Catalonia was warned seven times to correct the error in the PISA tests

BarcelonaThe National Institute for Educational Evaluation (INEE) warned up to seven times that Catalonia had made errors in the student sample for the PISA tests. This is one of the main conclusions of the preliminary proceedings that the Department of Education has opened following the fiasco that has left Catalan results out of the OECD comparisons: 23% of students were excluded from the sample, when the OECD stipulates that the maximum number of exempted students cannot exceed 5%. The minister Esther Niubó presented the conclusions of the investigation this Monday, which also points to deficiencies in the communication of criteria to schools, and announced the replacement of the Secretary General of Education. The ministry has three disciplinary proceedings open.

According to Niubó, these warnings were sent to the Superior Council for the Evaluation of the Educational System of Catalonia – the body responsible at that time for coordinating the tests, which no longer exists – in April 2025, when Catalonia could still have corrected the situation to avoid exclusion. A priori, the Council informed the INEE that it was forwarding this information to the schools to rectify the situation, but the preliminary investigation has found no evidence that this was ultimately done.

At the press conference, the minister reiterated several times that, if these warnings had been heeded, there would still have been time to resolve the percentage of excluded students or to attempt some form of test recovery the following month. In fact, Niubó also detailed that the errors had already arisen earlier. The preliminary proceedings concluded that when the meeting was held with the 50 schools chosen to take the PISA tests, it was not explicitly explained that the maximum number of students who could be excluded could not exceed 5%. The department described that "the information provided was correct, but incomplete" and stated that these instructions depended on the INEE and the company that manages the OECD tests.

Responsibilities and disciplinary proceedings

Niubó has described the PISA fiasco as "very serious", admitted that the department must assume responsibility, and announced a change at the top of Education, specifically her second-in-command. The minister is thus replacing the person who had been general secretary of the department since the beginning of the legislature, Teresa Sambola, and on Tuesday will announce the name of her replacement.

Furthermore, following the proceedings, three disciplinary proceedings will also be initiated for the error in the OECD tests. One of the proceedings is opened against a senior official in the Department of Education for a minor offense of "omissions that constitute carelessness or negligence in fulfilling established obligations". The other two are opened for serious offenses against two officials from the now-defunct Higher Council for Evaluation of Catalonia "for an alleged failure to comply with their obligations and duties as public officials". None of these three professionals are still active.

Meetings with unions before the strike

Regarding the start-of-term strike, Niubó admitted it will not be the start they would have "wanted". "There is a strike called for the first day, despite the agreements reached last year," lamented the minister, who once again asked teachers to be responsible so that students are not "the ones who pay the price". Niubó said, however, that this week they will meet with all the unions on the sectoral table, as well as "separately" with the two unions calling the strike: USTEC – the majority one – and CGT (la Intersindical also calls it, but is not part of the table). All this to "try" to reach an agreement so that the stoppage on September 8 is called off. In parallel, the head of Education will also meet this week with school principals and families.

Beyond PISA and the strike, the minister also referred to other new developments at the start of the school year that the Government has already been unveiling in recent weeks, such as 500 new support classrooms, a pilot test of a manager to help school leadership, or a guide with orientations on how students should use AI.