All the novelties that the students have found upon returning to school

More professionals to strengthen inclusive education, more reception classrooms for newly arrived students, and more investment to renovate educational centers. These are some of the main novelties with which the 2026-2027 academic year begins in Catalonia, which starts with a forecast of more than 1.6 million students and 94,422 professionals in educational centers.In total, the system incorporates 1,830 new positions compared to last academic year: 1,103 teachers, 531 educational support professionals, and 196 administrative and service staff. The reinforcement focuses especially on attention to diversity and welcoming, but it also reaches physical spaces: seven centers will debut a new building or expansion, and investment in educational infrastructure is recovering levels not seen since 2008, according to the Department of Education and Vocational Training of the Generalitat.The Minister of Education and Vocational Training, Esther Niubó, has highlighted that these resources must allow for the incorporation into classrooms of “the greatest reinforcement of resources to strengthen the system and improve attention to the needs of the students”. According to the minister, the agreements that make this possible have mobilized 2.6 billion euros.More professionals for the inclusive school

One of the main commitments of the new school year is to strengthen the teams that serve students with diverse educational needs. The system incorporates 531 new educational support staff positions, distributed among profiles such as educators and social integrators, social workers, speech therapists, and special education teachers. The goal is to expand support within the centers and provide more tools to adapt the care to the needs of each student. A significant part of this increase is concentrated directly on inclusive education. Among the new additions are 146 special education teachers assigned to SIEI and SIEI+, the intensive supports that reinforce mainstream centers to attend to students with special educational needs; 100 social integrators in educational centers and 56 social workers and speech therapists in the psycho-pedagogical assessment and guidance teams.

Special education centers are also being reinforced, gaining 204 places this academic year, equivalent to 80 more groups, with an investment of 6.3 million euros. At the same time, specific attention for deaf students is being expanded with three new bilingual centers for Catalan sign language and oral language. With these additions, the offer will reach four centers, one in each province. The reinforcement also extends to healthcare within the centers. After a successful pilot project carried out last academic year in Vallès Oriental, this year healthcare professionals will be deployed to attend to students with chronic illnesses or who need care during school hours. This academic year, 50% of Catalan centers will be reached, and the service will be extended to the entire system in 2027-2028.

More welcome classrooms for newcomers

Another of the great reinforcements of the academic year arrives in the welcome classrooms, designed to facilitate the incorporation into the educational system of students who have just arrived in Catalonia and who do not yet master the language. This year, 500 new positions are added, reaching 2,141, the highest figure recorded to date, according to the Department. In addition, the maximum ratio is limited to 18 students per teacher. Intensive reception classrooms, aimed at students who need more intensive initial support, are also being reinforced: they go from 27 to 45. As a new feature, 50 specific allocations are incorporated for basic vocational training students and 50 more to continue offering linguistic support to students who have already left the reception classroom, but who still need accompaniment when they fully join the ordinary classroom. The increase is especially significant when viewed in perspective. Twenty years ago, the system had about 700 welcome classroom allocations; this academic year there will be more than 2,100. The goal is for the arrival of newly arrived students not to fall solely on the tutor or the classroom as a whole, but for schools to have more specific resources during the first months of adaptation. New boost for school buildings

The new features of the academic year will also be noticeable in the spaces. Seven centers will begin classes in new or expanded buildings and, throughout the year, there will be six more major projects under construction. Added to this are renovation, expansion, and improvement works in 304 centers, in a school infrastructure where more than 25% of the buildings date back to before 1965. According to the Department, the investment in educational infrastructure reaches 257 million euros this year, a figure that recovers levels not seen since 2008. A portion of the resources will also be allocated to improving thermal comfort in classrooms: 20 million euros are earmarked for installing fixed fans in nearly 400 centers and 100 million more for deploying heating and cooling climate control systems. Furthermore, the Department has allocated 100 million to municipalities so they can fund renovation and improvement actions in public schools and school institutes.