Catalonia remains last in excellent high school results.
Experts and observatories warn of a possible imbalance between communities when evaluating students.
BarcelonaIn the last decade, the proportion of Catalan students who complete high school with an excellent grade—an average of between 9 and 10—has increased by four points. While in 2015, 8.4% of high school students completed their studies with these brilliant grades, in 2023—the latest year for which the Integrated University Information System (SIIU), which compiles results from across Spain, provides data—Catalonia had 12.5% of students completing this stage.
However, despite the growth in this proportion, Catalonia remains stuck at the bottom of the list in terms of excellent grades in high school. In fact, over the last four years, it has been the region with the lowest proportion of students completing high school with an average of 9 or 10. At the same time, every year since 2017, it has been among the three regions with the lowest number of excellent students, and over the last decade, it has consistently been one of the four regions in the Spanish state with the fewest excellent students.
If we focus on the latest data from the SIIU (Spanish Institute of Statistics and Censuses), we see how, in Catalonia, the proportion of excellent students in high school is up to 15 points lower than that of the Canary Islands, which occupies the top spot, with 27% excellent students. Four regions have a proportion of excellent students twice as high as Catalonia's—the Canary Islands, Murcia (26.9%), Andalusia (26.2%), and Extremadura (24.7%)—and only three territories have less than 15% excellent students: Catalonia (3.3%) (1.3%) (1.3%) (1.3%).
"One of the key points to keep in mind is that high school and the tests administered are very different in the different regions," warns Enric Prats, a doctor in pedagogy from the Faculty of Education at the University of Barcelona (UB). In his opinion, there is no low-level problem among Catalan students, but rather points to a set of factors ranging from social complexity to the possible discrepancy between how assessment is carried out in primary and secondary school and how it is done in high school: "The places where very rote systems are being maintained and students face tests."
On the other hand, Josep Ferrer, president of the Laude Collective Association, which brings together a large number of former rectors of Catalan universities, raises the possibility that "Catalonia is more demanding in high school than in other parts of the country," but that it is a very difficult possibility to analyze on a case-by-case basis. "Here we complain a lot that everyone passes, but we also see how not everyone gets good grades compared to other places," adds Prats. In this regard, it should be noted that the average high school grade in Catalonia is 7.4, just seven-tenths behind those of the two regions with the highest average grades: Andalusia and the Canary Islands, both with 8.1.
Beyond the fluctuating figures, for years several experts and observatories have warned of a possible disparity in standards between regions when it comes to evaluating students. In 2023, a study by the University System Observatory (OSU) warned of "surprising" differences between autonomous communities regarding university entrance exam scores—which are calculated by taking into account the grades from the baccalaureate and the university entrance exams. Focusing only on the baccalaureate, the report also indicated that in all communities, more students attended excellent private schools than public ones, while in Catalonia this phenomenon was more prominent in state-subsidized schools.
In this sense, Ferrer and the former president of the Higher Council for the Evaluation of the Education System, Joan Mateo, insist that, given the social differences between the autonomous communities, it is difficult to compare excellent educational outcomes. "The tests are designed with different standards and criteria and, therefore, respond more to how teachers and society itself value the importance of the results than to the preparation of the students," Mateo emphasizes. And he's blunt: "We should also be self-demanding and not place the burden of consequences solely on students and families."
Does the university entrance exam make it equal?
However, Catalonia is also one of the three regions with the smallest gap between the average grade in high school and the grade obtained by students in the general phase of the university entrance exam. In Spain, the gap is 9.1 points (from 12.5% to 3.4%), and only Navarre (from 13.7% to 6.6%) and Cantabria (from 17.7% to 11%) have a smaller variation between high school and university entrance exams.
On the other hand, the regions with the highest proportion of excellent grades in high school are also those that suffer the most significant decline when the students themselves are assessed in the university entrance exams: the Canary Islands lose up to 20.7 points (from 27% to 6.3%), Andalusia 2.6%, and Cària loses 17.3, going from 26.9% of excellent grades in high school to 9.3% in the general phase of the university entrance exam.
According to Prat and Ferrer, these variations show that university entrance exams reduce potential assessment differences in high school and, therefore, Catalan students should not be disadvantaged by disparities between systems. "We must bear in mind that the vast majority of students who enter university are Catalan, with the exception of specific degrees." such as medicine, in which the proportion of university students from other parts of the State is higherHowever, there have also been several complaints about the differences in the university entrance exam requirements across regions. In 2015, a report from the University of Valladolid warned that the University Entrance Exams (PAU) were detrimental to students in Castile and León. It analyzed the grades obtained in the two subjects and the Uno. It also highlighted the unusual nature of such disparate university entrance exam results across regions, given that these are "tests regulated by royal decrees and ministerial orders," anonymous, and "with very strict marking rules."
