The problem –or at least part of it– of education in Catalonia has erupted publicly and noisily. After tug-of-war with the unions, the collective has called for several days of strike in the sector, with harsh mobilizations that have led to the blocking of streets and communication routes. Educational stoppages create a certain social alarm, as well as practical problems for families. A delicate issue in which the Government has reached an agreement with the less representative unions, but the main one, USTEC, has been left out, which has seized the opportunity to claim and reinforce its hegemony. Educational demands are almost always sympathetic to a good part of the citizenry. It is assumed that these are mobilizations to improve the conditions of their work, and this seems to be beyond discussion, just as farmers mobilize, who always have unquestioned support. Certainly, both education and healthcare have lacked the economic and personnel resources they need for many years, the minimum means to continue playing their role as pillars of the welfare state. Schools have been excessively equipped with technology, but the profession and consideration of teachers has not been dignified, nor has sufficient personnel been provided – reinforcements – to assume the diverse and demanding reality of multiculturalism in schools. The weak point of the mobilization is that it may seem excessively corporatist and dominated by salary concerns. By the way, a reasonable claim to the extent that we want to incentivize the best graduates towards teaching. Communicatively, the convening union has shot itself in the foot by implying that a rapid end to the discussion would be brought about by a monthly increase of 400 euros in their salary.In the context of the current conflict, the issue of the Mossos d’Esquadra in schools has served to worsen the atmosphere. Here the matter is not relevant in itself, but rather due to somewhat deficient communication. A topic prone to demagoguery, as has been seen. That schools should be areas for detecting security problems should not make us cry foul. The Mossos are logically responsible for prevention, and they need to get ahead of some things. The anti-police discourse that has been launched, even from the institutes themselves, is quite stale. Police forces are essential and should not be characterized as if they were still the Francoist “grisos” (grey ones). It is not a topic that yields much, nor is the presence in teacher assemblies, even though they could have avoided it. There has been a lack of tact in the methods, in the information provided, and especially in the lack of discretion. All this has shifted the focus from the educational issue, as if the problem were only a matter of money and public security. Now, these are the trees in the front line; they prevent us from seeing the forest. The debate should focus on the structural and systemic problems of education, on a model that has turned out to be, and not only in Catalonia, a complete failure and that hardly anyone seems willing to address.

The ongoing teachers' strikes in Catalonia and the Valencian Country are significant events, in the sense that they go beyond their professional dimension (which is also fundamental and, of course, entirely respectable) and bring to public discussion issues that affect us all. Issues such as what kind of society we want to have, and also how we want this society to be governed, and according to what values and with what idea of the future. Of course, they also point to what future we want, as citizens of the Catalan Countries, for our language and culture, and for our viability as a cultural community in the world of technofascisms. Universal public education up to the age of sixteen, and in Catalan, are recent achievements that have brought great progress to a society that largely defines itself as democratic. Not only that, but – in Catalonia, in the Valencian Country, and in the Balearic Islands – this society has had as its central nerve the awareness of being a democracy that is still fragile in many aspects (the weight of a Civil War, a fascist military dictatorship, and a democracy born with all sorts of subservience to the previous regime is heavy) and, in response to this fragility, the will to deepen, precisely, in democracy. This means in the knowledge, defense, and respect for the rights and freedoms of citizens. To advance in this democratic deepening, public education in Catalan has played a fundamental role. Today it has more than ever, because the will to live in democracy is seriously questioned for the first time. That is why it is a serious error, or a too dark bad faith, for elected rulers to present teachers and professors as enemies (as the PP and Vox do in the Valencian Country) or as an extremist group that makes unreasonable demands (as the socialist government does in Catalonia). Trying to reduce or caricature their demands as a simple matter of so much money per month or year, besides being disrespectful, is to distort the content of protests that reflect a long-standing discontent and in which all governments —regional and state— that have existed until now have a share of responsibility. To underestimate teachers or to try to get by with an agreement with large but minority unions within the sector, or — much worse still — infiltrating police into assemblies and then offering half-hearted apologies, are gestures between disrespect and authoritarianism.

