More inspections and free tutoring for vulnerable students: the plan to improve in math and language

BarcelonaNew measures announced to try to improve the math and language skills of Catalan students. After noting a "significant drop in the results of Catalan students in linguistic and mathematical competence," in the words of the Government itself, this Thursday the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, presented the Framework for the Improvement of Language and Mathematics. The plan that Niubó explained from the Pau Casals School in Sabadell is a compilation of all the measures that have already been implemented in recent government courses, added to new actions that must be implemented in the coming months. All of this will have a budget of 129.3 million euros for the period 2025-2028 with the aim of "students leaving behind this very dark period in educational results," in the words of the Minister of Education, of actions to improve evaluation or make it more precise. "If we don't fully understand what's happening, we can't know how to act. The measures taken must be based on robust information," Niubó argued. That's why the Government intends to conduct a "more surgical" assessment, focusing on strengthening the inspections of schools and institutes, so that school administrators and inspectors from the Territorial Services can identify the weak points in the education system. "It's true that many operate on their own, but perhaps some need more tutoring," Niubó acknowledged. This reinforcement will be implemented in a pilot phase next academic year, 2025-2026, and the intention is to extend it for four years. However, at this point, the plan does not foresee hiring new inspectors. Educational inequalities. In this sense, the Education Ministry wants to reorient the training provided in the Educational Environment Plans of each municipality to offer free math and language reinforcement for vulnerable students, and robotics workshops.

Strengthen math and refine the university offering.

As already announced at the signing of the Pact for Language, the number of reception classrooms for newly arrived students who don't speak the language will be increased. This Thursday, Niubó put numbers to this promise and confirmed that next year there will be around 200 new permanent reception classrooms in Catalan schools, bringing the total to 1,000 nationwide.

Furthermore, the SIM (Intensive Mathematics Support) program will be created, a new mathematics improvement program that will complement the one currently underway (Florence) and which includes 250 new centers. Thus, starting next year, 450 schools and institutes will participate in a program to improve mathematical proficiency.

Finally, Niubó also explained that a framework agreement is being worked on with universities so that education degrees prioritize offering the specialties most needed by primary schools. Furthermore, within the announced improvement framework, measures already implemented are included, such as the curricular specifications or the stabilization of the cloisters through annual transfer competitions that advanced the NOW.