2026. Late, but we will have budgets. So once the Andalusian elections have passed on Sunday, PSC and Esquerra will be able to present their agreement. It is scandalous, but Catalanophobia sets the pace of Spanish politics. Moreno Bonilla is campaigning to preside over Andalusia by constantly talking about Catalonia. After the breakdown weeks ago due to the new financing system for Catalonia, Esquerra set out to find a striking agreement. There is talk of a transfer of powers from the State, but in the meantime, Junqueras has explained that the agreement will include a train, curiously. This: An orbital axis that connects Maresme with Garraf, passing through the two Vallesos, Baix Llobregat and Penedès. In black the sections that exist and in yellow those that should be built. We are talking about up to 5,000 million euros of investment, which the State should largely provide. The project is old, but now they have taken it out of the drawer where it was sleeping.Good morning.

The Teaching strike is not a labor protest but a diagnosis of the country. The unease of teachers and families points precisely here. It does not speak solely of salaries, schedules, or bureaucracy. It speaks of a deeper fatigue: the school has been caught between growing demands and a progressive erosion of authority, prestige, and the teaching function, and many families are also not satisfied. 

When they built the jetty, the bay became a lagoon. This morning, the clouds form a roof over it. As a child, for me the tip of the pier represented a mysterious boundary that I could see from home. It was adult territory. There is a photograph of a septuagenarian Gaziel sitting on the jetty, with his cane beside him. At the tip of the pier there is a modest lighthouse, like a white match with a green tip. It has large black numbers painted on it which are the geographical coordinates, 41º46.5’ N and 3º1.9’ E.

Taking advantage of the Education Fair, the Taller de Músics presents a phase of consolidation and growth that confirms the momentum begun three years ago. Below, Vicenç Solsona and Clara Luna, the center's pedagogical director and head of the Ve area respectively, discuss the evolution of the educational project and the students' professional prospects.

Around the booths at the Education Fair, nerves and anticipation are always a mix. Groups of students, backpacks slung over their shoulders, crowd the counters, stacking brochures and comparing cut-off scores on their phones. Parents are also there, taking notes with them to try and clarify the big dilemma looming over the visit: what will I study next year?

It seems increasingly urgent to provide our students with tools that allow them to differentiate rigorous information from falsehood and to foster critical thinking. The problem is that we do not have infallible tools that save us the effort of thinking. This is why I want to talk about the tree pop of the Pacific Northwest (Pacific Northwest tree octopus).

UNESCO has warned that the teaching profession is experiencing "an unprecedented crisis" and urges its revaluation. The ANPE teachers' union's ombudsman has repeatedly warned of the emotional decline of teachers, and in Catalonia, the USTEC union speaks of "the great resignation of teachers."

If we want quality education, we must truly elevate the prestige of the teaching profession. This means guaranteeing rigorous initial teacher training. There are no successful education systems without excellent teachers, nor excellent teachers without a sufficiently demanding degree program to attract bright and dedicated students. The countries that lead in educational outcomes understand this clearly: only the best academic records are admitted to teacher training programs, faculty are selected using clear criteria, and students receive intensive training and high-quality mentoring. Their faculties of education have a strong commitment to academic rigor and enjoy recognized prestige.

In the midst of a tense educational atmosphere, on the eve of 2026, the year of its centenary, the figure of [unclear] is beginning to be recovered. Marta Mata i Garriga, teacher of teachersRaimon Portell has written the book of this title, published by Rosa Sensat. A shot of hope for moving from the best of the past to a possible future.

Educational policy must have the success of all students as its central objective. Sociologist Aina Tarabini recently emphasized this, recalling that educational success is reflected not only in academic performance but also in educational trajectories and emotional commitment to the learning process. However, at this time, educational policy fails in this regard.

The Minister of Education and Vocational Training, Esther Niubó (Barcelona, 1980), spoke to ARA following the controversy over the allocation of places for the next academic year, with a teaching community that did not hesitate to express its displeasure.

After reading the article From Àlex Torío, I wonder why more professionals don't leave teaching. I've asked several teachers about this. And in the face of Àlex's angry, fatalistic defeatism, which reflects a part of reality, I've found another kind of experience: that of a vocational, critical optimism. The answers I've received inform this article.

"Pedagogical renewal has always been very heterogeneous and plural." Renewal is the authentic educational tradition of Catalonia: from the pioneer Rosa Sensat to the present day, there is a constant thread of innovation, a desire to stay up-to-date, and continuous improvement. Renewal has never meant, neither before nor now, going against knowledge or memory, as competency-based or project-based work is caricatured today. In any case, the important thing is not the methods or techniques, but the educational objective. Good teachers have always been flexible and pragmatic, empathizing with the student, and demanding and self-demanding.

It's 9 a.m. and, near the Daina-Isard School, families are waiting for the school's doors to open. Inside, the teaching staff is preparing for a new day of classes, and the administrative and service staff have already put everything in its place. The scene is very similar to that experienced every school day in other schools in Catalonia. However, at this school in Olesa de Montserrat, in Baix Llobregat, there is a peculiarity not often seen: the families who are waiting are equal owners of the school. All can participate in the decisions that affect the direction and organization of the school where their children attend.