Barcelona school and college administrations join forces for the first time: "We want to talk without intermediaries."

Barcelona"Whenever there are meetings between school principals and the administration, the script is set by the [Education] Consortium, and we want to change it." That's how the principal of the Estel school in Barcelona, ​​Marta Rubio, is direct when explaining why more than 100 school principals from public schools and institutes in the Catalan capital will meet this Thursday. "We want to talk to each other without intermediaries because, otherwise, when we meet formally, we always end up talking about the issues raised by the Consortium and which seek very specific objectives," Rubio insists.

Under this pretext, up to 120 school principals—out of around 250 in Barcelona, ​​including public schools and institutes—will meet for the first time to address and discuss problems, as well as possible solutions on three topics: inclusion, the workforce decree, and workers' working conditions. The objective of the initiative is for the conclusions of this meeting to be subsequently forwarded to the Education Consortium and the department. "If the Department of Education meets with the unions, it would also make sense to create a sort of board association so we can also meet with the Consortium manager or the regional government," explains the director of the Estel school.

From a survey to concrete proposals

The idea for this pioneering meeting arose among some school principals in Sant Andreu, who brought it to the district board of directors. "They welcomed it because, in the end, most of the concerns are shared by all the principals," Rubio explains. A form was sent to all preschool, primary, and secondary school principals in the city to find out if they were interested in participating.

From this point on, to ensure that Thursday's meeting produced a set of ten proposals, some preliminary work was done: upon registering, principals chose which area of ​​work they would like to participate in (inclusion, workforce decree, or working conditions) and, from there, were asked several questions. From the responses received, the assembly organizers compiled a summary so that the meeting would already have basic information to begin working on.

With all this, this Thursday morning the principals of Barcelona's 120 educational centers will meet, divide into several tables based on their chosen area, and discuss the proposals. At the end of the day, ideas will be shared, and a vote will be taken on the 10 "essential" measures, which will be submitted to the Consortium and the Department of Education.