The increase in investment does not reverse the chronic problems of the school

BarcelonaMore poor students, more students needing support, and an investment that, despite increasing, is not managing to improve educational results. This is the radiography of the situation of Catalan education provided by Equitat.org —the former Fundació Bofill— in its 2026 yearbook. The report shows how, since 2020, the proportion of students with socioeconomic needs detected in Catalan secondary schools has multiplied by four (from 6.8% of adolescents to 29.3%). However, this increase in cases detected in recent years does not mean there has been a massive increase in poor students.

"It's as simple as that until recently this was not looked at. The data shows that in 2020 there were 6% vulnerable students, but Catalonia has never had those levels of social vulnerability," clarifies the head of projects at Equitat.org, Maria Segurola. In this regard, she gives a very clear example: the two Catalan centers with the highest proportion of vulnerable students (over 90%), in the 2020-2021 academic year had 22% detected. "It's impossible that it has grown so much in these years, what happens is that at that time this student was not detected," insists the researcher. Segurola explains that behind the increase in detection, which she highlights as good news, are tools such as the pact against school segregation, the application of the admissions decree in municipalities, and incentives. "Now detection is accompanied by an economic amount, the so-called backpacks, and this generates an incentive for educational centers to do it," she explains.

Beyond the reasons for the increase in detection, the reality is that last year one in every three Catalan students —whether in early childhood, primary, or secondary education— was classified as NESE B, that is, children and adolescents who need support for socioeconomic reasons. Faced with this scenario, the authors of the yearbook warn that it is "the lack of tools to respond to social inequalities in school" that prevents improving the quality of the system and educational results, which they label as "mediocre". In this regard, the report points out that although public spending per student has increased by 900 euros compared to 2021, the increase in vulnerability and "structural underfunding" are preventing any improvement in classrooms. "Academic results have not improved, and this has ended up producing a stagnation, or even a setback, in the main indicators of progress and educational trajectories of young Catalans," they warn in the yearbook.

The proportion of ESO graduates decreases

An example of the stagnation of the Catalan education system can be found in the graduation rate from ESO, which after many years of increasing or remaining stable, has fallen consecutively in the last five academic years. The graduation rate has gone from 93% to 86% in the 2024-2025 academic year. Despite being high, this is the lowest graduation rate from ESO in almost 15 years.

On the other hand, the authors of the yearbook also warn that early school leaving — adolescents who do not continue studying after ESO — disproportionately affects the poorest young people: the percentage of low-income students who do not continue their studies has gone from 20.1% in 2023 to 25.3% in 2025. In fact, early school leaving only increases in the group of students with the lowest income.

In contrast, the total percentage of students who do not continue studying has gone from 14.8% to 13.5% in the same period, and in the case of students with higher purchasing power, it stands at 3.8%. The gap between social classes is also reflected outside of school: students from more affluent families attend extracurricular activities twice as many days as their peers from lower classes.

More resources, but where they are needed

Faced with the "chronic" nature of vulnerability and the decline in educational outcomes, the authors of the yearbook warn that one of the main problems is that investment in education is increasing, but action is not being taken in the most critical areas. "Investing linearly, that is, assigning undifferentiated resources primarily considering the number of students or centers that will receive them, without considering what they are like or what needs they have, ends up being strongly inefficient in contexts of chronic educational inequality and with entrenched pockets of poor results strongly linked to the social origin of the population," warns the report.

Thus, among other things, it is proposed that educational centers be financed with equity criteria, both in terms of financial aid and the number of teachers. They also urge a review of the complexity level of schools and institutes, as well as the degree of vulnerability. Furthermore, it is requested to expand financial aid for NESE B, that the reduction of ratios be asymmetric — depending on the needs of the centers —, more support and inclusive education professionals, a specific scholarship policy for post-compulsory education, and more basic vocational training places to combat early school leaving.