The teachers' protests continue, who this morning have again blocked roads and access to Barcelona. Tomorrow, finally, they will meet with the Government. The Department of Education says there is no room to improve salaries beyond 200 euros per month, but everything seems to indicate that the Government will indeed put more money on the table to improve the inclusive school service, the model that aims to guarantee education for all students regardless of their personal abilities, family origins, or social and economic conditions. Let's hope they succeed (it seems impossible for the conflict to be resolved in the first meeting) but Salvador Illa's Government would do well to show that it understands that it cannot pretend everything will be fine thanks to the magic of a government that doesn't want noise.

These past few weeks, the media have been filled with headlines referring to the reactions and consequences of the announcement made by some groups of teachers, who have expressed their refusal to go on camps as a measure of pressure to improve the conditions of the educational system.Here are a few as an example: “Going on school trips is not our obligation”, “Teachers against children: school trips are a right”, “Students from Valls refuse to attend class due to the cancellation of school trips [...]”, "The end of the educational contract", “Unease among families due to the threat from teachers”, “Families believe that stopping school trips is breaking the rules of the game”, “School trip centers fear the teachers' strike”, “Warning from school trip centers about teachers' protest: we are in COVID numbers”...It is very interesting to be able to interpret the nuances of these reactions: from the article published in this same newspaper by the director of relations at Fundesplai, to Ricard Ustrell's apron on Catalunya Ràdio, you can dip bread everywhere. But what I find truly extraordinary is the ease with which these headlines are twisting the issue. Let's get this straight: the teaching teams are the group that has most believed in the importance of organizing the colony experience for the children in our schools. We have been doing it for decades without receiving any kind of compensation beyond the gratitude of the families and the children themselves. We have done it selflessly with the conviction that this experience is fundamental for many educational aspects.

Teachers are holding the first of three days of general strike this Tuesday in a month, to which other days of localized stoppages will be added. It will be the most educationally and organizationally complicated end of the school year in many years. It remains to be seen what the follow-up by teachers will be and how families will react. Will they, one and all, follow the rhythm of such extensive and intensive, such demanding protests? It is true that there is a feeling of tiredness and disappointment in the professional collective that has led to this situation, but it is equally logical and natural to think that the majority desire a return to normality: the climate of protest also wears down, and in the medium term it can become unsustainable.

L'ARA interviews Iolanda Segura, spokesperson for USTEC, a few hours before the general strike in the Catalan education sector begins and after the controversies over the infiltration of two Mossos d'Esquadra agents at a teachers' assembly and the pilot test that plans to integrate an undercover agent in some centers to improve coexistence.

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. 

The decision by the General Directorate of Information of the Mossos d'Esquadra to send two plainclothes officers to a teachers' assembly to, according to the force, conduct a risk assessment in the face of a labor dispute "always adhering to current legislation" has generated a political storm that could complicate life for the Government. The fact that the teachers discovered the identity of the officers, who posed as teachers at a school, is a blunder that threatens to widen the current rift between teachers and the ministry, just on the eve of a new round of negotiations that was to begin on Monday.

Between now and the end of the school year, during the next month and a half, there will be a total of seventeen days of strikes in the country's schools and institutes, a string of stoppages spread across different zones. The average will be five days per center: this will be the impact on students and their families. In other words, educational centers will cease to function normally for 5 out of the 35 remaining school days until the holidays, which is 14% of the total. In any sector, a stoppage of this magnitude would cause a major disruption. Of course, it will be for the educational world. A world, moreover, that has a very strong social impact.

One month after the Government signed an improvement in conditions for teachers and the situation in classrooms with CCOO and UGT – but not with the rest of the unions or with USTEC, which is the majority – the agreement continues to cause repercussions. This Tuesday USTEC sent all teachers a new email to ask again if it is necessary to continue with the mobilizations. Just as the union did in the last strikes that achieved massive support, USTEC has decided to leave the next steps in the hands of the collective. In this way, they ask teachers three questions: if they are willing to go on "more strikes", how many days of strike they would go on – with options between one day and more than 10 – and what type of strike they would prefer.

Consecutive strike calls, follow-ups of more than 30%, teacher closures in institutes, massive demonstrations and even some resignations. But, also, several agreements and pre-agreements. This is the scenario that the education sector in Spain has experienced in the last year. In fact, since the beginning of the school year, up to twelve autonomous communities have registered some teacher strike call, with more or less adherence. The last one was this very week in Madrid, where early childhood education teachers have called an indefinite strike that has already lasted four days.

