Education proposes reducing the teaching load of subsidized school teachers to equate it with the public one

PalmaThe Minister of Education, Antoni Vera, has put on the table the lines of negotiation for the next agreement on socio-labor improvements for workers in subsidized centers, with the aim of progressively advancing towards equalization with teachers in the public network. Vera has defended that during this legislature almost all the measures provided for in the 2023 framework agreement have already been applied and that, in some cases, the initial forecasts have been exceeded. Among the actions, he highlighted the reduction of the teaching day in Secondary Education, which has gone from 24 to 23 hours, as well as the implementation of the tutoring supplement.

The minister also pointed out improvements in attention to diversity, with an increase in guidance and diversity support hours in charter schools, in addition to the incorporation of educational psychologists. Another change has been the extension of the 'priority attention center' status to charter schools. According to Vera, until now this status only affected public schools with particularly vulnerable students, whereas now it also applies to the charter network. The minister estimated at ten the number of charter schools with a level of student vulnerability that, in his opinion, requires specific resources.

Among the measures that the Department of Education wants to include in the next agreement, there is also a progressive reduction of the teaching load in the charter sector. Currently, secondary school teachers have 23 teaching hours and primary school teachers have 25. The Government's intention is to move towards equalization with the public network. Furthermore, Vera proposes to equalize the training supplement—the so-called 'sexennis' (six-year bonuses)—for charter school teachers with those of the public sector and to update their amounts.

More time for tutors

The role of tutors is another issue that Education wants to strengthen. Vera explained that the proposal will not be limited to the financial supplement, but also plans to give tutors an extra teaching hour to be able to prepare and develop tutorials. The minister remarked that these are the Government's proposals and that it is now up to the employers' associations and unions to present theirs. The goal is to reach a "possibilist" agreement that is concrete enough to be applied in a scheduled manner by the Government that emerges from the May elections.

Education's intention is to negotiate improvements for the public and charter networks in parallel and reach agreements at the same time, with the goal of having them closed "by the end of the year or the beginning of 2027". Vera also defended that the charter school staff in Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera are "much more stable" and pointed out that the main problem of teacher coverage is concentrated in Vocational Training (FP), an area that, as he noted, has practically no presence in the charter schools of the other islands.

Regarding the updating of the economic modules for charter schools, the minister explained that during this term the regional portion has been increased, while the state portion could not be updated due to the lack of state budgets. In relation to the 2% pending for the charter schools, he indicated that the negotiation is being carried out by the Civil Service, in accordance with the criteria set by the Ministry of Labor.