Of the 2,545 Catalan students aged 15 who were to participate in the PISA tests, 591 were excluded, and finally only 1,954 took the test, a deviation that, according to the Generalitat, caused “a problem of statistical representativeness”. PISA allows for certain exemptions when a physical, cognitive, behavioral, or emotional disability or insufficient command of the language makes it impossible to take the test adequately.However, these circumstances do not automatically imply exclusion, as each student must be assessed individually according to the severity of their diagnosis. In mild cases, or when it can be assessed with adequate support, the student must participate in the tests. This technical incident meant that the student sample was “valid but not representative,” explained Fernández last week.The results obtained by Catalan students will appear in the state report in September, accompanied by a technical warning, but they cannot be used to draw comparable conclusions about the evolution of Catalonia or with respect to other communities, thus invalidating their main objective and function.
The Government has not clarified the origin of the PISA tests error
The Minister of Education assumes the "gravity of the incident" and assures that responsibilities will be investigated
BarcelonaDespite being aware of it since March, the Government still does not know how the error occurred that invalidated the inclusion of Catalonia's results in the international PISA tests and, therefore, makes it impossible to compare the level of Catalan students with that of other territories and with previous years. In a parliamentary appearance, the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, admitted this Monday the "gravity" of the situation, but defended that the executive launched an internal process four months ago to gather information and reconstruct the facts with the aim of clarifying the origin of the incident that led the Generalitat to dismiss 23% of students, even though the OECD sets a maximum of 5% for this percentage. The report has not yet been prepared and, therefore, Niubó said that they still have no conclusions on why the high rate of students exempt from taking the exams was not detected in time.
The Minister of Education did want to point out that, at present, the main hypothesis is the coincidence in time between this international evaluation (which took place between March 31 and May 16) and the end-of-stage ESO tests (April 10 and 11). According to the minister, both tests have different student exemption criteria, and this "allows us to consider that confusion may have been generated in the schools about the criteria that should have been used." "The same 51 educational centers that were the sample in PISA also had to apply, with very little time difference, two evaluations subject to different frameworks," she stated. In this regard, the minister sent a message to the participating centers of the tests: "This department has not blamed any principal of any center that took the test." In fact, she affirmed that this confusion "is not yet an accredited conclusion" and, if confirmed, would not exempt the administration from responsibility for the error either.
For this reason, the minister recalled that last Friday the new Commission for the Coordination of Tests and Evaluation Studies was created to verify exemptions and prevent this situation from recurring. In addition, she regretted that events like these "damage the department's reputation", for which "action will be taken accordingly" and, "if there are responsibilities, they will be thoroughly investigated". Niubó also pointed out that the investigation will have to analyze the functioning of the circuits between the department – through the Higher Council for Evaluation –, the National Institute for Educational Evaluation (INEE) and the company responsible for carrying out the tests. On the other hand, she placed the application of the tests in a period of institutional transition between the Higher Council for Evaluation of the Educational System and the new Agency for Evaluation and Prospective of Education, but stressed that this context "in no case can serve as an excuse".
Although the problem does not affect the students' answers, nor the level or results of the tests, but rather the representativeness of the sample, the minister indicated that the OECD criteria establish that exemptions must be assessed individually and that "having a report on specific educational needs for educational support does not automatically imply being excluded from the test".
The opposition's reaction
All the groups present in the Education Commission of the Parliament have demanded accountability from the minister and have criticized the department's management. Junts, the CUP, the PP, and Vox have called for the minister's resignation, while Aliança Catalana has called for the dissolution of the Government and the calling of early elections. Regarding the Government's investiture partners, ERC deputy Irene Aragonès has insisted that political responsibilities should not fall on teachers and school principals after what she considers "an institutional failure," and the president of the Comuns group, Jéssica Albiach, has called for an independent audit because she believes that merely admitting the error in the face of the current "educational crisis" is not enough.
Faced with the complaints and reproaches from practically all parliamentary groups, Niubó defended that the scandal would have been not to act in March – when the Generalitat became aware of the non-compliance with the methodological parameters for student exemption – from which point the opening of informative proceedings was ordered. "We assume the seriousness of this incident and act with transparency, rigor, and responsibility by appearing immediately in Parliament. We will reinforce controls so that this does not happen again," she assured. The minister recalled that last year there was already a significant setback when a deliberate error by a department employee forced the repetition of the entire process for awarding teaching positions for the following academic year and delayed the results. "I will not shy away from an uncomfortable truth," stated the minister, clarifying that the department is responsible for some of the Government's largest administrative processes.
After the commission, it was the turn of the unions. From Parliament, the spokesperson for USTEC, Iolanda Segura, regretted learning about the error through the media and accused the Government of acting in "a very non-transparent manner". She also sarcastically remarked that the problems affecting Catalan education are due to technical errors, before stating that behind these technical errors there are always political decisions, such as not communicating it for four months, she snapped. For the general secretary of CGT Ensenyament, Laura Gené, there is also a lack of political will to "fix the educational emergency" and she issued a warning: "If this cannot be discussed at a negotiation table, it will have to be discussed in the streets". Both recalled that an educational demonstration is called for September 8.
Illa and Paneque team up with Niubó
From the Government, however, they rally around the minister. The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has defended that "it is not about blaming anyone" for the error in the PISA report, but rather about clarifying the facts to "prevent it from happening again." He considered this in a media address from the Temple of Literature in Hanoi, Vietnam, where he is on an institutional visit. Furthermore, before the appearance, he reiterated his support for Niubó.
The spokesperson for the Catalan executive, Sílvia Paneque, also defended the minister in statements to TV3. "We need to explain exactly what happened and how it can be avoided from happening again. I await these explanations and everything that the parliamentary groups put on the table. Before asking for resignations, I would like the groups to wait for the explanations. This is what the citizens expect from us," she argued.