The conflict in education has made evident the unrest felt in schools and institutes, as well as the difficulties in finding solutions. An increasingly unequal society is bringing serious social problems to educational institutions. Growing inequalities, extreme poverty, social violence, and mental illness generate conflicts that teachers must face without the necessary resources and with a sense of isolation and abandonment. Signs on the doors of some schools express this clearly: "We are outraged that the educational psychologist is not part of the school staff"; "We are outraged that we have to train ourselves in our free time and at our own expense in dyslexia, autism spectrum disorder, specific language impairment, ADHD, dyscalculia..."

"Either negotiation or resignation." This has been the main message repeated by the 35,000 teachers and professors – 100,000 according to the organizers – who demonstrated this Friday in Barcelona to show their rejection of the agreement that the Government signed with CCOO and UGT to improve teachers' working conditions and the situation in classrooms. Their refusal has resulted in what the unions have called a "total strike": almost half of the teachers (43.77%) have joined the strike – although the unions put this percentage as high as 85%. This figure is slightly higher than the participation reported by the Department of Education during the last strike the sector staged in Catalonia last February, when the final tally was 40.94%.

On the fourth day of the teachers' strike and one day before the nationwide school closures, the government has insisted that improving the agreement signed with the CCOO and UGT unions—but not with Ustec, the largest teachers' union—is not on the table. The Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, reiterated this after approving a supplementary budget of €5,988.65 million, which will cover expenses once the budget is withdrawn to continue negotiations with the ERC party. Romero warned that "having more resources is very difficult without a budget" and also admitted that if the budget were approved, it would be "very complicated" to improve the agreement with the teachers because "it's a very, very large increase." "The government has made a very significant effort, and we should all be aware of that," she asserted.

I have always thought that in our profession it is very important to value the meaning of the words we use both to address children and young people and to relate to each other, teachers and families.

On Tuesday, the Tarragona region saw protests from teachers who were not satisfied with the salary increase agreed upon by the CCOO and UGT unions with the government. The improvement included, among other things, an increase of around 3,000 euros per year. Not bad, but three unions (USTEC, Intersindical, and CGT) were not entirely convinced and organized a consultation.95% of voters rejected the agreement. It should be noted that 40,000 teachers participated, more than half of the total. The strikes that began this week and end on Friday with a demonstration in Barcelona therefore have very broad support among professionals.

On the second day of the week of strikes in the education sector, the teachers' protest not only maintained its momentum but actually increased. This Tuesday, the strikes were called in the territorial services of Penedès, Tarragona, and Terres de l'Ebre, and according to the tally provided by the Department of Education, participation rose to 38.48%, six and a half points higher than Monday's strike in Barcelonès and Baix Llobregat (31%). However, the unions calling the mobilization (USTEC – the largest in the sector – Secondary School Teachers, CGT, and Intersindical) again reported a much higher number of professionals participating in the strike: they claim that 70% walked off the job on this second day of protest.

The standoff between teachers and the government of Salvador Illa saw its first street protest on Monday, marking the start of a strike that It will last throughout the week in various parts of the country. The rejection of the agreement—deemed "insufficient" by the Ustec union—between the Department of Education and the CCOO and UGT unions to improve working conditions for staff and the situation in classrooms has resulted in road blockades on access routes to Barcelona early this morning and a demonstration by thousands of teachers who flooded Plaça Sant Jaume in the Catalan capital.

One week after the Government It will close an agreement to improve teachers' salary conditions with CCOO and UGT but without USTEC —the majority union—This Monday, teachers are once again called to mobilize in protests that will last all week. The strike, which will be held each day in a different part of the country and will end on Friday with a demonstration in Barcelona, ​​comes at a time of some tension within the education sector—especially on social media—and with a clear disagreement between unions following the breakdown of the unified movement.

"Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, we will stop organizing school trips and/or summer camps until the Department of Education implements real, structural, and effective improvements in the public education system." This is the premise of the manifesto that has been circulating for the past few days. WhatsApps and emails from hundreds of teachers. The goal of the initiative, which originated in the Maresme-La Selva Teachers' Assembly but has spread among teachers throughout the country, is to find other ways to protest and pressure the government toaddress the demands that were made heard in the streets during the strike of February 11thA general salary increase to equalize the conditions of Catalan teachers with those in the rest of Spain, a reduction in classroom sizes, greater investment in inclusive education, and a reduction in bureaucracy in schools and institutes.