"Unmanageable" syllabus and outdated grammar: Catalan teachers frustrated by university entrance exam meetings

BarcelonaChoppy sound, overlapping speeches, and constant "I can't hear you," "I can't hear you," "I can't understand you." This was the situation experienced by the nearly 700 teachers who logged on last week to the information session about the evaluation criteria for the Catalan language exams in preparation for the university entrance exams next June. Beyond the meeting's technical problems, several teachers complained that the session's content was less enlightening than expected and that some of the criteria introduced in last year's university entrance exams "don't make sense." According to teachers from DocentsCAT—which includes more than a hundred Catalan language teachers—and the Pere Quart Collective—the group of teachers who have been advocating for Catalan literature in the classroom for the past ten years—two aspects particularly concern them: the large number of people Required readings have been removed from the curriculum And the fact that the syntax exercises don't stipulate that it's necessary to use the new grammar of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC).

"Telling us that literature from the 19th century to the present will be included means talking about thousands of authors; it's a very broad range. The moment the required readings are eliminated, so many possibilities open up that you don't even know where to begin," warns Gemma Gómez, a teacher. Oriol González, president of the Pere Quart Collective and a high school Catalan teacher, also warns: "With the curriculum change, the literature section is very open-ended, and the high school curriculum includes the entire history of Catalan literature from its beginnings to the present day, with all the movements, authors, trends, works, and other literary issues." He adds: "With a meager two hours of class per week, it's an impossible syllabus." That's why both teachers insist that at the meeting they asked to narrow down the readings or periods that will be included in the university entrance exams, but they explain that their interlocutor simply asked them to do "what the curriculum says." Furthermore, González and Gómez criticize the fact that in Catalan exams—but not in Spanish exams—syntax exercises are "still" based on traditional grammar and not on modern grammar. "New" regulations that the IEC approved in 2016. The DocentsCAT member admits that the terminology does change. For example, the adverbial complement is now called the adjunct complement. "This leaves students somewhat confused because there is terminology that is done one way in Spanish and another way in Catalan," she laments.

Sources from the Department of Research and Universities insist that "right now" it is premature to provide any information about the meetings being held these days with the institutes and that these are working meetings "that are still in progress."

A meeting "for those who know what it's about"

Beyond the confusion surrounding some of the exam criteria, several teachers have criticized the "tone" of these meetings. They explain that in some cases, when questions were answered, it was "as if the teachers were being scolded," that "an unpleasant tone" was used, and that they were often told to look at the regulations or the curriculum when it is "too open and broad." Furthermore, Gómez also warns that, in his opinion, the meeting was designed for teachers who "already know what it's about" and not for teachers who have never taught the second year of high school or prepared students for university entrance exams. For all these reasons, DocentsCAT is considering filing a formal complaint about the meeting, while the Col·lectiu Pere Quart has ruled it out. "We, as a group, are very tired of having conversations that lead nowhere. We've been involved for many years, and it's always the same," criticizes Oriol González.