Private schools avoid the demographic decline in Catalonia

BarcelonaThis academic year began with almost 31,000 fewer students in Catalan schools and institutes than the previous one. This is just one example of how the declining birth rate is impacting the public and state-subsidized private education system, a system that has lost more than 55,000 students in compulsory education over the last five years. However, this demographic decline has not had the same impact on private schools, which, although a very small minority, have continued to grow slightly in student numbers. Specifically, according to data from the Department of Education analyzed by ARA, between the 2019-2020 and 2024-2025 academic years, the state-subsidized private school network lost up to 21,100 students in compulsory education (preschool, primary, and secondary). In the same period, the number of students in public schools decreased by 36,040. Meanwhile, in these six years, the private school has added 817 students.

According to Francesc Imbernon, professor of didactics and educational organization at the University of Barcelona (UB), there are three main factors behind this increased interest in private education: the attempt to protect the cultural and social capital of the upper classes, the increased arrival ofexpados and the uncertainty surrounding the constant news of declining educational standards. Imbernon explains that the preference for private schools is not "merely a pedagogical issue, but rather a logic of distinction and social reproduction." "Families with more money seek more homogeneous environments. In contexts of social uncertainty, immigration, and increased vulnerability, it is a strategy for protecting their children's cultural and academic capital," the professor explains. He also points to a linguistic and pedagogical factor: "There are expados who neither learn Catalan nor need it for anything. The increase in this population has led to a growth in international schools and centers with foreign curricula or with English as the language of instruction."

In fact, private schools also admit that the expados They are one of their "key points of strategic growth," as explained by Àlex Cerdà, president of the professional association Independent Private Schools of Catalonia (EPIC). "It's true that it has greatly helped all the people coming from other countries with higher purchasing power who can afford private schools that are more expensive," he acknowledges. In addition to the language, Cerdà also asserts that their educational projects attract many families because "education is at a point where methodologies are of particular importance."

Although it's the only network gaining students, private schools remain a minority in Catalonia. While public schools and institutes enroll over 640,000 students and state-subsidized private schools around 300,000, private schools have just over 15,000. However, it's worth noting that starting next year, the private network will grow even more for another reason: the elimination of funding agreements for schools that segregate students by gender. This change in policy, which has been anticipated for years, will mean that next year... 247 groups of subsidized schools and institutes in Catalonia will become privatebecause the center has chosen not to receive public funding and to continue separating boys and girls.

Soaring increase in private education in the post-compulsory stage

However, the proportions in one educational network or another change—significantly—when we look at post-compulsory education, that is, upper secondary education (Bachillerato) and vocational training (FP). In fact, it is primarily vocational training, and more specifically distance learning vocational training, that... In recent years it has given wings to the private networkThus, in six years, private schools have gained 41,765 students in post-compulsory education. As a result, today, between vocational training and upper secondary education, private schools have 101,668 students, more than half the number in public schools (193,818) and tens of thousands more than state-subsidized private schools, which last year plummeted to 34,207 students in post-compulsory education.

Interest in subsidized private schools is recovering

Although the charter school has been complaining for years the closure of groups and the underfunding of educational centers More socially oriented and less elitist, this model has seen increased interest from families over the last three years. Unlike the decline in student numbers, applications to enter a state-subsidized private school as their first choice have grown since the 2023-2024 academic year. For example, three years ago, 18,087 students applied to begin preschool at a state-subsidized private school as their preferred option, while this year these applications have risen to 19,577. A similar trend has been observed in primary school, with applications increasing from 5,994 to 7,046 this year.

According to Meritxell Ruiz, director of the Christian School Foundation—which represents more than 60% of the subsidized private schools in Catalonia—this change in trend is mainly due to "an interest in educational projects and in thestability of the templates "At a time of great concern about learning." "Six or seven years ago, families asked if there was homework, if there were books... now they come with Excel spreadsheets and the doubts are whether the children are really learning or in what grade reading is introduced," says Ruiz.

Towards a dual system?

Although the private sector's share is still infinitely smaller than that of the semi-private and public schools, Ruiz and Imbernon warn of the risk of a dual system. "We could find ourselves with a public school system with an increasingly high concentration of vulnerable students, and an elitist semi-private and private system that concentrates the population with the most economic and cultural capital," warns the professor from the University of Barcelona. He also cautions that the narrative that "the public system works worse" is worrying, a very simplistic assertion, but one that resonates deeply in our country. To avoid this extreme, Maria Segurola, head of projects at the Bofill Foundation, insists on the need for ten-year planning. "Having fewer children shouldn't necessarily be a problem for schools. It's an opportunity, if the same level of investment continues. The problem lies in where the investment is made." In this regard, he points out that one of the keys is to close routes uniformly across the various networks to avoid an oversupply of places: "If we don't reduce the oversupply, this could end up resulting in a weakening of the public network, something that is undesirable," Segurola warns.