The progress of improvement plans: how many are implemented and in how many centers?

Barcelona"The main focus of our government is to strengthen learning" and "the priority of this term is to improve educational outcomes." These two phrases—with minor variations—are the ones that the Regional Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, usually utters almost every time she is asked about her department's most immediate objectives. In recent weeks, another element has been added to this combination: managing the complexity of classrooms in which One third of students have specific educational support needs.

Even with the poor results of the PISA report released at the end of 2023 on the agenda and with the final basic skills tests showing little hope, the school year will begin, once again, with the requirement of having to improve the educational level of Catalan students.

One of the avenues that the Department of Education is trying to use to find new solutions to the educational defeat and, at the same time, allay concerns about the worrying moment that Catalan education is experiencing are improvement plans. A surgical strategy that was already promoted by the previous government with Anna Simó at the head of Education and that the current government has continued to increase. In this way, the school year that is now beginning will have a dozen improvement plans or actions, among which there are new ones that are launching this academic year 2025/26 and others that have already been around for some time and to which new centers are added.

Mathematics

Florence and SIM

After last year's first edition of the Florence Mathematics Improvement Program,Half of the places in the centers will remain unfilled; this year, two different math programs will be offered. On the one hand, there will be 200 centers within Florence,This involves an increase of between 1 and 4 hours per week in mathematics, the provision of practical materials to help students better understand mathematics, and a mathematics teacher for each regional service. Furthermore, 300 schools will be included in the SIM (the temporary intensive mathematics support program), which is launching this academic year and will entail a salary bonus of between 100 and 625 euros for teachers who coordinate or are teachers in the program. Schools participating in the SIM will receive support to make changes to their curriculum and the organization of mathematics, and will also receive temporary reinforcement of their teaching staff.

PCMAT Program

The PCMAT program, also being launched this year, is not aimed at schools with the lowest results, but rather at schools in the middle range. The goal is for 300 primary schools to improve mathematical proficiency by integrating computational thinking, programming, and robotics into their classrooms. To this end, participating mathematics teachers will receive training and personalized support once a week with co-teaching sessions and new teaching materials.

Language

Language and reading comprehension are the areas where the most improvement measures will be implemented this year, with up to five initiatives underway and reinforcement of reception classrooms. Although 1,363 facilities will be reached, schools and secondary schools already warn that the number is insufficient considering the number of newly arrived students in the Catalan education system.

Reading comprehension networks

For another year, the reading skills improvement network will continue, with the added benefit that this year more than twice as many schools will participate as last year. There are 257 schools or institutes still participating in the program, and 281 new additions. Among the program's objectives is to create regional networks of independent work coordinated by LIC advisors (language and social cohesion) to promote learning by fostering good practices and sharing materials and strategies between schools and institutes.

Shine Program

This academic year, a new pilot program focused on the English language will be launched. Shine is expected to reach 50 schools, although it is not yet known which will be. Schools participating in the pilot program will receive support to create a strategic plan to improve students' English proficiency, with classroom observations and teacher training to improve English language teaching.

Workshops and conversation assistants

Up to 91 highly complex schools will receive financial resources to organize English workshops with the goal of enabling their students to "expand the contexts for learning and using the English language" through complementary activities. Furthermore, Educació also wants students to have the opportunity to put their English skills into practice by participating in conversation activities with native speakers. Therefore, language assistants (although the number is unknown) will be sent to schools that have foreign language improvement programs in place.

Prevention actions for the promotion of learning (APPA)

One of the new features of this course will be the APPA (prevention actions for the promotion of learning), among them The announced screenings to detect learning difficulties in first and third grade studentsThese screenings have ultimately resulted in universal tests that will be made available to schools—both public and private—in case they voluntarily wish to apply, in order to assess their students' situation and take action. All schools will also be sent guides, assessment tests, and teaching materials from preschool years 3 through 4 with the aim of promoting, "with scientific backing," the development of oral language and reading skills.

A pilot test will also be launched at centers in Manresa and Sabadell to evaluate the processes for addressing neurodevelopmental and learning disorders.

Mental health

Beyond the poor educational results, one of the issues that has been of greatest concern in recent academic years is the increase in emotional distress and mental health problems among students. For this reason, this year the Department of Education will hire 11 psychologists—one for each regional department. Furthermore, a training program for teachers in socio-emotional competence, which had already been implemented in secondary education, will be extended to primary school. The objective is to raise awareness among teachers about the importance of emotional well-being and provide them with basic knowledge and practical resources to apply in the classroom.