Around 1,500 people, according to municipal sources – 3,000, according to the organizers – demonstrated this Saturday in Barcelona despite the rain to demand improvements in the working conditions of staff in the 0-3 age group. The demonstration, which began in front of the Post Office building and ended in front of the Catalan Parliament, was organized by the 0-3 Platform of Catalonia under the slogan "0 excuses, 3 reasons: justice, equity, and future." Chanting "We are education, not daycare," the demonstrators not only demanded better conditions for professionals in the sector, but also advocated for a reduction in the student-teacher ratio and the right of children to a quality, equitable public education from the first day of life. The Platform's spokesperson, Joan Cela, stated that Catalan daycare centers have the highest ratios in Europe and demanded that "children be put at the center." "We want to be treated like the second cycle of early childhood education; we want to have the same rights," Cela asserted. Throughout the march, various signs could be seen, such as "If there's a shortage of staff in schools, children and adults alike suffer," "Childhood policies with pedagogical criteria," "Lower ratios, more hugs," and "We fight for the 0-3 level." "We have a very complicated situation, with five different models, involving private companies and city councils," Cela emphasized. However, she affirmed that people came to the march from all over, in an unprecedented demonstration. "An improvement in working conditions is necessary, as well as lower ratios and the creation of a 0-3 age group chart so that all of this can begin to be discussed," she concluded.

The government of Salvador Illa has decided to change the criteria for determining when a school is granted public funding and when its application is denied. This year was the time to renew these agreements—when public funding is provided to private schools to operate as public institutions—for all educational levels, and the Department of Education has taken advantage of this opportunity to bring order to this procedure within the legal framework. One of the most significant changes introduced is that from now on all agreements will have a duration of six years. Currently, agreements are for three years in preschool, six years in primary school, and four years in secondary school. According to the Department of Education, this uniform duration aims to "provide stability to the system." Furthermore, as has been repeatedly stated, public funding will not be granted to schools that segregate by gender, that is, that separate classes for boys and girls. This has led to up to 247 groups of subsidized schools and institutes in Catalonia becoming private, as the center has chosen not to receive public funding and to continue segregating by gender.

The majority of teachers in Catalonia's public schools and institutes are dissatisfied with the educational curriculum they teach their students. This is one of the conclusions of a survey conducted by the Ustec union of 10,000 teachers in the system. Specifically, 73 percent responded that they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the curriculum because they consider it "inadequate or disconnected from real needs." In this regard, Xavier Díez, coordinator of the Study Group on the State of the Teaching Profession (GEEPD), criticized the fact that "you can't create a curriculum without teachers' participation in its design" and indicated that the curriculum should be concise so that each individual curriculum is concise. Díez insisted that "teachers see the curricula as increasingly long and unattainable" and that "everything should be simpler" and "not have so many indicators to evaluate." In fact, one of the first measures announced by the previous government after the PISA test debacle was that a "specification of the learning objectives" would be sent to schools. The first concrete results came in April —two years later—, under the leadership of the current Minister, Esther Niubó. Furthermore, the spokesperson for Ustec, Iolanda Segura, also raised the issue of the reduction in teaching hours for subjects such as Catalan language and literature in high school in recent years. "If you want quality, you can't cut back," she insisted.

The Spanish government on Tuesday approved, in its first reading, the draft bill that reduces class sizes—that is, the maximum number of students per classroom—in schools and high schools. Specifically, the government of Pedro Sánchez plans to set a maximum of 22 students in primary school classes, down from the current 25, and a maximum of 25 students in secondary school (ESO), five fewer than the current 30. These new class sizes will be rolled out gradually across the country in stages: starting with preschool and primary school in the 2027-2028 academic year; the following year, 2028-2029, the change will be consolidated in secondary school; and in 2029-2030 in upper secondary school (Bachillerato), "to achieve full implementation in the 2031-2032 academic year," the government stated in a press release. According to the Ministry of Education, the aim of amending Law 4/2019 on improving the conditions for teaching and learning in non-university education is to correct the inequalities detected between autonomous communities, improve teachers' working conditions, and achieve more individualized attention. After its approval this Tuesday, the Spanish government now expects the future bill to be processed by the Cortes Generales (Spanish Parliament) starting in January or February and is confident of majority support from all political parties, including Junts.

A few weeks ago, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced the intention to reduce student-to-teacher ratios in secondary education throughout the country by 2028The measure, part of the Education Ministry's negotiations with unions, aims to reduce the maximum number of students per classroom in secondary schools from 30 to 25. Although this announcement is part of a draft bill the Sánchez administration is working on, the Federation of Parents' Associations now wants to achieve the goal announced by Sánchez.

A decade without improvements in student-teacher ratios in the first stage of secondary school across Spain. Between 2013 and 2023, there were no changes in the average number of students per class in the first and second years of compulsory secondary education, which remained at 25. This means that the number of adolescents per class in Spain exceeds the European Union (EU) average of 21 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The drop in birth rates continues to be felt within the Catalan education system. The most obvious example is that next year in all Catalan schools and institutes there will be 30,956 fewer students, as explained this Friday by the Education Minister, Esther Niubó. The drop in students, added to the need to reduce the educational oversupply to fight against school segregation, will mean that next year Education plans to close 83 I3 and 1st year ESO groups between public and private schools. However, Niubó assured that 98 percent of the groups that are currently open in these two courses will be maintained.